Any suggstions??? I find myself getting mentally exhausted and wondering why I’m doing this…any others out there?? How do you get over this…!! Thx,
Yea I am with you. I am having a tough time maintaining the same concentration and motivation in the evening during my study sessions. I am just trying to muscle through it.
pick a day of the week and just have fun that day. study during the other days. i didn’t study at all during the weekends (except for the last two weekends before the exam) and studied almost every weekday for a couple hours (studied around 150 hours in total each for levels 1 and 2). planning to study more than 250 hours for level 3 (studied 100 hours so far). go all-in during the last few weeks before the exam. good luck!
Keep realistic targets and make sure you take some time to unwind once in a while. Good luck!
Stop whining and go study. If you can’t motivate yourself to read the material, you deserve to fail.
Check out this thread over on the General Discussion forum. You may gain some motivation by thinking about your name appearing on this site in a few years time. http://www.analystforum.com/phorums/read.php?1,1115007
Dear Friend, i already lost L1 three times ( band 4,8 and 9respectively). I am still learning from my experience. Evert time i got result, i got a new improvement area . Like in first time , i was just testing waters ( hence a 4 ),next time, just read the shceser notes and did not solve any practice questions nor Q bank , just did EOC in CFAI material and Schweser, so i got a 8 (that time jun 09 ) CFA results were 45% for L1. The third time, in this Dec 09 i gave, i did practice exams , but wasted precious time in writing down all questions at one place and THEN doing it. Also, i left " Alternative invt., Derivatives " altogether . So, i got less than 50 in alter., der. and (to my surprise) in portfolio mgt. This time, i want to fight back and i know my weakness, so will try to improve on following:- * Alter., Deriv., and FSA ( I got 50-70 in FSA , though i have a major in accounting) *Doing Q Bank , instead of writing down practice exam quesitons * coming back to Analyst forum , time and again 
* No mugging up , understanding all concepts and moving on. Hope i get something above band 10 this time in L1 Apologise for writing my story on your thread. Just want to tell u pls dont loose hope , and keep pushing. U never know when the things suddenly come in your favor. keep trying. Best Wisher
cfaFour Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Dear Friend, > > i already lost L1 three times ( band 4,8 and > 9respectively). I am still learning from my > experience. Evert time i got result, i got a new > improvement area . Like in first time , i was just > testing waters ( hence a 4 ),next time, just read > the shceser notes and did not solve any practice > questions nor Q bank , just did EOC in CFAI > material and Schweser, so i got a 8 (that time jun > 09 ) CFA results were 45% for L1. The third time, > in this Dec 09 i gave, i did practice exams , but > wasted precious time in writing down all questions > at one place and THEN doing it. Also, i left " > Alternative invt., Derivatives " altogether . So, > i got less than 50 in alter., der. and (to my > surprise) in portfolio mgt. > > This time, i want to fight back and i know my > weakness, so will try to improve on following:- > * Alter., Deriv., and FSA ( I got 50-70 in FSA , > though i have a major in accounting) > *Doing Q Bank , instead of writing down practice > exam quesitons > * coming back to Analyst forum , time and again > > * No mugging up , understanding all concepts and > moving on. > > Hope i get something above band 10 this time in > L1 > > Apologise for writing my story on your thread. > Just want to tell u pls dont loose hope , and > keep pushing. U never know when the things > suddenly come in your favor. keep trying. > Best Wisher i hope this is another joke similar to the ones made by HMW. if not, i really apologize
you guys are brutal. funny, but brutal
I have been studying for L1 since last month and even I feel the same …EXHAUSTED. But , thinking of the consequences of failing and studying back to back again …I start studing
Like xT pointed out, I advice you reserve at least a day to relax and have fun. That is exactly what I do. This may not be very practicable for everybody depending on how much time you have during the week to study, but I guess it can really help. Frankly, it is a really demanding exam, but from what holders say, I think the prize is worth it. So, I encourage you to fight on, don’t give up. Think of the prize if not for any other thing and let this act as motivation for you. People who have made it do not have ‘2 heads’, therefore I believe anybody can with enough motivation.
