Hi everyone, I have just finished my penultimate year and currently in the summer break before doing my final year. I am planning to take Level 1 in Dec 2008. Do you think I have enough time to prepare for the exam? (please consider that I have to focus on my final year which may be already quite stressful )----(but I have 1.5-2months studying the materials now which is a plus). I have no idea how difficult Level will be so I need some advices before I enroll. My background: Doing Banking, Finance and Management Degree at Loughborough University, UK. I have studied a bit of the materials of Level 1 during my Banking Finance course. I had a first in my 1st year and a good 2:1 in my 2nd year. Thanks in advance.
No. Not if you can’t study while at school. Take it at a later time, that is, unless you have the extra cash available to take it for fun.
Thanks. But if I decide to do it, I will really concentrate and not waste money As I can study 2 months full time now (Aug, Sept) and may be 1-2 hours a day while at Uni(Oct+Nov). It may well add up to more than 250 hours. The reason why I want to do it early because if I pass Level 1 now, I will have a better chance to get a good job when I graduate. Please give me some more advice!!! ?? Anyone?
Kudos to you for actually knowing that “penultimate” means next-to-last, and not “Really Ultimate!!!” as most people (including some journalists) believe. Oh yeah - wait until after grad to write L1.
@ L3 Buckaroo I don’t quite get what you mean? I finished my penultimate year already and about to start my final year in 2 months( the requirements said u can do L1 during final year). Considering the tough job market out there, especially for banking, I wish L1 will add to my graduate prospect. Another thing is that I couldn’t manage to do an summer internship so passing L1 will help me a lot. Obviously writing it after grad will be much less stressful for me. But writing it now will certainly helps a lot. The only thing is that I worry it may distract me from final year stuff. Securing a banking job at London is so hard at the moment while banks do not want to take more people in due to the market condition. And I don’t even have a summer internship 
Anyone think I CAN or SHOULD write the L1 now??
Having finished undergraduate in 2007, I just wrote my Level 2 Exam in June 08. CFA will not help you get a job. Graduate employers do NOT care that you’re a level 1 candidate in the CFA Program. (I read this is saying something like “I applied to Harvard”). As Level 1 is basically the same stuff you learn in ECON101 and ACCT101 courses + ethics (ha ha) + fixed income,equity and derivatives… theres not that much value added. Employers for the next 50 years will still be looking for the person who is the right fit for the job… ie. until Japan or Korea create humanoid robots which take over a snr PM job or understands the market well enough to write an industry research report.
@z3159712: So u grad June 07 and do your Level 1 in Dec07 and level 2 in June 08? Is it right? I agree with u that passing L1 will not 100% guarantee u have a good grad job, it depends on other things including the fit with employers, BUT -Register for L1 is not like PASSING it. If I can pass L1 in Dec, it will at least show my commitments to the finance industry. -I think the term" I applied to Harvard" only right for those who enroll and not taken the exam yet. Many people in this forum spending hundreds of hours studying for L1 and what you said is like: “Passing Level 1 is just a joke and no one care.” You really diminish the efforts of so many people and even the knowledge that they gain by studying L1. @z3159712 : I am not trying to be offensive, I just want to say my view. Hope you understand 
Well, 3 discouraging posts so far!!! Anyone can at least give me some reasons why I shouldn’t do it now.
not to burst your bubble here but if you take L1 in Dec, even if you pass you won’t be able to take L2 til June 2010 because you have to have graduated in order to register for L2. better to just wait so you don’t forget everything. my 2 cents.
Might as well get it over with. Since it’s such a big jump from L1 to L2, you might as well help your chances for L2 by starting EXTRA early, plus it CAN help you find a job when you get closer to graduation. I know passing level 1 in December saved my butt come graduation. I started studying in late Aug./early Sep., and the test was Dec. 1. And I was in my last year of college. Look at it this way, if there are people who can hold part-time jobs and still do well in school and still find time for parties, then you should be able to do this instead of any other extracurricular activity. The real question is whether you’re willing to. And if it’s your first time, I recommend at least 300 hours of studying, just to be sure. I’m sure at least SOME of the 65% who failed this last time studied at least 250 hours.
