I just started studying for Level 1 with intentions to take the test this December.
I am only using Schweser materials as of right now. My question is how long on average should I spend per study session (Schweser breaks out by Study Session within their 5 books)?
I understand that material that you don’t have as good a grip on you should study for longer, but I am just looking for a ballpark figure to make sure I am keeping pace. After one week of studying, I am not even half way through book 1, study session 2 so I’m wondering if this is reasonable. Thanks in advance!
There isn’t a magic number for “each” study session.
If I can give you any advice, make a study plan and stick to it. This exam is about discipline. You need to make sure that you leave enough time to review the concepts.
Remember, there are 18 study sessions and 60 total readings. You want to make sure you get through the material with time left to review and practice.
So,
Lets assume you can confidentely complete 4 readings per week. That would take you 15 weeks to complete the entire curriculum and approximaely 60 days to review and do mock exams.
Also, I would recommend doing Ethics last and starting on Quantiative Methods.
Assuming that you want to finish by mid-October (so that you can start on practice exams and reviews), you have 115 days to finish 18 Study Sessions; that’s 6.4 days per Study Session on average.
There is not an exact answer to your question, because each candidate is unique in that sense. Also, different readings take different time. Discipline and good study plan is, in my opinion, critical for success in the study process (i.e. on the exam). However, you can’t plan everything in advance and you need to adjust your study plan along the way. That brings additional challenges.
Therefore, I would suggest using TimePrep (iphone/ipad) app, because the app gives you feedback what can you really do in the available time taking into account your study preferences and constraints and enables you to build a study plan in callendar and adjust it along the way making sure you will make it on time. TimePrep can give you immediate feedback on will you make it on time, how much more you have to study and what can you do to really make it on time (e.g. you can also adjust your curriculum).
If you are only using Schweser, then it is imperative you do the CFAI questions after every chapter you complete.
As it says, the CFAI questions are required reading (and doing). IMHO, the best questions to prep from.
Don’t think you can finish your studies and then use the CFAI questions in the last few weeks to help refresh your memory. They’re much harder than the Schweser EOCs. I remember spending 3-4 hours on some sections just to complete 20 CFAI questions. You’ll panic if you leave these to the last month.
Did you get that foldout formula sheet with your Schweser package? When you write your exam, you’ll see every third person cramming from these before the test. They’ll all fail the exam. That has to be internalized long before. Being able to memorize a formula is useless if you have no idea how to use it.