Started sometime in November’07, and would be finishing the curriculum except Ethics by end of this month. I had atleast two weeks of down time around Christmas/New year, but now would try to pace it up to focus on questions from CFA books.
I did not know I was taking level 1 till the last day of registration- September 15 or so. That afternoon I decided to take it, passed it with 2 months sorta intense prep and now just signed up for level 2. Now obviously, its a lot more work but the fact that its so quant focused really helps me out. I just got started and want to finish by April with a month to prepare. Thats the plan…And when you don’t have a job, its much easier! I graduated in Sep 07 but no job luck yet. Hope the Level 2 helps.