So much to do....

CFA Level III
#1

So here I am with 70 days to go. study at a stand still. Why? Life happens. work , family etc. The current status is that I have yet to make a serious start. Folks discussing attempting mocks make me smile.

Here is my proposed plan. i can devote 2 hours a day and 10 hours on weekends and holidays.take a week off before the exam.

  1. Watch schweser videos or read notes. i cannot do both. some videos are 2 hours long. for example asset allocation. wondering what option to choose.

  2. CFAI EOC

  3. Practice questions from past CFAI mocks and AM, schweser, finquiz . solve the exam questions on standalone basis and not time myself.

  4. Finally for the last 2 weeks, schweser book 2 and solve CFAI AM paper 2014 to 2012 again. brush on weak areas which may well turn out to be too many.

Plan to spend 30 to 40% of the time learning and 60% solving practice questions /mocks.

Workable? also should i watch videos or read notes? for derivatives will watch videos.

I want to give it my best effort given the limited time or atleast help with the curve. :slight_smile:

#2

A day saved after the semi finals.So we can study on the 28th.

#3

didnt watch the semis. anyway hope ur studies are going fine.

#4

Personally to me when I do practice exams i could retain more information than spending time watching videos, which are quite boring and sleepy. I would suggest you to practice exams asap

#5

^, I failed band 10 in 2013. Had spent too much time, reading instead of working on problems.

2014, I was almost exclusively taking only Practise exams (after reading once). Would have done last 10 years of CFAI exams (of course, I marked relevancy initially) and finquiz mocks and Schweser mocks in 2014. Did pretty reasonably and importantly passed.

#6

Get your hands on as many practice exams as possible. (Btw- Schweser ones aren’t very good)

If you can take at least 10 practice exams (and take the time to carefully review, particularly your weaker areas), then I guarantee that your chances of passing LIII will be *much better* than for any average Joe.

#7

^ Can you please clarify why the Schweser mocks aren’t good? I’ve heard this elsewhere.

#8

The AM CFAI mocks are questions from actual previous exams. Why would you use anything else?

#9

^ Because we have 9 or 10 weeks before the exam date (I’m ready to start mocks) and I have six full Schweser exams that I have in my possession. I’m sure the 2007 exam, for example, is helpful but the curriculum has changed since then…and the AM session is only 50% of the exam.

I’m prioritizing the CFA AM actual exams but that’s only so much practice. Those will be done for sure – I’m just curious how helpful the Schweser mocks are.

#10

^ nothing wrong with reworking the CFAI exams you’ve already taken. For level-II, I re-took the CFAI exams I had on hand 2 or 3 times, it really made it clear what topics I was starting to get and which I was clearing still fail to grasp (even when re-doing the same questions)

#11

^ I agree there is nothing wrong reworking actual CFA exams, but perhaps there’s something wrong with doing CFA exams 2 or 3 teams over when you’ve got six full Schweser mocks that you don’t even touch? I’ve got 8+ weeks for mocks. Or are the Schweser mocks just that bad?! Circling back to my question, what is wrong with them?

I’m guessing the AM session from Schweser is what’s poor, but the PM item sets have to be valuable, right?

#12

While OK for the sake of practice, the Schweser AM mocks aren’t *truly representative* of what you’ll see on the real exam. But their PM exams are fine.

(I just think it’s funny when people do the 6 practice Schweser exams, and run through the previous 3 years of AM exams released by CFAI, and think that’s more-than-adequate preparation for game day. IMO that may work for some, but not most.)

#13

Agreed but i haven’t read/studied from notes. i i haven’t watched any videos either and I remember squat from what i studied last year. so i have no information to retain. My options are

  1. Read notes , then EOC and practice exams OR

  2. watch videos,then EOC and practice exams OR

  3. Just practice exams–Past CFAI AM and PM, schweser and finquiz mocks and those CFAI provided practice assessments. Dunno if doing many mocks without reading or videos will help me learn and retain the material.

#14

How much did you retain after first read assuming you remembered stuff from your previous attempt. so what option do you think I should choose.

#15

So using practice exams as a learning tool would be prudent ? The exams are likely to throw up multiple weak areas in my case.

#16

My last 3 choices, did some study during the weekend but yes not enough. If i do opt for option 3, do past a exams cover the curriculum sufficiently?

#17

^ mate with the time you have, here is what I would do if I were in your shoes.

  1. Read schweser secret sauce.

  2. Keep doing EOC for each chapter.

  3. Prioritise the topics. Some must not leave ones which give you wonderful ROI are (imho)-

a. IPS

b. BF

c. CME (you know what to expect based on your prior experience)

d. FI & Risk Management topics

e. Ethics practise.

  1. Practise exams - practise is not to just get used to the format. You got to spend 3 hours atleast analyzing each of your response (whether correct or not) & keep doing this repeatedly. Start with Schweser & slowly move to old CFAI exams & then finally last 3 years.

Remember - the key is to get 55-60 in the AM and crushing the PM with a 80+. Thats how most of the folks pass the exam. So the PM is as important as well. And Mocks as important there too.

#18

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#19

Thanks Sooraj. I will start from tomorrow because I have to take my daughter to her pediatrician today for vaccine :smiley:

#20

Tozerrt. Whats your suggestion for better mocks besides CFA? Finquiz?