Been studying for a month already for the Dec08 Test. Already halfway through quants. Was wondering for ppl that took the test already, is a month to long to stay on Quants the first time around. I figured if I do not get a good understand now of it, when it comes to reviewing it, I would be learning it all over again. Any suggestion let me know.
1 month on quant is silly unless you have absolutely no statistics back ground at all. I read Schwesher and did the practice questions and felt adequately prepared for all the stat questions on the test. Its not like you will remember everything you read now for the test in december. You should read and highlight everything your first time through. Work the questions but don’t mark the answers. This makes going through it the 2nd time that much easier. Spend a month on FSA if anything.
I agree. I am preparing for December and began with FSA. Spent about a month on it. Quant really is not that bad if you have taken a previous statistics course. I just had to knock the cobwebs off and I feel confident, although we’ll see how I feel come November.
I agree with others, a month for Quant even this far out may be too slow. At that pace, just FSA will take you 2+ months! You could be doing one of two things, either spending too much time on Quant or not studying enough hours. How many hours would you say you spent studying that half of Quant? I’m also preparing for the DEC 08 exam. I finished Quant in 2 weeks. I try to do 1 SS per week in which I study about 18 hours. I use Schweser almost exclusively though, using only CFAI texts may have taken a little longer.
Stog - If you need a month for quant, you need a month for quant. What everyone else is telling you is that you may have a problem when you get to much bigger topics (like FSA) if you are going to spend that much time.
I’d say flip through the next few books briefly to see what you’re up against and try to come up with an estimate of how long it’ll take you to get through the curriculum. Ideally you’d want to finish all the readings and leave yourself 4-6 weeks to do practice tests and review weak areas…at least that was my approach
i started pretty early myself…not this early but not far from it. I would caution you as by April I barely remembered ANYTHING I studied at this juncture relative to the june exam. As for Quant I felt quite strong in it but did not encounter nearly as much on the exam as I thought would be on there.
If you are reading everything now, you better be highlighting or taking great notes so you don’t have to waste so much time the 2nd time around. FSA was way more demanding than quant, in my opinion.
Houston, Right now I am going through the CFAI books and taking notes. I plan on going through the schweser material as well.
ya 1 month on quant is too much. I spent about 1 1/2 week on quant and ethics.
quant is pretty easy but it depens on the person. You might find quant hard but find FA easier. Take your time but pace yourself, because you don’t want to omit something.
You should be write on then. Another thing I found useful was after reading the material I looked at the formula sheet to make sure I had memorized all of the formulas for that given section.
i am giving most of time on fsa next would be eco
stogman, Tthe good news is that you’ve started very early and so you have plenty of time - eg to spend a month on quant. So you can spend plenty of time on the bigger subjects. The bad news is that you’re starting so early that you may get to November and have forgotten most of the stuff you did months ago back in June. So if you’re spending a month on quant, make sure you’re doing it properly - do every question, do every qbank, do all the past exam questions, etc and make sure it really sinks in. You’ll be fine…
I am on the same boat. Almost month for quant. to me taking some time understand concepts. I am very disappointed now, how will complete other books?.
Don’t expect to learn everything your first time through. I read each book in Schweser twice, the first time going through and highlighting and taking notes of everything important. The 2nd time is when you actually learn the stuff, it is kind of silly to think you will remember definitions in december that you are reading for the first time now.