Slow… have been dating a girl since December which takes up a lot of time. Great fun, of course, but bad for studying. I’m trying to get through Fixed Income tonight and then I want to try and get through derivatives and PM next week. Will be tough… That’s my first meeting with the material… revision has been awful. Tried to remember what I learnt from equity, econ and quant but that was minimal. FSA was non-existent… forgot pretty much everything.
i have to say FSA is the toughest section by far. i’d say quant is fairly straight-forward if you’re so inclined.
I would have to agree with Westbruin… It may not be the toughest section, but its highly important just because it relates back to everything else… During the Schweser office hours the other day, they said that the level 2 exam used to be known as the “accounting exam” to many students…
I think the trick to understanding quant is trying it in practice in excel, using the data analysis pak of the excel package. It helps, I did that last week during work coz i needed to forecast some numbers for my sector report… spend the whole week flipping through the CFAI book… but if you want a short cut… just understand the concept… My trick to memorize formula is by creating a list of formulas that i need to remember. Don’t write the formula, but write the name of the formula and what it is used for. And test yourself in writing all the formulas from the created list on a speed test, a single mistake made would require writing all the formulas again. I tend to memorize faster if I’m actually writing them down on a speedtest rather than structuring the formulas in my head. I can guarantee you that you can remember all the formulas for quants within half a day 2-4 hours of speedwriting of formulas. And make sure you do this every week at least so itll stick in your head.
mcpass Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Slow… have been dating a girl since December > which takes up a lot of time. Great fun, of > course, but bad for studying. > > I’m trying to get through Fixed Income tonight and > then I want to try and get through derivatives and > PM next week. Will be tough… > > That’s my first meeting with the material… > revision has been awful. Tried to remember what I > learnt from equity, econ and quant but that was > minimal. FSA was non-existent… forgot pretty > much everything. Oooh! Good luck with that. Dating and studying together can get very very tricky.
im suffering from the same situation…
I’m easily the biggest math meathead on this forum and im fairly certain that I will dominate quant come exam day. As it stands now, Quant feels like the easiest section. There isnt all that much to tackle. Just know the different model specifications, the problems that can arise, how to correct for the problems and a few easy equations to memorize (mean reverting, everything on the ANOVA table which is intuitive, adjusted R-squared, and the tests). The Derivatives and FI sections are going to be the beasts…
jbisback Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I’m easily the biggest math meathead on this forum > and im fairly certain that I will dominate quant > come exam day. As it stands now, Quant feels like > the easiest section. There isnt all that much to > tackle. Just know the different model > specifications, the problems that can arise, how > to correct for the problems and a few easy > equations to memorize (mean reverting, everything > on the ANOVA table which is intuitive, adjusted > R-squared, and the tests). > JB…this kind of pisses me off as I am slogging through quant right now. 
You feel up to helping me a bit? If you do I will help you with…er…er…well we could figure that out later.
mwvt9 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > jbisback Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > I’m easily the biggest math meathead on this > forum > > and im fairly certain that I will dominate > quant > > come exam day. As it stands now, Quant feels > like > > the easiest section. There isnt all that much > to > > tackle. Just know the different model > > specifications, the problems that can arise, > how > > to correct for the problems and a few easy > > equations to memorize (mean reverting, > everything > > on the ANOVA table which is intuitive, adjusted > > R-squared, and the tests). > > > JB…this kind of pisses me off as I am slogging > through quant right now. > > You feel up to helping me a bit? If you do I will > help you with…er…er…well we could figure > that out later. seconded.
I would think that Derivatives is the hardest part of the exam.
Shoot me any Q’s from quant and i’ll go through it with you. Sry…didnt mean to peeve you off…my point was that if I can do it, surely the rest can. I didnt even pass course 3 regents exam in high school. Luckily I ended up going out of state to finish high school the following year.
^HA! I was just kidding about being mad, but I am starting up quant again, so I may take you up on your offer and shoot some questions out throughout the day.
Just worked myself through Derivatives part I (futures/forwards) which was quite basic stuff. I want to start with the second study session tonight. JB… you’re breaking my balls. Seriously.
hardest part must be FSA and Equity
FSA: Boring yes, difficulty is not that bad.
FSA is a breeze. Derivs, is a beast…
for sure, if you aren’t quant-inclined then i would skip some of the more complex stuff or just learn some key words and the very basic concept. for me, occasionally when i get to the fringes of subjects, i’m just throwing up my arms and saying if they want to bust me on minutaie (sp?), then so be it. but i’m learning everything to a certain level of proficiency. i will not be killed by having no idea on a subject. but back to the quant, absolutely learn what all that lettering stuff means i.e. MSR, SSE, SEE etc… it isn’t conceptually difficult, but it’s hard to remember all of it and keep it straight. and that part is difficult whether you are mathematically inclined or not. and it is an absolutely guaranteed area to be on the exam, because it’s easy to test. don’t give up on an area that is 100% guaranteed to be on the exam.
I find Quant the easiest. Maybe having a Masters degree in Sciences helped. But I hate FSA! Maybe not having any Finance background does NOT help!! One thing I do not like about level II is that if you get struck in any particular set of 6, you are doomed…coz many of the questions have a chain reaction as far as solving for the solutions is concerned.
Quant was the toughest from me at the onset, but after practicing and reviewing it for a few days, it all clicked. Now its not bad at all. Actually not a whole lot to remember in realtion to the other sections.
FSA: Boring yes, difficulty is not that bad. - I second that. Quant - very straightforward, interlaps with the CAIA Level 1.