I have a question regarding prep for the CFA Level 1. The registration deadline before prices go up for the CFA exam in June is Feb. 17th. I am debating on whether I have enough time to study for the exam. The following is a little background about myself. I got a double major in Economics and Engineering Science and a minor in Engineering Management and I graduated May 2009. I then enrolled in a Masters of Science in Finance program and I am in my second semester. I have taken basic finance, basic accounting, and I am currently taking derivatives, investments, and portfolio theory. I know that the website says 250 hours at least are strongly recommended. However, with 3 classes and two part time jobs I do not know if I will be able to devote that much time. Do you think that 250 hours is needed if I have a degree in economics and I have taken accounting and finance classes already? Do you think I should wait till December? I ideally want to get it out of the way in June so I can hopefully pass and include it on my resume while i’m job searching this upcoming fall as this fall will be my final semester with my masters program. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
My 2 cents. Go for it. You have the background so the studying should be easier. How much time can you commit to studying over the next 16 weeks? 5 hrs a week? 10 hrs a week? You have a lot of material to cover. It takes a lot of time to even just read the stuff once. I suggest you use Schweser and definitely work the practice questions. And definitely start today if you do sign up. Worst case scenario, you fail and do not get to claim you passed all three levels the first time, and it costs you the registration fee. Any time you spend studying will help the next time around. The real challenge with the exam in comparison to a college course exam is the volume of material that you can be tested (and need to be ready for) on in a single day.
L1 should be a piece of cake for you. Sign up without hesitation, seriously.
I signed up about 2 weeks ago so not that far off. Went through quantitative methods so far and it was really a refresher, some new material. Granted, I have an accounting background and work at a hedge fund but still, you should be fine.
Go for it. Only input is you need to keep your study straight. Your CFA study is your CFA study, your master study is your master study. Don’t use what you learned in class to equate CFA’s teaching. Everybody on this board can tell you, there is the right way, there is the wrong way, and there is the CFA way.