Passed on the first attempt with four sections @ 51-70 (Corp, Fixed Income, Quants, Derivatives) and the rest @>70. Not pretty but good enough. I used Schweser Notes, Q-Bank, and like many others on this forum used the CFAI texts for Ethics. I spent a great deal of time on Ethics which paid off. I actually answered 4000+ Q-Bank questions over 4 months. I kept drilling myself to stay sharp - very important and will help you retain that which you studied first. Also have CMA certification where some of the FRA stuff carried over. That helped too. I did not track how many hours I put into study. For L2, I will definately use CFAI EOC questions and start studying earlier. I started in February for L1.
Passed using only the CFAI curriculum. I read through all 6 texts once, doing the practice questions as I went. I marked them all at once after to find and refresh weak spots. Did the practice exam provided by CFAI, and the BSAS practice exam provided by my local chapter. Got >70% on all sections except ethics and derivatives, where I got 51-70%. In hindsight, I should have spent more time on ethics. Will probably adjust my strategy to include more practice questions (from whatever source) for L2.
Enough has already been said. Would like to say my 2c as I started prep in first week of April. Passed with >70% in all sections except Derivatives (51-70%). Quick profile: Started prep in first week April (had to travel for work for 1 week in April), took two weeks off in May, limited finance background, did Managerial Accounting & Financial Management during MBA 5 yrs ago (the stuff on CFA is way more complex), work in Telecom Industry - Marketing & Consulting space. Materials Used: - Schweser: 3 readings - 1st Reading in 5 weeks, 2nd reading in 2 weeks & the 3rd reading in less than a week. - Q-Bank: completed all sections except Ethics & AI (ran out of time!
- 3 Full Length Schweser Mock Tests - averaged around 78% - 1 CFAI Mock (only one where I took both sessions on the same day) scored 70% - Read through/solved EOC questions in last 2 weeks after getting advice on this forum, helped alot - multiple choice only. Reviewed them once more in last week - Referred to CFAI text books only to clarify concepts for topics I found to be difficult (again, if I had the time, I’d have gone through the books as well)
Another study method I used for the EOC questions: Not only would I find the correct answer and understand why it was correct, I would also understand why the other options were incorrect. This was especially effective in the FSA section. Everyone has different methods, and this way is time consuming, but it works pretty well.
luda002 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Thanks for posting; just looking for a little > clarification. > > 1. Are the Schweser tests you are referring to the > questions w/in the Notes or their mock exams? > > 2. CFAI mock and 2 Sample exams - I haven’t > received the materials yet but I am assuming this > is part of what I will receive with enrollment? > > Thanks again, Schweser has 2 mock exam books with 3 exams (AM+PM) in each. I used book One only - book 2 tends to be waaaaay too math heavy, much more so than the actual exam. You will receive the CFAI mock with enrollment - the sample exams are extra (if low on cash, ignore the CFAI sample mocks; they’re nice but not reflective of exam conditions, etc)
Schweser notes only !! Just go through them and most importantly follow this forum especially 1 month before the exams. A lot of good hearted people here and their invaluable suggestions were a huge help !! Thanks a ton guys !!
I’ve read 'bout 85% of curriculum, +used extensively the QBank, + have taken 2 Schweser’s mocks and 2 Mocks by CFAI (all mocks just 1-2 days prior to exam date, which is definitely not the best practice 
) Overall, it took me some 2 months
Passed with 70% in all except for Stats and derivatives Used the Schweser Video’s, Notes, Qbank and their mocks Started studying from the 31st Dec 2009 … dedicated about 540hrs … and yes i do work Completed all their notes and videos by around the 3rd week of April Completed Vol.1 of the schweser mock exams as well as the CFAI mocks … was averaging at 72%ish … Well i kept practising questions from the QBank past every video session and trust me it was extremely helpful , im guessing i would have completed close to around 1800 Q’s … Well lets put it this way, practice made me better and well equipped for the exam … Hope this was helpful … mE
I used first Schweser Video Notes, some topics 2X or 3X, because it was much easier to me to listen then to read. Then I read Notes a couple of time, and finaly I done about 3.000 Q from Q Bank, and of course, mock exams (CFAI), and sample exams (CFAI and Schwaser) Dedicated about 350 hours, from Dec 2009. My result on the exam was not to impresive, since I had less then 50% in two topic (AI and Quants), but important is that I get the mail with this 4 best letters in the world at that moment: Pass. Also, I want to mention that I will never pass, without strong support of my family, and without cooperation and consultations with other candidates, which during the preparation of exam becomes my good frends (salute to Mladen and Ilija). P.S. my final recomendation is to take the exam seriously, but try to avoid high pressure.
