non-finance background. How to start preparing for december exam?

CFA General
#1

hi everyone,

i am apearing for cfa dec exam and started preparing for it in january, i am working as a trader, and almost have a experiance of 2 years and got close to some of basics related to investment but i am not from finance background

so plz help me how to start with it?

i have subscribed to the basic gold package of edupristine, sad

#2

I’d start with the calculator’s manual and the practice problems in there. That helped me a great deal before reading any of the books.

#3

I would wait until June to start preparing…you will likely forget most of what you study now until then.

#4

Having been in your exact same situation a year ago, I’d have to respectfully disagree with Ramos. Last year I had no background whatsoever other than having read a couple investment books (which really didn’t help at all). Starting early (although I didn’t start this early, I started in April). I did Ethics last (which I strongly recommend) and started with Quant. Like Ramos said, you’ll mostly forget the stuff that you do first. However, the earlier you start the slower you go. When you do get closer to exam time, say late October, you can begin review. Even though you will have forgotten a lot, it will come back to you very quickly because you took the time to understand the concepts.

For me, I’d much prefer to take more time, reduce the stress and time burden, and put in a real effort to truly understand the concepts and then come back to them a couple months before the exam. If I had had a finance undergrad last year while I was preparing, I would have started a lot later.

#5

thanks friends for your reply,

I have started earlier as I am also working and due to that I don’t have too much free time so i planned to start earlier, so any suggestion that which materials i should start with…

#6

FINSHIKSHA has crash course for all the 10 modules of CFA 1. It will you complete review of enitire subjects in few hours. Good luck http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=finshiksha+cfa+level+1&sm=1

#7

use schweser for notes, practice questions and mock exams. Use CFAI text for chapter summaries,End of chapter questions and mock.

Dunno about edupristine. classes for CFA programme are new and not much is known about them. i studied on my own for both levels. worked just fine. didn’t have time and did not wish to spend money on classes.

#8

I can’t speak to Schweser because I haven’t used them (although I plan to for Lvl II…I’ve heard Elan’s Lvl II is not up to snuff). I would suggest Elan. Having no previous finance background I found the Elan guides easy to understand. Their questions test concepts more than calculations, so mixing them with the CFAI questions gives a good mix of formula vs true understanding.

Also it’s quite a bit cheaper than Schweser. I really enjoyed the notes. Everything else, not so much. The website is not very good, customer service can be very slow, and the videos don’t provide much beyond what the guides do. But the study guides are very good and succinct, and you’ll save a few hundred dollars going with them.

#9

Schweser is a proven brand. Can’t say anything about the others.