Need your opinion on this one. I am running out of time, and I have only read book 1 and book 2 (ethics and private wealth) of the CFAI curriculum. I figured there’s no way in the world I could finish reading the entire CFAI curriculum. Therefore, I have decided to study one more volume of the CFAI original material, then rely on Schweser for the rest.
I really need some advice as to which of the following topics is the most important to warrant studying it using the CFAI material:
Book 3: Captial Expectations
Book 4: Equity and Fixed Income
Book 5: Alternative Investments
Book 6 Portfolio Execution
Any feedback will be dearly appreciated. Thanks x 1000000000 !!!
If you’re really pressed for time, theres a reading in the asset allocation study session (book 3) where the last 20 pages or so are about allocating assets for private and institutional clients … so you basically get a review of human capital, pension funds etc. etc. It doesnt add much to what you covered in book 2.
I haven’t used schweser for lvl 3 so can’t say how good they are, but if time is lacking and you can only go with one book -> go with book 3.
Second, figure out when you’re going to start studying next year so you can avoid having this same problem.
Third, recognize that after Individuals & Institutions, Fixed Income will be the most heavily tested section. So I’d start there and move to Derivatives. Then I’d do Asset Allocation.
Make sure you read Monitoring and Rebalancing. (Execution is probably less important.) And on Performance Evaluation, learn the four ways to measure a fund’s performance (Jensen, Sharpe, Treynor, M2).
throw away the text books - do practice exams and memorise the answers. You will start to see repeating questions, plus you get an idea of you they want you to write out the sections to get max marks.
At this point spend 90 percent of your time doing problems and practice tests. Only review things as they come up on the tests. You need to get a feel for how the questions get asked and what you need to respond.
The curriculum matters very little at this level. The way you answer the questions is essential.