Hi everyone, People who passed the June exam - did any of you rely solely on study notes (eg. analystnotes)? I feel like I am running out of time and I should rather focus on learning everying in study notes really well instead of reading through the CFA books (which takes ages). I’m writting this dec, i’ve gone through ecos & quant but not anything else. And I don’t know how much I’ve retained!! So guys - study notes vs CFA books - can you rely only on the notes? and obviously do loads of practise questions… Thanks everyone!!!
You have exactly 112 days until December exam. It took me 4 months to prepare for L1, relying solely on CFAI books and Q-bank. That said, I really think you have enough time to complete this either way (CFAI vs Notes, or both). But the answer to your question depends on your individual ability, time schedule, time spent, working hours etc. Cheers P.S. Around 80% of AFers have relied only on Notes and managed to pass without a problem.
The keys are: 1) doing lots of questions as you go to drill the concepts 2) finishing in time to do lots of mock exams 3) reviewing properly your weak areas as flagged up by mocks. If you can do this with CFAI, good luck. If not - Schweser is very good.
Use the notes. Make sure you understand all of them, do the questions and qbanks, and sample/mock exams when they are available. You should not see any suprises on the exam…sure there will be questions you dont recall how to answer, but that will happen whether you use the curriculum or notes.
It’s entirely possible to pass L1 using only notes, if you know them cold. It depends on your background (i.e. a person with a good quant background will have a comparative advantage with the QM stuff, an accountant will have one with FSA, etc…) But it’s key to assess yourself after each module. Most folks here who use a study guide use either Schweser or Stalla (they’re clearly both head and shoulders above the competition). Whichever you use, test yourself thoroughly after each SS. If you have difficulty getting it from the study notes, supplement with the CFA curriculum. Leeave time the last couple of weeks for mock exams (particularly the CFAI ones). There’s obciously a tradeoff. CFAI is preferred, but the study guides will save a lot of time. In the end, it all comes down to how much time you put in much more than study guide vs. CFAI curriculum.
> I feel like I am running out of time and I should > rather focus on learning everying in study notes > really well instead of reading through the CFA > books (which takes ages). > i do not recommend this.