Thanks bobbylei, only encouraging post so far for me in this thread. So you were in the same situation as me and you PASS in your final year at College? Is it right? You even started 1 month after me and pass!!! At least this gives me some incentives to start now! If I can be focus enough to study full time for 2 months then it’s ~300hrs already. And then 10-15 hours every week in term time to revise. i hope it would be ok. How did u make it bobbylei? Within 3 months without finance background! It would be great if you can share some experience about your learning process! What materials u use? ,etc?? What level are you in now?
spellsinger Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Well, 3 discouraging posts so far!!! Anyone can at > least give me some reasons why I shouldn’t do it > now. It seems to me that you have made up your mind already to do it and are just looking for encouragement from this forum. I recommend focusing on getting in early rounds for some good job interviews, and after that on enjoying your last year in school for a while. Then if you are still interested in the program, take the test December 2009 after you graduate. If you take L1 now, the earliest you can sit for L2 will be June 2010. You will have forgotten most of what you learned from the first test by then. Remember that quite a bit of the curriculum is overlapping, and some of the L2 test in June 2010 will be testing material from the L1 test administered in June and December 2009. So you will be recalling somewhat stale information. Kudos for the initiative, but in my opinion, beginning the CFA program before you are working in a job is a bit of a waste of time and not the way the program was designed to function.
Singer, Can’t believe you’re actually thinking about this. I’ve been out of undergrad now for ~10 years. I was working full-time while going to school and didn’t exactly have the best college experience. I would give my left arm to be back at school, going to football games, chasing skirts around campus drinking beer. Trust me, there’s time to get serious later. Once you’re done with college, that’s it, unless you’re one of those perpetual students who never wants to graduate, or Will Farrell in Old School. Enjoy these times. Once you’re married with kids and have a job, life is far less interesting. hit’m long and straight
To answer your question, here’s my study strategy for L1… due to the enormity of my task considering my circumstances, I was quite OCD about it: -Bought the Schweser notes, just the books, none of the fancy add-ons. It was the last time that CFAI didn’t require ordering their textbooks, which is another reason I took it in Dec. instead of June. However, I also didn’t know that I couldn’t register for the level 2 exam before I graduated until it was actually time to register. Luckily, I had about a year of full-time work experience before my final year of college, and after making a bunch of phone calls I was cleared to register. -Marked a calender very carefully, with deadlines for completing the practice exams. Since I knew the level 1 is more about range and not depth, I saved the practice tests until I absolutely had to do them… just a personal preference because I learn best from reading. All the items that were not completed on each calendar day were carried over to the next day, which increased my incentives to finish all my study goals on time. I did the end-of-chapter Schweser quizzes after each SS. By the first practice test, I scored mid-80s. Which is good because that happened about 3 days before the actual test, which I scored in the highest range in all categories besides derivs and alternative investments, only 10% of the total questions. I don’t recommend this, it happened because I felt studying for another 6 hours would give me better returns than answering questions for that long. -Used different color highlighters for different types of material: Concepts & Definitions, Equations, LOS’s, etc… that way I can go back through and only work certain parts of my brain hardcore each time -Did all my homework and school readings asap in the daytime between classes… it was my best year in terms of GPA as well, haha. -I’m waiting for my scores for the level 2, which was a real ball-buster but based on my commitment I think I have as good of a chance as anybody. I just passed level 1 this past december, and graduated in May. -Though the materials may not directly apply to a job, it’s still good for demonstrating to interviewers that you have initiative and discipline. Honestly, how many people can say they passed level 1 before they graduated college? -FYI, America is one of the few countries in the world where college is more fun than being an adult. I’m an expat right now in Hong Kong, and I assure you the parties here are way better than any of the frat-tastic kegfests I went to in college. -Since there’s no guarantee you’ll pass this time, you might as well give it a try in case you gotta take it again in June. Or you can simply register for the June 2009 one. But probably easier to clear up time second semester for job-hunting and having your level 1 pass to back you up on that.
