Study Plan

Dear fellow forum users,

I was wondering if there was someone who had a comprehensive 5-6 month effective study plan for Level II? Unfortunately for me, I wasn’t able to get a jump on the studying due to a few family issues and laziness. I’ve probably forgotten some of the material as well which is a little alarming as well, but that’s neither here nor there.

Ultimately if there an individual or individuals that have some tips and strategies that could be utilized please reach out.

I plan to complete reading the CFIA materials this month and I’ll dive into learning the materials via the Schweser Notes at the beginning of the year.

Thanks in advance for all your help fellow candidates and charterholders as well

Days to complete Days to complete

CFAI Curriculum CFAI Curriculum

Topics by Dec, 31st 2014 by Jan, 31 st 2015

Ethics 2 3

Quants 1 4

Eco 1 4

FRA 3 8

Corp Fin 2 5

Equity 4 10

Alt Inv 1 3

Fixed Inc 2 5

Derivatives 3 6

Port Mgt 1 3

Its going to be a daunting task to complete the CFAI Materials by this month or even by Jan 31st, 2015

Equity, FRA, Fixed Income & Ethics are the heavy weights in the topics Index. These require max time & efforts

Old Readings in Fixed Income have been removed and new onces have been added

After the heavweights, Corp Finance & Derivatives come in line.

Quants, Eco, Alt Inv & Port Mgt are the ones that would take least time to complete.

If at all you plan to complete CFAI materials by this month end. Atleast Equity, FRA & Fixed Income should be completed. i.e. 22 readings in 20 days.

It would be better to complete rest of the readings followed by rereading from Schweser Notes accompanied by 22 readings from above by March, 2015. There is a great probabilty that it would extend till mid of April, which means there would be sufficient time for revision, practice, review and mock tests.

Additional Inputs are most welcomed.

My post was probably a bit ambiguous so I’ll better explain it. Im simply reading thru the CFAI materials currently to just get a feel for the materials and some of the language presented. After completing the reading, I will begin actually going thru the Schweser materials and taking notes/doing practice problems while also reviewing blue box materials/EOC questions in the CFAI texts.

I guess my question is is there a study schedule I could follow after I complete the reading portion set to be completed on Jan 1st 2015.

You can do anything you want. But I’ve tried to read the new chapters on the damn e-books and I can get a chapter done in a day. That doesn’t mean I learned the material. It means I read everything and scribbled some notes and and answers to the questions. Book 6 ends with Reading 56, there were actually more readings before, so to read the CFAI material and at least take some notes and do the questions I think you need to budget 56 days.

Actually reviewing the material, making proper notes / flash cards, and doing the 100s of questions necessary to have a chance to pass can than begin.

Good luck!

In my opinion I would leave 2.5 months for mocks/EOC/Blue Boxes then build a study plan backwards from there. So you want to have learned everythign by the end of March then begin practice questions and mocks by April. Dedicate 80-100 hours of practice questions from the end of March until exam day and you’ll be in pretty good shape. The key now is learning the material before the end of March

  1. Skim the entire CFAI curriculum doing all EOCs. 2. Repeat step 1. 3. Take a couple mocks. 4. Pass

I’ve been reading CFAi curriculum word by word. LOL for english is not my native language, I’am really grasping every word it says. I’ve started since sept 15, I’ve been reading 3 hours a day on weekdays, and 16 hours on week ends. And now, Iam currently only at FRA reading 21.

Iam reading the curriculum in ascending order from reading 1 till the end.

This is a tough question, just because everyone learns so differently.

It was mentioned earlier, but work backwards to set goals. For me, I like to start taking mocks between the beginning and mid april, and I feel like 6 exams is enough for me to be ready for the exam. Work backwards from there.

Also, focus on what you believe you need to know to pass, and then implement and plan based on how you learn.

For me:

  • Understanding LOS from all books
  • Work through Qbank questions (a lot of them) to keep concepts fresh
  • EOC Schweser questions, challenge questons, and Self Assesments
  • EOC CFAI questions (multiple times)
  • CFA sample questions (on the CFAI website, mulitple times)
  • CFA and Schweser mocks
  • Problems, problems and more problems

With the exception of the exam, if believe I need to have worked through most of these problems before I have attempted my first sit down mock.

There’s more to it than that obviously, but to me… if you can do well on this stuff, then you should be ready.

So that is what my study plan is built around.

Hope that helps.