Today I finished reading volume 1, Study Sessions 1-3. I feel I’m on track to have all books finished by mid-late January. Some observations about the first book: -The ethics portion is straigthforward. There is a little memorization required for the code and standards, but memorization is a two-legged stool. Understanding why those rules are in place is more beneficial. Same goes for GIPS. -Much of the information in the quantitative section is familiar to me. Examples include the time value of money, descriptive stastics, and hypothesis testing. Areas where I feel weak include discrete probability. I’ll be honest, I have never spent much time on probability concepts, so one of my goals will be to master that subject area. -Even though we deal with a ton of formulas, it helps to know your calculator. All TVM problems can be handled by my BA-II plus (learn how to use the cash-flow work sheet for uneven cashflows and NPV). Combination and permutation formulas are also handled by the calculator with nCr and nPr, respectively. And the statistics worksheet, albeit primitive, can provide some utility (you can also calculate the weighted mean by entering the weights and values as X and Y, respectively, and looking up Sum[XY], making sure Sum[X]=1). -Also, extending on the thought about formulas, it helps to understand WHY the formulas are constructed the way they are. For instance, the pooled estimate for variation when calculating the test stastic for a test of the difference between two population means, normally distributed and assumed equal populations variances, is as follows (“a” is standard deviation for dataset 1, “b” is that of dataset 2): sp = [(n1 - 1)a^2 + (n2 - 1)b^2]/(n1 + n2 - 2) The way I remember this is as follows (df = degrees of freedom): [df1*variance(a) + df2*variance(b)] / df1 + df2 More importantly, you are taking the arithmetic average of the variances, and such a task may only be completed when you are assuming the variances between the two populations are equal. -The technical analysis chapter is very primitive, and based on the brevity of the material, I feel CFAi doesn’t feel it’s that important of a concept. If you really want to use technical analysis in your trading, read Stan Weinstein’s Secret’s for Profiting in Bull and Bear Markets. Overall, the practice problems and examples took up a lot of my time. In other words, going through that book cover-to-cover is not a matter of reading and highlighting. I used up half of my lettersized notepad on practice problems. I also noticed that errata have already been posted for 2008. Bummer. At any rate, time to crack open volume 2, economics. The sooner I can finish all the reading, the sooner I can start reviewing and digesting all material. How’s everyone going with their studying?
4 1/2 months to review?? Dude, I still have about 25 pages left in Book 5 and will be taking it in December. I’d take it a little easy.
Not everybody is a fast learner. I myself have to read the material over and over again to retain the knowledge. I need the extra time for the extra reading.
I have gone through the Ethics once. I have completed Quant till Technical Analysis. Will be starting from Technical analysis this weekend. So hope to finish Volume 1 by next week. I will try to pull up Eco and plan to complete by somewhere Nov. 3rd - 4th week. Lets hope for the best.
gdiddy Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Not everybody is a fast learner. I myself have to > read the material over and over again to retain > the knowledge. I need the extra time for the > extra reading. Same here- hopefully my Schweser notes will be at home when I get home from work. I plan on starting tonight for June '08.
I’m 100 pages into the economics text and one thing I can say is that the reading is more brisk than that of the first volume. Also, the author of the material, Michael Parkin, does a good job explaining things in simple terms. I’m familiar with his writing style because I own one of his macroeconomics textbooks. Explanations follow a consistent pattern, and illustrations are very informative.
I have not started studying yet as I have received the CFAI materials for the June 08 exam. I am going to be using Stalla and taking a class that starts in Mid January. What is everyones take on just using Stalla without getting into the CFAI materials. i don’t want to use both and unfortunetly I can only take a class with Stalla or Schweser. Any advice will be appreciated. Thanks
I just started the Book 2 on Econ.
I started Economics first and I am almost done (1 Chapter remaining) … … Have to start revising the material once more… Any idea how many day will Ethics and Quant ( Schweser L1 Book) book will take to complete. Reading 2- 3 hrs a day Thanks, Venkat
Ethics should be simple reading and comprehension. Although I’m not familiar with the Schweser study notes, I will say that volume one of the CFA curriculum took a considerable amount of time for me, namely the quantitative sections. The reason I consider it so time consuming is because the practice problems do require substantial number crunching–same can be said for the examples in each reading. You can’t afford to read passively and expect to retain some knowledge–unless, of course, you’re already well versed in the material. Have a notepad or a spiral notebook handy: you will be scribbling through practice problems aplenty.