So what have you guys learned by this whole 2009 L2 experience? I have learned the following. * The CFA Inst is working hard to keep the designations value from falling. * Know pretty much everything. Knowing the main topics inside out will not cut it. I guess thats what separates the ones who desrve to pass and those who don’t. * Go hard or don’t go at all. 60% effort 3 times is not better than 100% once. This has been my 3rd attempt @ L2. The first one was sidelined by some health problems within my family. The 2nd attempt was a decent one as I just failed (Level 10). This year I was just kinda sick of it all and thought that because I learned most of the stuff before that I could slack off and then pull it all togather at the end. This was a huge mistake on my behalf and while I knew the main topics inside out I was fairly weak on the more minor topics. I felt very good after the AM session but got owned about half way through the PM. Spent way too much time trying to figure out some Q’s and found myself in a hurry to finish. Hopefully it will be enough. If not I have nobody else to blame but my own lazy ass.
One lesson learned. Reading the CFAI texts in their entirety is a must. Relying on a prep course is not the way to go. I read a good deal of the CFAI materials and did a lot of the EOC questions and both Mocks this year (which I didn’t with L1), but still may have relied too much on Stalla. I too had health issues, but it was this year. Had an operation right in the middle of my preparation. Was out for a good 3 weeks. But I will not use that as an excuse. Although I was uncomfortable and under medication, I was in bed and thus actually had more time to read! Can’t say it was a great time for retention though.
I was schweser only all 3 times. LOL maybe thats a sign. But really it was just a lack of effort.
Lesson learned - you cant rely on Stalla and Schweser. Perhaps now that CFAI have started to send out their own books, Stalla and Schweser will slowly become more and more defunct. Although it is useful to read those providers through first and then do the indepth CFAI book.
BA Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > > I felt very good after the AM session but got > owned about half way through the PM. Spent way too > much time trying to figure out some Q’s and found > myself in a hurry to finish. Hopefully it will be > enough. If not I have nobody else to blame but my > own lazy ass. I felt EXACTLY the same way. In the PM session, I thought the first half of the test was actually easy, but the second half might have did me in.
bos_IT_guy Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > BA Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > > > I felt very good after the AM session but got > > owned about half way through the PM. Spent way > too > > much time trying to figure out some Q’s and > found > > myself in a hurry to finish. Hopefully it will > be > > enough. If not I have nobody else to blame but > my > > own lazy ass. > > > I felt EXACTLY the same way. In the PM session, > I thought the first half of the test was actually > easy, but the second half might have did me in. Same here. I did ok on the morning (maybe 65%) and then dominated the first half of the afternoon…pretty much knew everything except for a couple of ethics q’s I may have guessed wrong on. The second half of the afternoon was a bit more of a struggle. I think I’m either a barely pass, or a 9 or 10 fail.
Going to remember your loginames. Can you share your results?
BA Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- designations value from falling. > * Know pretty much everything. Knowing the main > topics inside out will not cut it. I guess thats > what separates the ones who desrve to pass and > those who don’t. true dat
same exact feeling as most in this thread… probably got low 70’s in the first half… then cruised through the first 24 on the afternoon, then hit a brick wall in stuff i couldnt do
- Anything less than 6 months of studying for L2 and you are playing with fire. Maybe you get lucky and they don’t focus on anything you missed, but there is no conceivable way a human being can ingest that much information in less than 6 months. I don’t care if you are Rain Man or Stephen Hawking. 2) The questions in the back on the CFAI book chapters are your friend. That Schweser cardbord “cheat sheet” is not.
SmokeyJoeWood Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > 1) Anything less than 6 months of studying for L2 > and you are playing with fire. Maybe you get > lucky and they don’t focus on anything you missed, > but there is no conceivable way a human being can > ingest that much information in less than 6 > months. I don’t care if you are Rain Man or > Stephen Hawking. > > 2) The questions in the back on the CFAI book > chapters are your friend. That Schweser cardbord > “cheat sheet” is not. Are you serious? 6 months? You could do all 3 levels plus the FRM in that time!
FreakazoiD Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > SmokeyJoeWood Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > 1) Anything less than 6 months of studying for > L2 > > and you are playing with fire. Maybe you get > > lucky and they don’t focus on anything you > missed, > > but there is no conceivable way a human being > can > > ingest that much information in less than 6 > > months. I don’t care if you are Rain Man or > > Stephen Hawking. > > > > 2) The questions in the back on the CFAI book > > chapters are your friend. That Schweser > cardbord > > “cheat sheet” is not. > > Are you serious? 6 months? You could do all 3 > levels plus the FRM in that time! With a full-time job? Well, maybe some people are blessed with an intricate understanding of the material before reading it. With a full-time job and other responsibilities, I’d say 6 months seems about right to (a) go through the material initially and (b) review the material sufficiently to learn everything well. If you go through a study session per week, then you’re already talking about 4 1/2 months.
I started in Feb first week ( post my L1)…really worked hard…except for a week in April ( brother in-laws marriage)… didn’t waste any time… gave all Schweser exams plus mocks…scored 75 + average on shweser…83 on mocks… have clocked 550 + hours…I must have sat with books for 800 + hours for clocking this… didn’t study late nights…but didn’t waste any time… I don’t think I cud have tried it better left exam with mised feelings…and now on AF…I realize everyday that I found this wrong and that wrong…worst I found I answered 1 question in affirmation…while it asked for NOT contributing…this in spite of finishing both exmas in 1.5 hours…by PM I was to tired…felt like vomiting finance have enrolled for FRM…but cant read any more bonds…derivatives…looks like end of one more dream in between… I might still pass…but I hate this feeling of fear even after trying so hard…it sucks… worst…I almost didnt concentrate on my job and thus opportunity cost has been really high for me… CFA really has been very unethical in the way they worded their questions…thats not checking concepts…or intelligence…or hard work…at best its testing language…or worst checking luck
Lessons learned–I’ll let you know on August 18th!
I agree with Freakazoid. 6 months…seriously?
if u have failed to prepare, be prepared to fail
I did it all in about 2.5 months, while working full time. I’m pretty sure I passed as well.
sameeragarwal Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > if u have failed to prepare, be prepared to fail Thats for sure. I think that the amount of time is important but the quality of the studying during that time is the a hugh part. I did most of my studying at the office or in transit and looking back maybe it wasn’t the most efficient way to go about it. The result will be whatever it will be. Either way I’ll be back studying some type of CFA material soon enough so I’m just gonna try to move on and focus on the other aspects of my life.
Schweser might not be enough if you want to score a 100% on the exam. If you know everything covered in Schweser really well, you have a very good shot at passing. Of course there were two odd questions on the exam where I went WTF, never seen this before. Then there were other questions where Schweser didn’t mention the term but covered the concept i.e. Blume method or Pastor blah blah model. But most of the ques which I got wrong, I got wrong because I made stupid mistakes or got mixed up on formulas or concepts. I seriously believe that if you know Schweser well and don’t loose it and start peeing uncontrollably during the exam, you will pass.
early to tell, I’ll tell you on August 18th. But for now: Don’t worry much about very complex problems/areas Do know simpler concepts insideout Difficulty of the exam is not that high, compared to trickiness. If I fail I’m going to CFAI books.