Does anyone have any memory retention techniques they use. I am having some difficulty with the Equity & Fixed income portion in my review. I started early this month and for whatever reason the material clicks when I am in the process of looking at it, but when I go back its almost a complete blank.
You’re only talking about one month and two study sessions. Multiply that across 18 study sessions, and by five months, then you have the dfficulty of the Level 1 exam. And Level 2 is a whole lot worse.
Welcome to studying for the CFA exam!!!
I am aware, that’s why I asked if anyone had any techniques they use to improve memory retention. I know 2 is a beast, but I cannot worry about that right now.
Of course there are techniques, but each has to make up his/her own as they go.
For example, for memorizing equations, I find repeatedly re-writing them makes them register…after anderstanding them of course.
Then there’s a technique I call brain circuit training (kind of like in the gym)
e.g. You finish the quants module, start the next (Eco), but design a 120 q exam on Qpro of quants questions only. On weekends, though still at Economics, take out the quants exam and do practice questions for one weekend day. This will allow the concepts covered in quants to remain in your active memory, while you’re progressin with the rest of the material.
When you cover Economics, design a new exam of both Quants + Economics, and keep doing the one weekend day practice plan…and so on
I have also found mind mapping very useful in my FRM studies…especially where ideas branch out, or are connected by divisions relating to relations. I use colors, shapes, graphs, and even alphabatic neumonics at times 
I try every way possible to have fun with my studies and that makes it easier…and so far, it has worked.
Good luck.
I do the same thing using qbank. I also put in some ethics questions just to practice those. I find only memorizing formulas doesn’t work for me so I need to read the question then work through it in order to really remember it.
You can’t memorize the CFA exam. Don’t even try. You can’t memorize all the lists, all the formulas, all the relationships between variables, etc.
You have to learn to conceptualize the information. Don’t memorize–understand the big picture.
Well said!
Even so, still takes a lot of memorization.
fish oil.
Or if more ballsy: eat Adderall like skittles
This is what i do and so far it’s working. I started studying last month and finished with codes+standards and 1/3 of quants. Now i’m doing microecon. I read the curriculum along with Schweser Notes. I also make my own notes while reading and write the equations in separate sheets. Every morning as soon as i wake up, i type in codes and standards on the scratchpad on the computer. Once i’m done with that, I write all the equations from quants on pieces of paper starting with time value of money. And i do the whole process again before i go to bed at night. It basically takes about 10 minutes or so. I think the best way is to understand the concepts. I plan on reading only my notes and Schweser notes for the review after I finish reading the curriculum before the exam. Just read the curriculum once and read Schweser notes again. Hope it’ll help.
Make a study plan. Religiously follow it. Re read the material off and on. Appear in tests (using qbank or any other test provider). Make sure you complete your syllabus in time and then able to repeat once before appearing in mock. You can generate mnemonics. Most important, stay focused on understanding right away. Once you are done with your first reading, re-reading the syllabus will aid you in memorizing it. Its not the time to memorize rather its the time to understand and develop your concepts.