Passed because i used CFA guides. I must say Schweser is crap and not reflective at all of the real exam. I am a retaker, the first time around i read and reread schweser only as most told me not to bother with CFAI texts, not true! Schweser is too concise and may spend a one liner on something that the CFAI text has covered extensively. Also, i think the exam, level 1 at least, expects you to know beyond what schweser merely skims. From the CFA mock exams and EOC q’s i learned that the institute is looking for the teenie weenie details you may have overlooked. I remember a particular queston from the EOC questions that i got wrong because i failed to remember a tiny table that was on a page in the text. when i saw this in other EOC q’s i realized that EVERY DETAIL MATTERS.
This was my second attempt I passed with an average score. Last time in 2008 I used schweser’s full pack ( good but expensive) and this time I used Elans ultimate page (great and very cheap). I used their videos, study notes, eleventh hour and mock exams and found the study notes to be the most helpful. Highly recommended esp for retakers because they get extra discounts. And the best part is that their mocks are like the real exams atleast I felt that.
sungirl27 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Passed because i used CFA guides. I must say > Schweser is crap and not reflective at all of the > real exam. > > I am a retaker, the first time around i read and > reread schweser only as most told me not to bother > with CFAI texts, not true! > > Schweser is too concise and may spend a one liner > on something that the CFAI text has covered > extensively. > > Also, i think the exam, level 1 at least, expects > you to know beyond what schweser merely skims. > From the CFA mock exams and EOC q’s i learned that > the institute is looking for the teenie weenie > details you may have overlooked. I remember a > particular queston from the EOC questions that i > got wrong because i failed to remember a tiny > table that was on a page in the text. when i saw > this in other EOC q’s i realized that EVERY DETAIL > MATTERS. Honestly I don’t think I read a full page in the CFA Curriculum (except for the Ethics section) and studied exclusively from the Schweser notes… Passed on my first attempt with all over 70% except derivatives… The time saved by reading the Notes allowed to re-read everything twice in the same amount of time as reading the CFAI Cur. once… I am quite happy with Schweser…
Just remembered…I used ADAR REVIEW books as well. They’re not very well known but it’s a shame…they offer great outlines on every LOS. Look into them!
I passed using: Stalla Study Notes and Peter Olinto lectures Schweser Q-Bank Schweser, Stalla and CFA Mock Exams CFAI EOC questions
Passed with >70% in all subjects. I used Schweser study notes, CFA Texts and Allen Resources’ Question bank and Audio. I started my preparation 1st week of December with Schweser notes. Solved all EOC questions and covered all 5 books by 1st week of February(roughly 2 months). At the same time, I was practicing with Allen Resources’ Question bank and audio (because I commute a long distance to work). From about 2nd week of February, I switched to CFA Texts. I went through most of the materials in the CFA Texts (read Ethics, Accounting, Quant., Derivatives page by page and skimmed through others) but I made sure I solved every end of chapter question for all the books. About 2 weeks to the exam (at this point I had gone through over 4,000 questions in Allen Resources), I started going through Schweser’s Practice Exams volumes 1 and 2. On the average my score was about 80%. A day before the exam, I took the CFA Mock exam, got 77% morning session and 69% afternoon session and also revised Ethics using Schweser notes. I think the summary of it all is “Never take any chances, read as if your whole life depends on it, push yourself but ensure you take out time regularly to have fun depending on your schedule, above all stay positive and please avoid depression because the exam is very demanding”.