Adoo- What have you been doing primarily to study? Reading? Problems? Study group/class? I have been reading the CFA books then doing the examples in the chapters, taking notes and marking pages as I read to keep everything organized for my review. I know this can be extremely boring and I find myself losing motivation at times, but I try to keep my eyes on the prize so-to-speak. When I start to lose focus, I think of my name having a “CFA” next to it after all is said and done which is motivation enough. Like the site The+1Guy posted, think about how f’in cool it would be to tell your friends, fam, co-workers, and especially your enemies that YOU ARE A CFA! Maybe switch up the way you’re studying? For example, if you’re doing problems straight out of the book, pick up a practice exam or some sample questions and work from there. Or, maybe put down the material you’re studying and start with something fresh that you may need work on. I find that if I read the sections that I know less about, I enjoy the learning aspect of it and forget that I’m studying for an exam. Perhaps you’re losing motivation bc you’re looking at it as a burden rather than something that creates opportunity down the line. It’s tough especially as Level 1’ers, bc the end is SO far down the road, but you gotta stay focused on the light at the end of the tunnel if you want to keep that motivation up. Good luck with everything, let’s kill this test!
OP you need some confidence. No offence but there are many things in life that are more challenging than CFA L1. You don’t need any external motivation. You signed up to write the exam and paid for it; that should be motivating enough. Yes, it’s a lot of material but this isn’t rocket science. If you’re stuck in a mental rut, take a week off. 3 months is enough time. I know three people who STARTED studying 6 weeks prior to the exam and passed while working full time (ok, they all had finance backgrounds but still a very short time to go through the material regardless). Remember, you made a conscious choice to partake in this process. Then you’re only option is to pass.
Stay with it – you’ll regain momentum. When I was preparing for Dec 09, I got discouraged constantly and I just kept plugging away. When you get close to the end, if you’ve stayed disciplined and on your study path, you’ll gain more confidence. I passed L1 by an ample margin and I had many weak areas. You don’t have to be an expert – you just have to work hard, study and do lots of practice questions.
dcallocchia0322 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Adoo- > > What have you been doing primarily to study? > Reading? Problems? Study group/class? > > I have been reading the CFA books then doing the > examples in the chapters, taking notes and marking > pages as I read to keep everything organized for > my review. > > I know this can be extremely boring and I find > myself losing motivation at times, but I try to > keep my eyes on the prize so-to-speak. When I > start to lose focus, I think of my name having a > “CFA” next to it after all is said and done which > is motivation enough. Like the site The+1Guy > posted, think about how f’in cool it would be to > tell your friends, fam, co-workers, and especially > your enemies that YOU ARE A CFA! > > Maybe switch up the way you’re studying? For > example, if you’re doing problems straight out of > the book, pick up a practice exam or some sample > questions and work from there. Or, maybe put down > the material you’re studying and start with > something fresh that you may need work on. I find > that if I read the sections that I know less > about, I enjoy the learning aspect of it and > forget that I’m studying for an exam. > > Perhaps you’re losing motivation bc you’re looking > at it as a burden rather than something that > creates opportunity down the line. It’s tough > especially as Level 1’ers, bc the end is SO far > down the road, but you gotta stay focused on the > light at the end of the tunnel if you want to keep > that motivation up. > > Good luck with everything, let’s kill this test! Thanks for this post 322,lol at the ’ tell your enemies ur a cfa’ ,but in general thanks for reminding me to keep my eyes on the prize and not get distracted.
I passed L1 in June 09 with a good margin. Believe me i was the same - losing motivation on and off and finding that on AF. So don’t despair If u r really frustrated, then maybe you can take a day off, have fun and come back charged. But even on that day off - do go through formulas, key points at least just to make sure your brain doesn’t get off track. Best of Luck
AlphaBoy - Glad I could help a fellow aspiring CFA charterholder. As I wrote it, I felt the motivation to study even more! This test is a BEAST but with the right preparation, we all can tame it. Adoo - Hope you find your personal motivation to study hard. Take a couple days break to regroup, then go back to it even harder. Best of luck to both of you, and everyone else taking exams in June as I am! -DC
I feel the same way. I’m reviewing everything again and I just don’t think I can retain all this information. I just want to give up!
What study materials are you using? Are you relying solely on the CFA books? estelilia Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I feel the same way. I’m reviewing everything > again and I just don’t think I can retain all this > information. I just want to give up!
Fear of failure is a great motivator. Just keep plugging away at this so that you can walk in on exam morning knowing that you have done everything you possibly could have to prepare yourself in the best way you could. There are going to be days where this is going to be hard, but to recycle an old quote “It’s supposed to be hard, if it wasn’t hard everyone would be doing it”.