non-finance background as well but i guess engineering did help abit with quants and the figures. the L1 concepts aren’t that hard to grasp. worked as a credit analyst after graduate so FRA wasn’t too hard either considering I’ve never seen financial statements up until 6-7 months ago! i put in alot of hours as i didn’t want to resit. was worth it at the end. Passed will all >70% with the help of Schweser only.
I have a BA in economics and work in Capital Markets Desk for a mortgage bank. Passed with all > 70% with Schweser only. I started studying in mid April. I focused mostly on FRA and Ethics since those were the subjects that I had no familiarity with. My study technique was to just do 3-4 hours of Qbank questions a day since I had limited time and didn’t want to waste them reading background info. I felt very confident regarding the calculation questions but uncertain on all others on test day. I guess I was luck on my guesses.
I schemed over all the books first, that is one of the biggest mistake i did because by the time i went back to the first book, I remembered NOTHING! So to be more efficient, always visit what you learned ever couple of weeks or so plus what everyone else mentioned on AF. I am sure you will find what fits you best. Good Luck…