"Jack of all topics" vs. "Master of a few"

There are a few sections that I am really good at (always get between 80-95% correct) and some sections I am not so good at (50-75%). There isn’t enough time for me to master every section. I am not so good at quant, econ, FRA, and fixed income. Would I be better off trying to master 2 of those or just being a “jack of all trades, master of none” and learn all 4 the best I can? What I’m really getting at is that I’m spending way too much time on FRA. I get between 50-75% everytime, almost always less than 70% though. At this point, would I just be better off dominating fixed income and quant/econ? I’m pretty sure I could master fixed income in ~4 or 5 days and econ/quant in probably a little longer. What do you guys think? How good do you have to be at the other sections to make up for 50-60% FRA? [probably selling myself short here because I’ll likely get higher than 50% on test day] Thanks in advance

Hi, I would decide based on the following: Each area has a certain weight in the exam. I think ethics is 15%, FRA 20%, PM 5%… I’m not sure about the exact weights now, but I’m sure you can look them up eihter on the CFAI page or in the books. What I am definitely going to do is focus on the areas that have a high weight in the exam. I’m also good at Equities and FI as well as AI, PM and Eco - in those areas I get 85-90% quite easily, but since they don’t have a high weighting, I’m focussing on FRA (my weakest area) and Ethics.

I see what you are saying but although FRA is one of my worst sections and it counts for the most on the test, it is still going to be the hardest for me to improve. I see you didn’t mention corporate finance in your “good” topics list, do you think it would be better to master that section (which wouldn’t be too hard) and then spend the rest of the time on FRA? There is so much material on FRA that I personally think it’s possible to know a lot about FRA and still not do very well on the test, but I don’t see that same thing happening for corp finance, and other “easier” sections.

FRA is worth the time a: it’s the biggest chunk of the test b: if you don’t get a handle on it now, your heads gonna spin at level II.

yes FRA and CORP are tested heavily at L2 (quant overlaps, PM overlaps, equity overlaps) so learn it all now and help yourself for June 2011.

I am doing quite well on everything (>80%) on Qbank, but I HATE alternative investments.

HI, I am currently doing some FRA revision and I figured out that it’s not that hard to master. If you’re socring around 50%, 1-2 reviews will get you to around 70%. There’s still enough time, so I think it’s worth it.