spellsinger Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Hi everyone, > > I have just finished my penultimate year and > currently in the summer break before doing my > final year. > > I am planning to take Level 1 in Dec 2008. Do you > think I have enough time to prepare for the exam? > > (please consider that I have to focus on my final > year which may be already quite stressful > )----(but I have 1.5-2months studying the > materials now which is a plus). I have no idea how > difficult Level will be so I need some advices > before I enroll. > > My background: Doing Banking, Finance and > Management Degree at Loughborough University, UK. > I have studied a bit of the materials of Level 1 > during my Banking Finance course. I had a first in > my 1st year and a good 2:1 in my 2nd year. > > Thanks in advance. I work in the City. I recommend you do it, if you have your heart set on equity research or portfolio management. Doing it alongside a full time job is much harder (esp. your first one is much harder than doing it while studying “full time”). If you have ambitions of going into i-banking, then don’t bother because a) it will do nothing for you, partly because b) you will not have time to do Levels II and III alongside the demands of an i banking analyst position. Finally, if you are a good student, you will not need 250hrs. Don’t allow the job to expand to fill the time available. You will be somewhat familiar with about 60-70% of the material.
@Etienne: i know that it’s not that necessary to do L1 before graduation. It’s a lot of stress I know, especially for my final year which counts for 75% of my degree grade. But I just hope it will help, even just a little bit for me to secure a good job in banking. Plus I am very interested in the materials and I know I can finish it and will find ways to fit that in with other activities (eg. full time jobs) in later years. Just to let you guys know that I’m really struggling getting a job at the moment. I applied for a placement job (a year industry before final year) but not got anything yet and I think I’ll carry on doing my final year. I not just got a First but also got the highest grade in my degree program at Loughborough University for the 1st yr. And got a prize from PwC. Well , i am an international student so it’s really tough to get a job. Deutsche Bank chose a guy with a Third ~40% instead of me. I secured final interviews and Assessment centers with a few good banks eg. MS, Barclays, GSachs, UBS but never got an offer. Well, I am not talking about discrimination or anything here but I needs to find ways to get over these difficulties. I don’t want the same scenario when I apply for graduate jobs. I have tried to improve my interviews skills a lot, and the employers’ feedback are always like:" You are very intelligent, we were impressed but we found someone else more fit to the team". I persuade them to give me some constructive feedback but they said I was so good and they can’t tell anything that I’m bad at. So why didn’t they give me the jobs??? Really need some advices guys, especially from those in the industry at the moment (eg. people working in the City). Appreciate it. Thanks a lot for all the posts so far!!! Whether it’s encouraging or discouraging, I know u all want the best for me in your point of view.
spellsinger - I can definitely relate. From your posts, seems like we’re in similar situations. I’m also going into my senior year (Economics major at the Univ of Michigan), want to break into banking (at least as a stepping stone), but like you, couldn’t get a summer internship. I decided to sign up for Level 1 in December, and have just began studying for it. It’s definitely A LOT of material, and I read the pass rate was really low for the June exam (35%), so the exam certainly lives up to the hype. I think you still have enough time to prepare (at least I hope so, considering I also just started studying the other day), but it will take some serious commitment. I’ve read people recommend ~300 hours of studying. I’m not even sure I’ll be able to hit that number since once school starts up, I’ll be busy with classes and such. I really don’t know how much it will help with job searches, passing it should be seen as a positive to SOME EXTENT, though from what I can gather, saying that you’re studying for it doesn’t do much, if anything, in helping with a job search. I thought since I had free time this summer, I could use it as a positive for my job search, but after I signed up, seems like there are many people who don’t really believe it gives much of an advantage even if you pass. Take it for what it’s worth, as I’m just like you and also trying to figure things out (except I already officially signed up for it), so I’m certainly no expert on the matter. Good luck.
I passed Level 1 before I graduated and I think it was very beneficial and easier to study for while in college. In college my mindset was to study but now that I am working, the last thing in the world I want to do is come home and open a finance book. At least attempt it now (relatively its only 600 or so bucks which is nothing compared to your college education) and if you pass it will look extremely good and if you don’t you will at least have learned a lot of information that will help you in interviews (and when you take it again you will know a good portion). my 2 cents