I’m really struggling on this section. I’m ok nearly all the way up to probability, anything past there I’m really struggling to grasp. It’s like double Dutch to me.
I’m a bit worried if I’m struggling on the quants at level 1, is it even feasible for me to be attempting the CFA. I work as a financial planner and do not have any finance related degree.
Has anyone found themselves in a similar situation?
Mathematics and Statistics background is a good help when studying quants on CFA (for L1 and L2). Unfortunatelly, those quants topics are basic knowledge, so try them at all cost! There is nothing you can do to avoid them.
GL
As Harrogath said, you’ll want to keep at it!
Try this site: https://www.khanacademy.org/math/probability
Khan academy has lots of videos. S2000’s website is a good resource as well, so you should use that also.
Don’t let that self doubt creep in mate. If you found every section on the curriculum easy, you would get bored pretty soon.
Instead view this as an excellent opportunity to develop your repertoire of skills.
There is no need to avoid these concepts. They can be learned, and not having a background doesn’t preclude you from mastering them.
You just need to work a little harder and effectively utilize the many resources at your disposal (Khan Academy, MIT Opencourseware, Youtube, Analyst Forum) to get into the groove of problem solving.
"I’m a bit worried if I’m struggling on the quants at level 1, is it even feasible for me to be attempting the CFA. I work as a financial planner and do not have any finance related degree. "
Don’t give others the power to decide for you; if you believe that you truly want to achieve the Charter and are willing to put in the effort, go for it.
Let’s focus all our efforts on acing level 1, enjoy the success and then worry about level 2. All the best !!
Inside Quants, I found easy subsessions (ex. first part - Finance math), also have a problem with last part (inferential statistics). I will try to do the best with any session and chapter, but cannot expect to be brilliant in all.
So, I had to quote you because I sympathize with every single word you typed. I shared the same doubt . I personally did fine for the first few readings of Quant as well. Then came probability. I know that I spent way too much time on the reading about probability concepts. In fact, if it was not for my comrade I would have likely spent so much time on the couple readings about probability that I would not have had adequate time to cover anything else.
He simply reminded me that I didn’t need to master 100% of every section.
So, I did what I could on the areas where I struggled and pushed myself to master my areas of strength. After I covered the entire curriculum I went back to my weak areas and literally read through that part of the curriculum, one paragraph at a time. Although I didn’t have enough time to do this for all my weak areas, it helped me redeem myself in the few areas I did.
As someone else mentioned, S2000magician’s website financialexamhelp123.com is a great reference. And, there are numerous YouTube videos; It just takes some work to find the good ones.
In any case, whenever you find yourself getting discouraged definitely connect with some colleagues who can help you maintain your focus. Some of the folks on this forum are great at offering their support.
Good luck!
Thanks guys. Some really helpful posts, I was nearly losing the will to live.
I found answering the questions at the end of the readings helped a little bit, I think I might get grinds on the areas I’m struggling with and see how I get on from there. I just watched a couple of Khan videos, simple and to the point. Great shout.
I found some vidoes on youtube that was very useful. Hopefully, it can help you
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYUPhpY_QD0&list=PLcmt2ZfkV0M2Fgf6zLEf5CMWrVZKfdJQ4
and some additional reading here:
http://financialexamhelp123.com/cfa-level-i/
Good Luck !
I agree with this. Khan academy is my go to place if I need a basic review or brush up on any knowledge that I forgot or need to learn from the start. Khan has those 10 min video for each sub topic. Clear and easy to grasp.
I also go to coursera or edx for any related- topics to work on any weak area I have. For me, good videos with good instructors is huge help instead of reading the dry material.
Thanks for the recommendations guys. Probability is proving my nemesis as well; for some reason I am really struggling to grasp which rules to apply when working through problems…
For reference, I scored ~55% for the Reading 8 EOCs, with nothing below 85% for any of the other readings in Quant. The obvious solution is to keep plugging away at it until it makes sense. Don’t lose hope OP, you’re not alone in your struggles!
Adam, I am not sure if you have considered ordering 3rd party materials, but Schweser’s books are very helpful for quant. From what I remember, its a lot of z stat/bell curve data. Schweser does a great job of explaining it. Youtube as well.
I thought the exact opposite of the Schweser QM section. It was pretty poor (superficial, lacking intuition), which caused me to not touch another Schweser content book (including for LII). I thought the CFAI QM book was better laid out and more substantial (I looked it over after the LI exam).
I’d definitely enlist free, legal material (Youtube, Khan) before paying for Schweser.
i must admit i feel the same. I think the Schweser notes are quite poor on this particular topic.
Hopefully it’s just quants its weak on, I’m just moving on to economics now and my fingers are x’d.