Study Plan

Hi guys,

Long time lurker here.

I’m currently studying with the Kaplan Schweser books, and will finish off the remaining Books 1 and 2 by the end of April. I currently target 2 hours a weeknight, 6-7 hours a weekend day.

After Kaplan Schweser, I intend to spend about 8-9 days watching Mark Meldrum videos.

From the second week of May, I’ll get started on the Kaplan Q Bank + review of LoS until the first week of June when I start the practice exams. I’ll take a week off from work a week before exam.

I have paid for the IFT notes/videos as well, but may lean towards Mark Meldrum for revision videos and mix in some IFT qns as an alternative to the Q Bank.

Keen to get how everyone is leading up to the exam / any feedback on my study plan and whether or not I should start prac exams even earlier…

Cheers

Hey ibizzle88

How are you finding Mark Meldrum, just trying to compare Mark with IFT?? any thoughts?

Many thanks!

Hi mate

I actually haven’t started any of his contents yet, I have downloaded it and they’re ready to go. I used IFT videos for level 2 and found it quite slow and I got too distracted (*cough* accent* cough*), I read that Mark Meldrum had a really good reputation for Level 1 and 2 but this will be his first year doing level 3? It wasn’t too expensive either so figured it’s worth the ‘insurance’.

IFT level 2 wasn’t bad as it provided additional qns. Both MM and IFT have video walk throughs on the exams so hopefully it will be value add.

Cheers

I looked at both, and found the hand written notes for Mark Meldrum a bit distracting. Both have good reviews, so its just personal preference I guess…

I think you have a solid study plan there, but I would suggest tackling some practice questions in parallel with watching the videos. Not sure about you, but if I spend 8-9 days watching videos without any practice, I’m sure my brain won’t memorize half the stuff unless I do problems to solidify my understanding of the material.

I envy you as I still have half of book 3, and all of 4 and 5 left to finish. I’m hoping to be done with the material before end of May and spend the first week of June reviewing everything then tackling mock exams.

Good luck!

Hi mate - I’ve pulled together a spreadsheet (yes its nerdy) tracking pages and where I should be if i do 2 hours a weeknight / 6 hours a weekend day @ 6 pages an hour. Based on that, should knock over the last 2 books which is book 1 and 2 by end of April if all goes to plan.

I’ve managed to ‘reforecast’ twice as i’ve gone ahead of schedule which is quite motivational.

I think I’ll do videos + Q bank style qns concurrently.

Cheers mate and keep in touch!

That’s great! Adding a bit to the nerdiness, does the 6 pages/hour take into account the end of chapter reviews pages as well as the problem pages?

I think I’m at 10 pages of study content/2 hours right now however this should probably be adjusted upward since once I am done with a chapter, there are sometimes like 10 pages of Review/Problems which take around 15-30 mins to go through.

Based on the above, I have a total of 700 pages left so I’m guessing I need about 50-60 days (conservative estimate) which will leave me around 3-4 weeks for review and mock exam practices.

Those 3 additional weeks in June really came helpful this year!

Hi, the 6 pages an hour is a little conservative as I get distracted with my phone etc… it includes everything ie readings, Q&A pages, but in the end it averages out.

I guess having a target on paper and being able to track where you should be makes it easier, rather than in your head.

Will you tackle Q bank before mocks? I assume you’re referring to the two books of 3 exams from Kaplan.