What is the order one should follow when preparing for CFA Level 1? Should I go with the order Study sessions and LOS are in, starting with 1? I am from an Engineering background and taking Level 1 in Dec 2008.
It depends on your familiarity with the material. Are you comfortable with topics in FSA? Quant? Personally I am an Accounting undergrad so I started with FSA to read through and find my strengths and weaknesses. I am now on Ethics. My plan is to finish the CFAI material and then do Schweser, Qbank, and SS.
I dont have a Finance background and I started with Fixed Income - Debt Securities.
preeti_2006 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I dont have a Finance background and I started > with Fixed Income - Debt Securities. If you are not from finance, I would suggest you start with the easier ones like Quant or Eco. Fixed Income is on the tougher side. If you have not done accounting earlier, you touch FSA only when your mind is ready to grasp the maximum 
additionally, a very basic premise of valuing debt securities is finding the present value of future cash flows, a concept covered early on in the Quantitative book. I find the order the CFA presents the concepts to be logical and beneficial to someone new to the world of finance.
I would just go in order. Breeze thru ethics as you will review it more when it gets closer to test time. I think things like Quant should be done before FI, and even Port Mgmt. FI helped me with Derivatives. FSA helps with Alternatives a bit. The short of it is just grab book 1 and go, dont stop til December.
this is what I did as I am also from Engineering background. Ethics and Quant Economics Financial statement analysis Corporate finance Alternative Investments One thing I will tell you is practise is going to be the key. Finish your first reading as early as possible. Revise and take practise tests simultaneously. When you are confident start taking entire practice exams.
Started with FSA b/c I was horrible at accounting in college and knew I would need a couple of rounds with it. Wanted to be fresh. Worked my way to the easiest stuff when I was more tired.
I would do my first reading in order. Sometimes, the readings refer to previous readings for more info, in which case I think reading in order makes sense… Later, I would jump to various topics that I am weak at… not necessarily in a sequence…
There’s only one standalone subject, Ethics. Econ is mostly standalone, but the federal and monetary policies show up here and there. Everything else ties in together in one way or another, mostly through Quant. So understand quant, although you’ll see more of how the concepts are applied as you go through the rest of the material, such as Portfolio Management and Fixed Income. If you set a good pace, I would almost leave FSA last so that when you run across terms such as Premium Bonds and how it overstates CFF and understates CFO, you’ll be able to understand exactly what they mean.
At the end of the day, it does not matter in which order you read the material since you will need to know all of it. However, if you are concerned, just read it in the order that the CFAI presents it to you. This will be the format in which you take the exam anyway. Why people change it up is beyond me.
I read it in the order given - seemed most logical to me.
sachin123 Wrote: > If you are not from finance, I would suggest you > start with the easier ones like Quant or Eco. > Fixed Income is on the tougher side. If you have > not done accounting earlier, you touch FSA only > when your mind is ready to grasp the maximum just do FSA and then some more FSA …till DEcember !!!
I’d say save FSA for last though cause it will account for a big portion of the exam so you want it fresh in your mind.
The fact is that the initial order doesn’t matter. It’s not like you’re going to learn fixed income in June and then leave it until Thanksgiving (well, you could but then you will study it again in the Spring).
I read Quant, Eco, FSA, Equities, FI, Derivatives, AI, and at last Ethics… b/c ethics is the trickiest one and you want it to be fresh in your mind! Then just do a lot practice exams after your readings.
hi, are u based in london? my style is to finish fsa first then quant eco next and so on i will try and keep last 20 days for q bank and sample questions thanks ambarish
I would suggest that you read it in order with the exception of Ethics. Ive been reading in order and have forgotten alot of Ethics, so i would say that if any subject were to be left out of order and saved for last, it would be Ethics. Everything else seems to be built upon previous readings so reading in order makes it all come together as you progress.
i am also frm engg. back ground.i appeared for l1 in june 08…m keeping my fingers crossed:) order shuld be . Economics Financial statement analysis Corporate finance rest is up to u:) rest things r ok
I usually start at the beginning.