How different is level 2 from lvl 1? Is it completely new material or the same thing with more info on top? What I am really asking is, if I forgot a lot of stuff from level I, should I re-learn it BEFORE starting studying for lvl 2, or can I start lvl 2 and refer to lvl 1 stuff if need be?
I cannot speak in finance terms so I will speak in tennis terms Level 1: Playing mid week ladies tennis at your local club Level 2: Playing Rafael Nadal best of five sets on clay
Thanks quant - this forum tends to be pretty slow, which is why I don’t use search before posting like I normally would. Then again, people have their results now to post in this one with that in mind.
Quant- the reply on the other forum was not serious comparing the studying to massages etc, im thinking we want a reply on the studying hours-etc
I’m scanning the forum for posts. The stuff I read: < 200h: only FSA-types say they pass 250h: “ridiculous” 300h: reports of “people I know passed”. 350h: someone failed, band 9. 400h: someone failed, band 10, after getting 70 on mock. Someone else felt nervous but felt good at the exam and passed. >500h seems to be a safer multiple based on feedback.
>500h is what I invested and passed. I planned to make time for 750h and actually used like 620h +/- 100. About 40% of my time went into FRA. Next largest time investment went into equity.
Level 2 is definitely harder. I was first misled, because the first 3-4 books are not that hard. Equity is a lot of material, but with lots of repetitions and the important things are not that much as you might first think. But than the material becomes too much and the last books are pretty hard. Everything in you head gets mixed 
You don’t need to revise most of the material of Level 1. There are 1-2 things but you could check them easily in your Level 1 books. Do not underestimate the time. I never had problems with the time. But the morning session was pretty hard and I could barely finish the last vignette on time. And I was surprised- on the exam and definitely stressed for the afternoon session. Hope this is useful.
The best post I ever read, someone wrote, Level I = 300-350 should pass 90%+ of people Level II = 500 Should pass 85% of the people. This kept me constantly on the books to hit 500. I did a touch higher than 500 and passed L2, scored great on practice and mocks (mid 70’s to mid 80’s) and still shit my pants on the exam lots of curve balls. To me Level II was about 2 - 2.5X Level 1. P.S good luck with the new reading in FSA, thank god I don’t have to retake.
cpepin Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > The best post I ever read, someone wrote, > > Level I = 300-350 should pass 90%+ of people > Level II = 500 Should pass 85% of the > people. > > This kept me constantly on the books to hit 500. > > I did a touch higher than 500 and passed L2, > scored great on practice and mocks (mid 70’s to > mid 80’s) and still shit my pants on the exam lots > of curve balls. > > To me Level II was about 2 - 2.5X Level 1. > > P.S good luck with the new reading in FSA, thank > god I don’t have to retake. No wonder I failed. I was only able to put in about 175 hours and failed Band 8, 75 additional hours in FRA and Ethics would have been the deal changer. If I can somewhat remember 30% of what I studied I should be able to b!tch slap this thing with 250-300 hours next year.
I felt like the way you learn the stuff is a bit different in L2. Sure, a bit more time, but do a LOT more practice vignettes after learning each section. Just to get used to how you have to learn things and what to look for in the vignettes at practice time in late May. Level 1 is almost like financial trivia on Tuesday night at the bar, Level 2 is very focused and you need to be able to apply the concepts better. I dont thin kit was a ton harder, but certainly more difficult and it does warrant a bit more time and concentration. Hard to explain how the application of the information is more difficult or different than L1 but just do a lot of practice VIGNETTES (not trivia-like questions, a la L1) from the beginning.
To add to my previous post: Nothing in L1 is really all that hard. You might struggle on a few concepts but you’ll eventually get it. Some of the inventory accounting and DTA/DTL topics can get a little confusing. L2 brings in the same volume of material and triples the difficulty. I rarely found myself rereading sections in L1 but I did that for almost every LOS in L2.
I’ll be honest - I have no idea how anyone could fathom putting in 400+ hours into this thing. I hit maybe - maybe - 250 and passed. How does anyone manage to fit that # of hours in? (I’m serious, not being condescending.) My 250 came from studying over lunch, a few hours in the evenings M-F (I have a wife & 4 kids so that’s all I could do) with usually at least 1 of those nights off; about 4 or 5 hours Sat and zip on Sunday. I’d be seriously burnt out by end of May if I put anymore it - and I was already feeling near the end of my rope with what I did put in.
thommo77 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I cannot speak in finance terms so I will speak in > tennis terms > > Level 1: Playing mid week ladies tennis at your > local club > Level 2: Playing Rafael Nadal best of five sets on > clay Add to that Level 3: Nicolas Mahut vs John Isner 183 games 11 hours and 5 minutes of playing time.
