I am new to this board and this is my first post. I passed Level 1 in December and haven’t done any reading for Level 2 till now. I am getting my Schweser material today. Reading through the threads here gives me the impression that people are way too panicky. Many, if not all, seem to have covered almost half of the topics already. Some started way back in October and wonder how Dec Level 1 passers can hope to pass in June. Surely three months is enough time for someone who has some background of and works in finance (as I assume most people here do) to pass Level 2. Is there anyone else who thinks the same ? or am I smoking something different ?
you are high
Wait until you start reading. It can be done, but don’t expect level II to be anything like level I.
I live in a constant state of fear. It’s not impossible but not so probable either. This is nothing like L1.
be afraid, be very afraid
its my turn. pass it over here. where did you get this batch, from down in kingston?
Don’t mean to scare you (which you should anyway!) but 3 months is not enough in my opinion - unless you don’t work and can put in 10 hours per day without break from now till exam day - then it can be done. Good luck
Simple answer: Depends if you want to have a life or not. 250 Hours / 92 days until exam = 2.7 hrs / per day of study. or … 250 hours / 13 weeks until exam = 19.2 hrs / week. You could study 2 hr per work day and put in 5 hours on Sat & Sun each and be fine.
The 250 hour is not a very reliable benchmark. I’d be more curious on the mean amount of time a successful candidate studies and the standard deviation. Even the CFAI puts a nice warning on the 250 hour recommendation. The amount of hours one needs varies substantially from candidate to candidate. 250 hours may be enough for Matka, but it wouldn’t be appropriate to assume so.
Very true that its not one size fits all, but I assume that its understood that I wasn’t guaranteeing success. Either way, 250 hrs is a good minimum benchmark, and if you use the hours well, and aren’t gchatting / AF’ing for 10 mins / hour its not unreasonable to think someone who passed L1 would have a good shot at L2. I just wanted to offer hope and provide an idea for how much work would be required. Best of luck.
Very true. Either way, there will be a lot of nights from now until the exam where Matka (and much of the rest of us) is (are) going to need to be intimate with the text books. LOL. Good luck everyone.
Honestly speaking, I have also doubt of passing despite having read almost all notes once. However, I am ready to put in 3-4 hrs daily from tomorrow to exam date. What I learned from other posts (especially those who passed) that you need atleast 400 hrs to pass. Do maths, I believe if one utilizes all the remaining days, keep things very simple, make L2 priority of Life, its doable. Always remember that reward of passing is enormous…so buckle up and start from today. Give it a shot we are with you
Thank you for the encouragement. I hope to start studying from tomorrow. Having also gone through a few other threads it does appear that most of the people here think 250 hours may not be enough. Could at least a part of this fear be self-sustaining? At the risk of courting controversy, here’s a model of the CFA Fear Factor (CFAFF). It is the sum of three components : 1. Intrinsic exam fear 2. Fear generated by posts written by AFers who failed earlier / are jobless (no offence meant). This increases exponentially as exam day draws nearer. 3. Ratio of AF posts that show some people have yet to start their preparation to those which show some people have already covered a lot. CFAFF = [(100-D)/10] + exp(1/D)*(5F + J) – 10L/(P*D) where D= Days remaining for the exam = 92 F = % of posts by AFers who failed in their first attempt = 0.4 J = % of posts by Afers who recently lost their jobs = 0.2 L = No of replies in the posts that ask “Is it too late” or their variants= 15 P = No of replies in the “Progress Check” posts or their variants = 60 Generally FF ranges from 1 to 25. Using the values quoted above we get a value of around 3. As the exam day gets closer, this should rise. This model can surely be improved and calibrated more precisely. Suggestions for improvement ?
LAME.
Your model is Sh!t. Throw it out. You might want to start creating a study schedule as opposed to creating bogus models. Good luck with your preparation. I really do mean that.
Your model is off. a) you are getting your material today b) you plan on starting tomorrow
You shouldn’t be scared, you should be disciplined. Check out the level 1 board and you’ll see that there’s no shortage of worry warts willing to guarantee your failure on that one either. It kind of gets to be like bad beat poker stories after a while. My $.02 is that I know a pretty bright guy who passed level 1 no problem and failed the 2nd a few years back so I’m using that as my measuring stick and planning appropriately. Either way you’ve already paid for it so you might as well give it your all now.
I am in a similar boat and I started L1 late and had to slog really hard in 2 months to be able to get through L1, more so since I don’t have finance background. However doing it was purely my decision to test the water in finance, I had my heart into it so to speak… But I strongly feel that 3 months is enough time to get through L2, I have seen my friend do it …I am not trying to say it would be easy… it would require a lot of discipline as someone above rightly mentioned… dedicate yourself to it and if you find the material interesting and get a high by knowing that you are learning something worthwhile …there should be no stopping … and did I mention no social life for next 3 months…but then you must have figured that yourself… I started a week back and I am through 2 reading already … I have put on an average 6-7 hrs a day but then I don’t see any other way …since I was having fun in Europe when everyone was studying … there is always a trade-off… All the Best…