My background: Chemical Engineer with full time job & have petrochemical technical expertise of three years. So there I was & decided to chase CFA last September but thought it would be too late for December exam & hence postponed to June 2010. Meanwhile, spent 15 days in Sep-2009 to study all the concepts & motives behind ethics standards. Ya, I know you would be thinking what the heck I would remember anything about it in June, but what I studied was not standards alone but the perspective of CFA institute & what prompted them to propose those standards. Investopedia.com L1 ethics pages were very good for that purpose. Now that I’m confident with ethics portion, I started again this March for the rest of syllabus. I never did one topic continuously for more than two hours. If I did Economics in morning, I would do FI in evening. Any pair of topics, say Economics-FRA, I wouldn’t do them for more than ten days. Whenever I start again, I did a 30 min looking back for whatever I did earlier. Sometimes I went for three different topics on a day. Somehow, this kept the mind fresh so that more things can be absorbed & retained. Except for Economics, Quant, PM & AI, everything else I did from CFAI textbooks. For difficult FRA topics like Leases & Long term assets, I would switch between Schweser & CFAI, but finally I mastered CFAI text. So I finished the first revision by May 15. During this 2.5 months, I had to endure an extra 4 hours on job (thereby making it a 12 hours duty) for most of April & control the temptation of IPL3 season (with CSK going up to final & winning their first championship, there was no way I was going to miss). With Federer losing in early rounds of this clay season, I somehow managed to cut time-pass hours & extract 4 hours for 2.5 months with Sunday completely off. AI & PM were the last topics I ever touched. Wish I had started PM earlier. In last twenty days, I did SchweserPro mocks (about 4 with Advanced option), Volume 1 full mocks & CFAI mocks. Full analysis of one mock test would take me 2 days & during this process everything would be reviewed again. Last three sundays were devoted for full time mocks exactly during the same time as that of exam time. This helped me condition my body & mind to make it as a routine activity. Last four days, only EOC & review of my notes & previously underlined CFAI text. None of the questions were chinese for me during exam & finished within two hours. Just that I got confused in-between among various biases. However, I was pretty confident after I got out. Passed with >70% in all topics except AI. If I had to do it again, I would start little bit early. I almost lost half of my life during that three month stretch. Now that I’ve taken transfer to Corporate Finance within my company, hope I will be more at peace during L2 preparation. Point is, anybody willing to completely devote 4 hours for two months at a stretch can crack L1. If you want to retain some life, do it two hours for four months. Hope this helps.
Level I: Pass The table below illustrates your subject matter strengths and weaknesses. The three columns on the right are marked with asterisks to indicate your performance on each question or topic area. Item Set Q# Topic Max Pts <=50% 51%-70% >70% - Alternative Investments 8 - * - - Corporate Finance 20 - * - - Derivatives 12 * - - - Economics 24 - * - - Equity Investments 24 - - * - Ethical & Professional St 36 - - * - Financial Reporting & Anal48 - - * - Fixed Income Investment 28 - * - - Portfolio Management 12 - - * - Quantitative Methods 28 - * - I started studying in feburary and finished all of Q bank and schwiser text only didnt even open CFAI books.Just do Q bank and u shd be fine my aggregate score after finishing 4500 q bank mcq was 68%
I passed with all topics > 70, and only alt investments and derivatives were between 51%-70. I studied for three months, solely used the schweser notes and video CD’s, only used CFAI texts for ethics, covered the curriculum in two months. for the last month i did a **** load of practice tests on Qbank, timed schweser, CFAI and Elan mocks. I also bought elan’s eleventh hour guide on the last 10 days, it definitely helped alot, highly recommend I also cant fathom what my study could have turned out to be without analystforum, all the comments definitely helped me formulate a winning CFA level 1 passing strategy, plus the moral support i received here since i didnt have any friends in real life who were preparing the CFA, so three cheers to analystforum.com!! I might be biased or outright wrong but i do believe that the pass rates in here are way higher than the average population, and im betting even higher than those at CFA training courses. I really think they are overrated, pricey and too structured for my study methods. I enjoyed the freedom of setting my own timelines and objectives, ill even say that while studying for the CFA level 1 was tough, it was challenging and fun. My BIGGEST worry is that i will lose the drive to pursue CFA level 2 with the same determination as i had for level 1. With the demoralising difficulty im facing in securing a related job in the field, i might call it quits and just pursue a different career, ( im 27, in New zealand, with a masters and BA in finance, but with only a few internships and training stints under my belt). Additionally after reading Nassim taleb’s Black swan theory, i sort of have a lack or so called ‘respect’ or credibility for modern portfolio theory and general economic models, so yes, i might be contemplating a move into a different field, i will see how it goes. and sorry for this long post, most of it is just rambling.
