Hi, I will have the whole of May for revision. I am not sure how to go about it. Some say to start with a sample test straight away but I had done Ethics/Quant/Economics in Dec/Jan…I will need to go thro that again definitely before I can think of giving any mock/sample tests…but if I go thro the books again, it might take some times… I wish to make the best use of May for revising…any helpful tips…Thanks.
Given the weight on the exam I’d focus on FSA, Ethics, Econ and valuation topics. That’s How I distribute my time.
I’ve heard a lot of criticism about people spending to much time on reading and not enough time on the questions. In my personal opinion, the best way to go about it is to do a lot of questions from the areas your deficient in. When you answer a question wrong, instead of moving on, consult the book to refresh on that particular question. I’d also try to obtain a copy of Schweser’s Secret Sauce and refer to that instead. If you are going to spend time reviewing a second time in the critical month of May, review the essential materials. Just a though, good luck to you…I am also aiming for a May revision date.
I’m planning on doing two full months of problems and exams, if I find I’m weak in a specific area I’ll go back and re-read either the Schweser or CFAI chapter on it.
My dilemma is that right now I can’t even attempt any questions on say, Quants, unless I go thro the text…It may take 1 or 2 or maybe 3 days to revise…and those days of May are very crucial… Thanks for the inputs
You really should take a practice exam that first week in May. I get what you are saying about feeling like you won’t be able to answer any quant questions, I felt the same way a month before the exam in December, but you might surprise yourself. It is really crucial though to get a feel for exactly where you are at so you can spend that last month efficiently. No need to take a full 6 hour exam, just do a 3 hour session in early May, find your weak points and work to shore them up. I also found it helpful to do practice exams at 9am Sat morning to replicate test day as closely as possible.
Chi Paul Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > You really should take a practice exam that first > week in May. I get what you are saying about > feeling like you won’t be able to answer any quant > questions, I felt the same way a month before the > exam in December, but you might surprise > yourself. > > It is really crucial though to get a feel for > exactly where you are at so you can spend that > last month efficiently. No need to take a full 6 > hour exam, just do a 3 hour session in early May, > find your weak points and work to shore them up. > > I also found it helpful to do practice exams at > 9am Sat morning to replicate test day as closely > as possible. Chi Paul - in your opinion, is there a diminishing return on the number of practice exams one completes? I’ve been thinking about my review schedule (May 1 - June 5th) lately and I’m struggling w/ the idea of taking every practice exam in sight and using the weighting of the exams to weight my final month of pracitce problems and review… or writing just a view exams to navigate to my weak areas and re-reading Stalla and drilling pass master for those areas. Just wanted to get your thoughts.
dhwit - yes, there probably is a diminishing return on practice exams, but I didn’t get to that point and I did 6 three hour tests if I am remembering correctly. You definitely, without question, want to take all the CFA mocks that you can as they are the closest to the real thing. I would also strongly suggest doing a morning and afternoon session in the same day at least once. You just need to experience and appreciate what it is like to try and answer derivative questions in your 6th hour of testing. Do an exam 9-12, then eat lunch, take your 2 hour break and then do the afternoon 2-5. So, to get back to your question, I don’t think it is neccessary to do every practice exam possible and I think you have the right idea in drilling your weak spots. I do think that taking a practice exam weekly or so during that last 4-5 weeks is a good way to chart your progress and expose any weak areas.
I intend to take 2 or maybe 3 mock exams - full 6 hrs with 2 hrs break. I read somewhere that we need to make sure that we r physically and mentally prepared to do the actual 6 hrs exam, and for that to do mocks a couple of times beforehand. Like I can concentrate only for a maximum of 90 to 2 hrs at a stretch…so doing Qs for 3 hrs wud be too much for me without some practice… Chi Paul: thanks for the comments…
was gonna start a thread just like this one. my thinkin is, using Shwesser, it might be possible to review an SS a day and do q-bank focusin on that SS. so thats 18 days gone. then do mad revision questions and mock exams everyday til the exam day. it would leave about 2 weeks for questions. is that enough? im not working for 2 weeks leading up to the exam so i mean all day questions…
I really need someone to tell me his opinion, right now I finished the ethic but almost remember nothing, the FSA is finished except for the SS10, the economics is finished but my performance doesn’t exceed 50 %, I have 30 days preparation as I will take a long vacation from my work, so what should I exactly do from now till the exam date and is 1 week enough for solving practice and mock exams??
I strongly believe that we shud be doing atleast 3 mocks before the exams, in full exam-like conditions…-parac0da, you clearly need more time on Economics…when such a thing happens to me, most of the times I am not reading the questions properly. It is more important to understand the Q, than the A…also, many times I get a kind of ‘mental block’…which means I need to be off books for some times, sometimes even a whole day…watch movies or play golf… My schedule wud be like this: 1 CFA book in 2 days = 12 days…Quants/Eco may take more as I did those in Dec/Jan… I believe that if you have put in lots of hours/hardwork on a topic/reading, it will come back to you fairly quickly when revising - and that is what I am banking on…but I feel we need to be flexible…EVERY SINGLE DAY IN MAY is CRUCIAL…can’t waste even 1 day…therefore, if one plan doesnt work, we shud be flexible enough to change to plan B… This is how I keep myself sane: I have worked very hard, sacrifised a lot for this exam…if I pass - good; if I don’t, well, I will give again in Dec…This way I dont get pressurised…
I have ‘heard’ people passing Level 1 in 50 days preparation time. I feel whether someone can do 3 mocks/questions in a week or not depends on ones calibre…I definitely cannot…I am sure there will be very intelligent guys here for whom this exam will not be that difficult…but for most it is…so good luck everyone…
thanks imranmir1
Great thread guys, keep up the good work. I don’t think there is any replacement for the application of knowledge. Reviewing is fundamental, but a total review is a little excessive. I use secret sauce to really drill down on the material, for instance this is the layout for SS1 - SS4: 1. CFA Curriculum: 166 Pages 2. Schweser Notes: 63 Pages 3. Secret Sauce: 6 Pages Of course, the Secret Sauce isn’t an all inclusive, but if you studied right you have identified those fundamental weaknesses and you are drilling away at them as you speak. I read a lot of message boards from 2008 December L1 exam…the closer it gets the more people get freaked out. Justified with this amount of content, just buckle down and hammer out the curriculum effectively.
Agree with cfacowtown. Review is the key from here on and for that its important how effectively one uses Secret Sauce, Schweser Concept Checkers repetitively, then test yourself and go back to missing links in CFAi text or Schweser. I think initial couple of reviews and tests should give confidence though now things might look sketchy.