hi, i have three month to prepare for the level 1 on DEC 3 , but i have all three month completely for studying , no school , no work . Is that enough time. ? please respond if you have experience with such thing. Thank you.
Short answer: Yes. I have had the last 2 months off. The 2 months before that I was looking for a job but I was unsuccessful, so I decided to take on studying full time. I am very “lucky” to have this time, but there is opportunity cost of making money and/or leaving school earlier. However, I do have to warn you that you may think you have lots of time and procrastinate (as have I), but the days go by very fast and no matter the situation, cramming is not very effective in general. Plus there is much stress if you leave a lot to study right before the exam. Related to the last paragraph, it not only depends on your work ethic every day, but also on your educational background. My background at school is such that a lot of the exam topics are at least touched upon in many of my courses. Therefore, the material is less foreign to me than others. This is no substitute for studying for Level 1 however, as review and memorization are required of me. I plan to take 4 months off from January 2012 - April 2012 to study exclusively for Level 2, given that I pass Level 1 (I better). I may work part time as well, but Level 2 requires more effort so I may just study. Good luck.
If you have no other distractions, one month would be sufficient, since you could easily put in 200 hours without abandoning your life. So three months is more than enough and is probably too much time. Plenty of people I know easily passed L1 while working full time and starting within three months of the exam.
Consider it your full time job, and you have more than enough time.
makki Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > hi, i have three month to prepare for the level 1 > on DEC 3 , but i have all three month completely > for studying , no school , no work . Is that > enough time. ? please respond if you have > experience with such thing. Thank you. recommend hours is like 250-300 I think. you have way more than enough time. 5 weeks if all you need. 60 hrs each week! and you have everything fresh in your memory, not like ppl who started studying long time ago.
Yes they are enough provided that you make a plan and act accordingly. CFA isn’t only about passion but also about wisdom. Make sure the time you allocate to read the material; you fully utilize it and try your level best to fizzle out everything (especially the fear of loosing and what will happen in the exams) while studying. Plan your leisure activities, eat healthy food, rejuvenate yourself, gather all the energies and study. It is more about understanding and retaining the facts. Take up the pace gradually and whenever you revise, make sure you spend less time than the first time you gave reading to that topic.
Hi Makki, yes, three months totally suffice. You can even do it in six weeks, but it depends on the time you can devote every single day. Daniel Lambert http://www.daniel-lambert.de/cfa-chartered-financial-analyst/cfa-english/
yes
Nah, better to wait till june. Remember even if you pass you only get 4 mos for L2! And if you fail that, then there is not a huge advantage to taking L1 right now…
Skip the Dec exam and sit for the June 2012 exam (pass rates are higher for June exam and you’ll have plenty of time to study). I sat for (and passed) the June 2011 exam and stated my studies on Feb 1. Even with 4 months of study time, it was just barely enough time. The pace of studying as also crazy! I can’t tell you how many times I sat in a airport reading CFAI because I had to read or risk falling behind for that week. Don’t waste your money, sit for the June exam. My advice is to start prepping and reading in Nov / Dec. – CFA Live Blogging @ http://TheGlover.net
makki Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > hi, i have three month to prepare for the level 1 > on DEC 3 , but i have all three month completely > for studying , no school , no work . Is that > enough time. ? please respond if you have > experience with such thing. Thank you. There is a recommended study schedule for someone in your situation. The study schedule is in the link below. The required time is 3 months plus two weeks, the two weeks are for the review. Good Luck. http://www.qc4blog.com/?p=905 W
Depends on your background. If you have a finance background, this should be more than enough time. If not, I hope you can absorb large amounts of new concepts…