My take on Level II

Hello everyone, I passed my level II this year and I thought that I would share my experience with those first time takers. I did my bachelors in Finance so my preparation for the exam might not work for everyone. I thought this would be useful as this is a no BS post. I don’t think those “I passed with 10 days of studying” posts actually help anyone except to boost self egos. First, here are my results: Item Set Q# Topic Max Pts <=50% 51%-70% >70% - Alternative Investments 18 - - * - Corporate Finance 36 - * - - Derivatives 36 - * - - Economics 18 * - - - Equity Investments 72 - - * - Ethical & Professional Standards 36 - - * - Financial Statement Analysis 72 - - * - Fixed Income Investments 36 - * - - Portfolio Management 18 * - - - Quantitative Methods 18 - - * I started at the beginning of April and I work about 70 to 80 hours a week. I studied on the weekends and took two weeks off (not consecutively). I used the Schweser notes exclusively. Obviously, I was not fully prepared as you can see that I failed two sections. Here are the suggestions I would make to current candidates and things I would have done differently. 1) Start in March instead of April, I felt rushed at the end 2) Make notes on every section, I didn’t make notes until the last week and regretted it. You need notes and you need to review them every chance you get. I was actually struggling to remember forumlas on the exam. 3) Use the CFAI books for Ethics and PM. Even though I got +70% on Ethics, I have no idea how I did that. I had to use educated guesses more than what I have liked on that section. For PM, I had no idea what some of the questions were asking for. Some of the questions were not even covered in Schweser. One salient question that comes to mind was the requirement to give reason for dropping research coverage on a company among some other ones. 4) Don’t use the Q-Bank, I really didn’t like those questions. Just get as many sample Schweser exams as you can. I had 13 sets from 2007 and 2008. I finished all 7 from the 2008 books and did parts from the 2007. You really don’t need the Q-Bank as I feel there are more than enough questions from the sample exams from this year, the previous year, and even before. 5) I probably got 100% on alternative investment b/c I didn’t skip any sections in the book. There were 6 questions on real estate and I nailed all of them. Even though, they were pretty easy, but if I skipped it thinking it wouldn’t be on the exam, I might have failed. That’s pretty much it. Good luck.

How did you get 13 practice exams?, are exams from 2007, 2008 not outdated.

The 2008 exams are definitely not outdated as they’re for the year of the exam for when I wrote it… The 2007 exams were fine. You can find 2007 books from multiple sources: google, craigslist, ebay, etc…

I think this thread should be called “My take on how to procrastinate until April, enjoy the luxuries of two full weeks off from work, and cram nonstop hoping to get extremely lucky on exam day…and probably failing level III if I use this same strategy next June”

lol jalmy8, please tell us what you REALLY think.

Jalmy8, I’m just trying to help here. By the way, I’m an IB analyst, I couldn’t start studying since December and give up all my free time for the exam. I don’t think you even work more than 50 hours a week, otherwise you’ll know what I’m talking about. I did not pass the exam on complete luck, look at my largest sections, all above +70%. I just had less time than most people and I didn’t want to start earlier as that would mean I have zero social life for 6 months instead of 2 months, but b/c you posted your post, I know you have no idea what I’m talking about. I don’t think you need to start in December for the exam, at the beginning of June, I started to forget most of the stuff I read in April. It is much easier to study a little bit every day if you get off at 5pm instead of getting off at 12pm. Also, I don’t know anyone in real life who started before two months prior to the exam, and they all passed. Not all of us have time as a luxury. You are just a d*ck. I’m trying to give help here from my own experience (not the same as everyone else) and this is how I am rewarded, justice I suppose…

In addition, in my profession, taking vacation is frowned upon. So, the fact that I gave up my vacation time, the only two weeks I took during the whole year for this exam is a sacrifice, not a luxury.

Just how are you trying to help? Maybe by showing your insecurities by throwing your IB analyst position around…which trust me, means nothing to many people on this forum. There are plenty of people here who have families, kids, are older than you or I who are sacrificing a lot more than their “social life”. Please, don’t come onto this forum in such a position of naiviety and think that people who post here actually need help to CRAM for this exam. Maybe I am being a d*ck. But I’m smart enough to know that anybody who posts on how to cram for level II 10 MONTHS prior to the actual exam based upon the fact that he luckily passed is flaunting his self-satisfaction.

Okay, Jalmy8, you win. I’m sorry if my post came across the way you interpret it. Take care.

Kupo I’m sort of on jalmy’s side on this one. Thanks for sharing the advice. It may help some people but I certainly won’t be using your advice of studying for 2 months. I will start in December. And no I don’t work 70-80 hours a week but I might start that soon since a new job may be on the way for me.

somebody’s got to pick up on the slack without Swanny here anymore.

“I think this thread should be called “My take on how to procrastinate until April, enjoy the luxuries of two full weeks off from work, and cram nonstop hoping to get extremely lucky on exam day…and probably failing level III if I use this same strategy next June”” lol "I don’t think you even work more than 50 hours a week, otherwise you’ll know what I’m talking about. " How do you know how many hours a week he works? “Also, I don’t know anyone in real life who started before two months prior to the exam, and they all passed.” And I dont know anyone who started less than two months before the exam and passed. “Kupo I’m sort of on jalmy’s side on this one. Thanks for sharing the advice. It may help some people but I certainly won’t be using your advice of studying for 2 months.” Im on his side also. Obviously you’re just trying to help, but cramming for Level II by studying for 1.5 months is not something thats going to work for everyone and more importantly, not something that SHOULD work for everyone.

jalmy8 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > somebody’s got to pick up on the slack without > Swanny here anymore. ^^Co sign ^^^^ This thread is just Kupo’s subconscious own dick stroking which is great but i how helpful is this advice really? So what u r saying is that after having failed studying for 6 months im either 1. an idiot 2. a smuck for studying so much when all i needed was 2 months Thanks for that kind sir. So all i need now is to party up unitl april n then study my ass off EUREKA!

“It is much easier to study a little bit every day if you get off at 5pm instead of getting off at 12pm” You get off at lunchtime? Sweet!

Call me crazy but i think he meant middnight

lmao @ Due

that was beautiful jalmy.

your a bunch of spineless idiots. i took Kupo’s post as it was intended without malice and certainly not smacking of anything other than “it worked for me” MAYBE it might work for you. now a few of you that know each other start attacking him. get a life. perhaps most of you dont finish work at 12am, but there again may be you do. he was only writing it to give some advice and caveat himself with IB analyst… honestly, you people need to get a life

jalmy8 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > anybody who posts on how to cram for > level II 10 MONTHS prior to the actual exam based > upon the fact that he luckily passed is flaunting > his self-satisfaction. ^ Cosign ^

honestly, i think it’s quite instructive to read about those who may not have done the huge hours of studying (and i did the huge hours myself)… nice thing about reading about those who didn’t study 300+ hours is you get a feel for what’s really important… there was even a guy who said he barely studied (yes, i took it with a big grain of salt) and focussed on ethics and about 8-10 core calculations like irs, fcfe/fcff/etc, binomial interest rate etc., (i’m sure he had good background too)