Actually this topic came in my head after reading other threads discussing progress of studies. I had stopped visiting AF after I cleared L2 and realised I had 10 long months and FRM in between. Just today, I visited AF and was shocked to see a significant number of candidates having completed 2/3 books already. So, I ordered Schweser immediately an hour ago.
Just wanted to know from the experienced whether it is necessary to start so early? I know different people have different needs. But still, 8 months?? No bragging, but I had studied for L1 a month ago and L2 also the same time period. I am that guy who is kind of a rocket (run-when-fire-on-bums). Is there some trick I am missing for L3. Something that needs to be done again and again to understand. I may start that topic in February itself. I dont think I have any motivation to start earlier than that
Level III has the conceptually-easiest material of the three levels – and is also the easiest level to fail. Think about it: 100% of the other candidates writing have already passed L2. If you needed 300 hours to pass L2, you should plan to devote at least that much for L3.
Thanks a lot Wendy for the reply… That exactly was my point. If all L2 passouts need to start so early, is there a hidden demon in L3 or is it just deceptively simple. Because if it is the latter, then I may start late but concentrate better on each word. And if it is the former, then I may need to start 3 months early.
the exam is deceptively easy, now you have to be able to apply what you learned and draw conclusions about people and give advice on what they should do rather than simply plug in numbers to a formula.
there is a lot of overlap in the study sessions, this is especially true in the AM portion of the exam.
you are writting essay style answers so time management becomes an issue. It’s easy to get bogged down on a question you’re not sure of and run out of time at the end, so that you never answer the last question on the exam.
Take a look at previous exams and then base your study plan on how you feel.
The standard is 300 hours. That’s probably reasonable.
If you start on December 1, that’s 26 weeks until exam day. If you put in 12 hours per week, (four study sessions, three hours per session), that will get you about 300 hours.
I don’t think this is too early. At this point, I’d rather put in 600 hours, and study waaaaaaaay too much than to study 1 hour too little and fail. I failed L2 once (score band 10–yay), and it almost killed me. If I failed L3, I might not take it again–at least not for a while. I’ve got kids, a job that’s becoming more and more demanding, and quite frankly, I’m just tired of this test.
I, for one, started studying in September. But if you really think you can study in a month–knock yourself out.
I had a hard time starting level III too, I just passed level 2 this past june but am finding it tough to kickstart level 3. My advice is to start now, so that later when u burn out (as i did with level 2), u have the luxury of taking a couple of days or even a week off. My plan now is just to study with mini bite size (think 5 to 7 schweser pages a day), and pick up my momentum from there.
I cannot stress enough how much starting early helped me. For me (and many others), the exam is the invisible study session. For L1 and L2 I started in late december/early Jan and got in maybe 3 or 4 practice tests. For this one, I did maybe 10 - and it was worth it. Learning how to write the kind of succinct essay answers they want is really difficult because it is more about developing a “feel” for the kind of response since each is different (so you cannot just learn and regurgitate). Also, remember, here you are actively pulling knowledge out of your head rather than passively recognizing an answer. Good luck!
I cannot stress enough how much starting early helped me. For me (and many others), the exam is the invisible study session. For L1 and L2 I started in late december/early Jan and got in maybe 3 or 4 practice tests. For this one, I did maybe 10 - and it was worth it. Learning how to write the kind of succinct essay answers they want is really difficult because it is more about developing a “feel” for the kind of response since each is different (so you cannot just learn and regurgitate). Also, remember, here you are actively pulling knowledge out of your head rather than passively recognizing an answer. Good luck!
I started early and studied often. Practice exams are your best study tool for passing the level III exam, I did at least 8 practice exam under exam conditions then spent time reviewing my answers. This paid huge dividends come exam time as a good portion of the actual exam was pretty much the same as the practice exams in one form or another. Be prepared for the odd curly question here and there but on the sum of things if you have done enough practice exams and understood each question you should be able to pass the level III exam.
By the way I enrolled for the level III exam as soon as I received my passing marks for level II, started studying late August, used all my annual leave to take all of May off of work to review the information and spent at least a total of 500+ hours studying for level III.
Actually, I think you probably could start in Mid-February. I started in February, and got Score Band 10 on Level 2–and that’s including the fact that I started a new job in March.
Four months is probably enough time to prepare, IF:
You don’t have a family (i.e. kids) that you want to see in the evening or on the weekends,
You have a job that doesn’t require a lot of overtime,
You don’t expect any shake-ups in your life (moving, job change, death or illness in the family)
You plan on doing nothing but studying in your free time. (i.e. you have no more free time), and
You take the last week off of work to do nothing but study.
Yes, in this case, mid-February might be okay. I do NOT, however, recommend waiting until March.
