Hey guys, on the back of pokhim finishing his first read (Well done sir!) I just wondered how else everyone else is doing in terms of recalling material. I’m just finishing the equity section off and should have the first read done by the long weekend (easter holiday in the UK). for the life of me, I cant remember most the stuff I’ve ‘learnt’.
This is the first time I’m using this read through process, so not really sure how much i should be able to recall. in the past I’ve just gone for smashing out questions, but that isnt going to work for level 2!
Don’t worry too much during the first read - I did all the worrying for you. I was shocked to find how much I actually remembered when I entered the review stages in mid-February. I was able to answer EOC, Blue Boxes, and Concept Checkers for some sections with no additional review. You’ll surprise yourself, I assure you. Don’t misinterpret this as saying you’ll be in great shape…you WILL forget a lot, too! Good luck though, develop a systematic way to review and you’ll see rapid improvements. And DON’T shy away from practicing the stuff you dread or are weak in!
^Since you seem to be way ahead of the pack here (seriously, good job man, def motivates me to move faster), mind sharing your “systematic way of review?” Just curious to see what you’re doing, esp since you started review in Mid-Feb so by now you know exactly what’s worth the add’l time/what’s not?
I should be in review mode by early April (fingers crossed).
I read through the CFAI curriculum initially. For the past weeks (will be 6 total review weeks before practice exams), I’ve gone through each topic in Schweser with printed LOS’ off the CFAI website. Some weeks have two topics (like PM and AI in one week) and other weeks have one (FRA stands alone as well as Equity) based on importance/weight. For example, last week was just FRA and I was lucky enough to attend John Harris’ accounting workshop (I HIGHLY recommend this). During the week my process is the following:
I follow the LOS’ I’ve printed out and write notes on a separate page that directly address the LOS’ with which I’m not perfectly comfortable - so there’s a lot of notes. This process takes 1-2 days of weekday study time depending on how many SS’ I’m doing. I’ve attached the notes to each SS’ LOS’, so I’ve sorta made my own Secret Sauce.
Then I go through EOC’s & Schweser Concept Checkers a second time (I did both for every reading my first time through).
In the meantime, every day I take lunch on my own and answer 10-20 ethics questions in the QBank.
Every day on my commute (I drive), I glance at note cards on the ‘topic of the week.’
By Saturday I usually am nearly finished with my planned review or completely done. So then I go through Blue Boxes and QBank questions for the whole day.
Sundays I spend taking 60 question quizzes (advanced only sometimes) on every topic I’ve reviewed so far.
I’m not touting this as a foolproof method - it may not work for everyone. Hell, it may very well NOT work for me, but I rest (somewhat) easy knowing I’m doing my best to review EVERYTHING. I try to focus more time on those concepts that give me the most trouble - which is swaps this week (Derivatives are the ‘topic of the week’) - but also try to at least brush up on all concepts that are included in the LOS’. May be overkill, but it’s what I came up with, and it may not be possible for someone planning to begin review much later. It’s quite exhausting, as it is, with a full-time job from 7:15-5/5:30 every day and buying a house. I don’t sleep much, but it keeps me out of trouble! Certainly open to suggestions on how I might tweak it!
This is my biggest problem when it comes to motivation. I always feel like why bother studying if anything I am learning I will probably quickly forget? Hopefully with only 2 months until the exam now Ill tell myself I can remember things from here on out and it will get me studying more.