^well played sir
the concepts in level 2 are not that difficult…you’ll get the hang of things once you go through the stuff…what’s difficult is that there are a million of these small yet easy concepts, calculations, formulae etc, that you need to have on your finger tips on exam day…then the L2 MCQs are not as easy and straight forward as they are in L1… i repeat challenge is not the material…but to memorize and recall every bit of it on exam day
Going back to the initial question: absolutely do NOT spend any time going back over level 1 before you go over level 2. You have more than enough level 2 stuff to get through: you do not have time to go back to level 1. Plunge right in, get into the new stuff. If nothing else you will lose your enthusiasm by going back over stuff you have done before. What you may need to do occasionally is cross check back to your old books if you come across something you feel you need to know but can’t remember, so keep them on the bookshelf. But frankly I think I might have gone back to them twice. In case you are interested I have few other thoughts. Ignore or discount these at your pleasure. By way of background I don’t have an investment or quant background, I studied politics at university. I passed Level 1 first time in 2009 (with every element >70%) and passed level 2 this year (half elements>70%, half 50-70%). 1. Use Schweser: the CFA books are just too damn long, and you need to get the essential concepts in your head. Schweser is good for this and will cut down the hours it takes to cover the basic material. Yes, you may miss out on a few minor points of detail, but Schweser is pretty damn comprehensive and not to be underestimated. The time you save here getting the basic reading done is time you can then invest in extra review and question practice. In my mind, you may give up 1-2% to detailed questions, but you can make up 5-10% by really good practice in the two months before exam. 2. Use CFAI books: I know I said use Schweser, but use CFA books for the end of chapter questions. They are much more comprehensive. Just go through them, and score yourself. Mark off the ones that you either got wrong, or weren’t too sure on and maybe guessed. A few days later just do the subset of wrongs and guesses. Keep repeating until you get this down to zero. 3. Active reading: you have to take notes as you go, don’t just passively read. 4. Build your own tests in the last 2 months. I created sheets with prompts down left side of paper and answers on right. Everything from basic formulas, key facts to remember, reasons why XYZ is good / bad. Really useful for drumming in the details. 5. Don’t get hung up: I’m not great at quant or derivatives. But it doesn’t matter because I’m not trying to get 100%, I’m trying to get a pass. Know what the weightings are and focus. You must know FRA, Equities, Ethics in detail. For the rest, if you have a section you don’t get easily, don’t get hung up. Accept that you may lose a mark or two, but spend the time making sure you pick up 5 extra ones in the core topics. 6. Random facts: in every CFA exam there are ‘gimmes’ for basic fact questions. You either know it or you don’t, you kick yourself that you can’t remember. In a time pressured exam these are a great relief to get right: at level 2 the time pressure can be intense and you have 3 mins per question. If you get a basic fact question right that’s taken 30 seconds, and you now have an extra 2.5 mins to solve that complex Equity free cashflow calculation. How to learn these: just be aware they are out there, and you get a feel for the kinds of things that might come up. And as you see them build a separate set of notes of key facts. I built one with about 200 facts on for level 2, and I must have banked an easy 5-6 marks that came straight off the page. 7. Practice: you must leave time for review of your notes, end of chapter questions, and practice exams. My advice would be 6-8 weeks, even if this means you feel you are blasting through the readings and sometimes not quite getting it all. It will come together in the end, trust me. 8. Be ready for the nasties: the actual CFA examiners are way nastier than the nice folks at Schweser. Take a look at these boards for candidates views on the days after this years exams, but there were a lot of ‘WTF???’ feelings about. A lot of traps: you have to really read the question, very very carefully. There were quite a few ‘gotcha’s’ (or at least it felt that way to me and others). I’m sure others have different views but all I can say is that this has worked both times for me. I feel people obsess about hours: I reckon I put in 300 or so. Started Jan 1st both times, and for level 2 only worked first thing in the morning (1.5 hours Mon-Fri), and an hour at lunch. (I can’t do evenings / weekends as I’m married with a young family). Plus did a real focused push in the last month so probably 100 of the 300 hours were in last month alone doing really focused revision & exams.
Level one is like a walk in the park with an ice cream that you spill on yourself; a little annoying, but not too bad. Level two is like the first 15 minutes of saving private ryan.
I loved your advice! “” I built one with about 200 facts on for level 2, and I must have banked an easy 5-6 marks that came straight off the page. “” is it possible you send me a scanned copy of this? im willing to pay you, im super desperate! my email is passionista_27@hotmail.com
No! I won’t send them! It may seem mean, but it’s for your own good. You do actually have to read the materials from Schweser and take your own notes. The key phrase to remember is “active learning”. Build your own set of 200 facts and you will know them and remember them, use mine and you probably won’t get much benefit. You have exactly 10 months to go to the exam either 1) you aren’t “super desperate” at this stage, or 2) if you are, have a really good think about how and why you want to do CFA level 2.