If you are feeling skeptical of your passing chances or you want to play it safe, are you going to wait till the grades come out to start studying again (if you don’t pass)? I am thinking that I will start reading the books again in a week or so just in case. I would also like to hear the input of those that took L1 for the second time this weekend. Any thoughts? What did you guys do?
I took if for a second time. I was in the top failing band in December so I really only started studying about 2-3 weeks before seriously. Casual reading before that. If you prepare for this exam you will be shocked at how easy the questions actually are, however the exam as a whole is hard to pass. Schweser has you doing stuff you really don’t need to know. Unfortunately, a lot of the questions will test one sentence, in one LOS, in one reading, in one one of the topics. You either remember it or you don’t - simple as that.
Unlike other tests at college, I actually put a lot of effort into this exam. I used Elan and CFAI. I am going to read out of the CFAI and Elan books lightly during the work week over my weaker areas leading up to the grades release just in case.
Hello, I took L1 in Dec 2010 and just failed (band 10) my weakest areas were quant and financial reporting and analysis in December. I took a few months to brush back up on the material but didn’t start until mid March to prepare for the June exam. I found the exam in June to be fair and that I was over-prepared as I finished in just over two hours am & pm. I would advise you to enjoy the summer and wait until you find out your score before starting to study again. Best of luck.
Just enjoy the summer and wait, you never know. You get the marks end of July… Gives you, Aug, Sept, Oct and Nov to prepare… I think this is more than enough for retakers.
I don’t see any point in reading, if you’re close you won’t need more than 1-2 months tops, and what’s the point in re-reading level 1 if you passed? Enjoy summer, you need to relax or studying will just burn you out.
I’ll certainly be waiting… I used Stalla and if I failed I plan to use the same material again with the additional purchase of elan @ a 40% discount (since you don’t have to be a previous elan user).
if i failed with all the time i put in and how confident i feel, i seriously don’t know if it be worth my time retaking. probably it just wont be for me. anyway i am doing it to boost my prospects where i am at now and to maybe open a few more doors. however at my current post it’s not considered necessary by a long shot (i am an economist). it would be quite hard to justify putting anything like the hours i put in this time round…
Background: B.S. in Finance Current job: Derivatives structurer Because of being high nose, I spent 195 hours the first time and failed band 9. I learned my lessons: 1. This exam requires commitment and self discipline 2. I did not deserve to pass when I did not put in enough serious work. I highly admire people who passed it because of their hard work and time devotion to study. I strongly believe they know what they are doing. No wonder, CFA exam is considered ‘world class’. This time I put in 305.8 hours of study time and am pretty confident I’ve aced it (not 100% just pretty only). I learned my lesson… the hard way
I just took the exam for the first time last weekend. This weekend I’m going to start reading the CFAI books for about an hour a day. I figured that’ll give me a good headstart if I didn’t pass, and it’ll still let me enjoy my summer.
Penny-wenny Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > if i failed with all the time i put in and how > confident i feel, i seriously don’t know if it be > worth my time retaking. probably it just wont be > for me. > good point…because there are two additional levels after I and two is much harder, and longer.
^ I get shivers when I recall all the pain and sacrifice L2 required, and it was still a bloody difficult exam.
The good part about level 1 is, if you failed, you can take it again in December. No big deal. If you gotta wait till June, that really sucks because you start forgetting all the info. Plus for level 1, it’s all basic stuff. When I say basic, I mean that it doesn’t really matter if you study from Stalla or the CFAI books because it’s all the same stuff. With the other levels, you have to know the CFAI way of doing things. There is only one way to calcluate inventory turnover. Anyways, I wish you all the best of luck, don’t dwell on it.
What sucks is if you have to retake L1 in Dec, it doesnt give you time to take L2 in June.
That is true. Although if you are sure you passed, you can prob take a break and start studying in early January. If you are not burnt out, that should be enough time to pass level 2.
I remember how worried I was when I had given my Level 1 exam…however, after having cleared it and just attempting level 2, i’ve gotten used to these feelings and have realized that there is no point in worrying…Relax guys…enjoy this feeling before you need to start studying for Level 2 