Strategy on highly weighted areas versus less weighted areas in L2 exam

CFA Level II
#1

For those who wrote L2 exam, please indicate whether your preparation strategy varied between highly weighted areas versus less weighted areas or if focus was accorded to all areas equally. After writing the exam , do you think your strategy was appropriate. Please clarify. Thanks.

#2

You definitely should consider how heavily weighted a particular topic is versus others. If you’re struggling with FRA and Economics equally, you’d clearly be better off drilling FRA and mastering the material before immersing yourself into Econ.

#3

Thanks for the guidance

#4

But also bear in mind that nothing is off the table during the exam. Even within topics, you might see that some topics are covered more extensively than others. For example, when you review equity maybe you’ll think free cash flows are more important than the industry and company valuation chapter.

I would not ignore ANYTHING in FRA, Equity, Derivatives, and FI. Everything is fair game.

#5

Thanks AnalystDude123 for the guidance

#6

Ideally, you get a solid grasp on all topics.

Mainly focusing on equity and FRA is dangerous for two reasons:

  1. if the exam pulls out unfavorable questions in equity and FRA, you have a big problem

  2. Because you have focused only on two topics, you won’t be able to make up for any equity or FRA shortfall by getting marks in other topics.

I would advise you to study FRA and equity as thoroughly as possible, but do not overlook any other topics.

They are all equally important.

Also visualize how it’d feel if you left the exam hall knowing that FRA and equity went very well, but many other topics didn’t. You will be sweating until results come out and blame yourself for neglecting other important topics :wink:

#7

I would develop a strength in at least 2/3 of the prime subjects: FRA/EQ/FI, so much that you can get 10/12 of each of those sets and are not surprised by anything… high percentage weights = high prob of payoff.

Or you could do as Kaplan instructor Andrew Holmes says “know everything about everything”.

#8

Thanks for valuable feedback Mr.RS and calvol

#9

Never Underestimate Free Throws in a Game of Horse

#10

FRA and Equity together could be 30-45% of the exam.

FI/D/CF could be 20-50% of the exam.

Econ/PM/Quant/AI could be 20-40% of the exam.

Given how srsly the CFAI takes Ethics, you’ll almost certainly get 15% on Ethics alone. This tells you that FRA and Equity are the most important, but the others (at a combined weight) are just as important, if not more. You shouldn’t make the same mistake I did by underestimating the “lesser” topics like AI and PM, because they do add up. The absolute WORST feeling in the exam is when you totally mess up a vignette because you didn’t think it’d come up in the exam. Like John Maynard Keynes once said, it’s better to be partially correct, than fully wrong.

#11

Went across essentially equally as I think CFAI knows that there are a lot of people who will just study FRA, equity, and Ethics because of the weighting. Those folks get wrecked if CFA goes minimum weighting on any of those topics.

#12

This becomes clear when you write mock exams. IF you are scoring low because you are missing a lot of points in small sections (small sections add together can become big part of the exam) then you should study those sections. Conversely, if you are scoring low because you are doing bad in some big sections, then you know what to focus on!

Suggestion: start doing mocks EARLY!

Best of luck,

NANA