I got >70% in all except equity and econ where I got 51-70%. I didn’t do any CFAI EOC questions and used Schweser and Qbank exclusively. Started studying intensively in March and finished the syllabus around the beginning of May. I wasn’t working at the time so I was able to spend quite a lot of time each day and in the past, as a grad student, I have taken courses in statistics and corporate finance. My suggestion is to start around Jan, read Schweser, do Qbank and maybe if you have enough time, do some end of chapter questions from CFAI especially in FSA and Ethics. Pace yourself so that you get done by the end of April and spend May reviewing the material PLUS doing all the Schweser mock-exams and the mock exam that CFAI puts up. Also, it helped me to go back and review some Schweser end of chapter questions on topics that were as clear as mud during the review period. QBank for me was pretty ok in helping me cementing concepts that I initially found difficult as there are a large number of questions. Hope that helps somewhat !
There is no real skeleton key to passing the exam. I would venture to guess that 20% of the test of aptitude and natural test taking ability, and the other 80% is a pure measure of hard work, focus and knowing what you personally need to succeed and then doing 120% of that. Everyone says wait until November. Honestly I just don’t see why. Start as soon as you get your materials. If for no other reason you will have a more enjoyable holiday season because you can afford to take a week off without falling behind. My personal strategy was a pyramid type of approach. For the base I read all the way through the CFAI text from August until November. At this point the Schweser Notes come out. Either buy the new ones ($350) or the previous years version on ebay ($150). Spend the next three months reading all the way through the Schwesers. Once you’ve done this, reread the Schwesers a second time, spending a small amount of time on the stuff you are comfortable with and really focusing on your weak areas. This brings you to about 2 months from test time. What I did then was to buy the Schweser Secret Sauce (again, either $100 new version or $50 last years version ebay) and read that twice all the way through. Then just spend the last six weeks taking finals and working on your formulas sheet and just studying the Quick Sheet. Everybody likely has a different approach that works best for them, but the pyramid approach worked awesome for me. Build your base with the 3,500 page CFAI text, hone it down with the 1,400 page Schweser Notes, hone it down further to the 250 page Secret Sauce, and then hit the tip of the pyramid with a few page formula sheet or Quick Sheet leading into the test. I felt like a freaking laser man. I was so confident going into my exam and I passed >70% in everything but one section. It wasn’t because I am anywhere close to a genius, but because I was sufficiently horrified of the exam and absolutely didn’t want to find myself at the testing center wishing I had just a little more time to study. There is absolutely no reason to lock yourself in a hotel for a week before your exam or be one of those people on test morning flipping through their Quicksheet like a fool with sweat pouring down their forehead. There really isn’t even a good reason to stay up late the night before or wake up early on test day to cram. You’ve got the better part of a year. Just make the absolute most of it and you’ll be fine.