Just wanted to see who has started to study already for June 09 and how are you guys going about studying? what method, schedule you are following? For the people with more experience, is there such thing as starting to study too early? I was thinking of going through everything (readings, practice qbank, couple mock exam) until Jan, then when the classes start that month (Schweser), follow their schedule, then review again. I’ve heard people talking about “burning” before the exam, so I just want to know if somebody started studying way before hand, so when test time came they felt very ready. Let me know.
i am starting next week… my plan is to put 12 solid hours per week in nov. and dec. --4 hours on sunday and 2 hours a day on four weekdays then when jan. and feb. hit, i can study on company time, which will push my total hours into 20-30 per week. --4 hours a day, 5-6 days a week in march and april, i plan to finish the material and begin reviewing. --4 hours on sunday and 2 hours a day on four weekdays in april and may, begin practice exams and finish review of material. --practice exams on saturdays in the morning and so i am looking at roughly 300 or so hours and then review and practice tests. i am trying to keep a good study/life balance because thursdays are “the office” nights and saturdays are college football days (sundays are a waste of time being from cincinnati). i plan on using just the cfaI text, but i know many people use a combo of cfaI and study guides. i will decide as i go if that is the route for me.
I’m putting in about 2hrs each day - started 2 weeks ago. Of course I haven’t done it religiously yet but basically trying to get into a rhythm; I have a 7 month old so I HAVE to start NOW - factoring in family time etc.) Weekends, I try to do 4 hrs(broken down into 2 hr sessions) on Sat & Sunday its Redskins on tv. I’m looking to put in north of 300 hrs by March after which I’ll go over the not-so-clear stuff in April. Come May its practice time - going over Questions both in CFA notes & Q-bank. If I’m not comfy, might even do schwezer.
I have started. I posted my plan here: http://blog.5m10y.com/my-cfa-level-1-exam-june-2009-plan/ It’s a Zoho sheet, smart enough so you can adjust the schedule with delays, etc. and you’ll see the impact on the overall schedule. So far I’ve been progressing a lot slower than planned–weekdays are almost impossible for me to get more than 2, 3 hours tops of study. Review takes a lot longer than I thought! I’m trying to create notes for myself to revisit in 5 months, but it takes so much time I wonder if I should just stop the notetaking. I’m planning to just do this using the CFAI text, but after reading about others’ experiences I think I’ll probably gonna invest in QBank. And finally, my objective is to pass, but equally important for me, is that I REALLY want to REALLY understand this stuff. So it’s important for me to make sure that I really understand it and not just shaping myself to become a good test taker.
I’ve also started studying for the June 09 two weeks ago. Even though it’s months away, I think this is the best call, cos I can already see 1) there’s really HUGE amounts of material to cover and 2) it’s difficult to balance work/social life/studying. Weekdays are tough. My plan is to read on weekends until February where I’ll enroll in a prep course and start reviewing and focus on exercises. QBank is a must, and I also like the videos (I have the 08 ones). Cheers
Hey there. Excited for the test and to expand my knowledge. current experience is commercial real estate investment brokerage. looking to expand knowledge of all asset classes, get into portfolio management. started studying about a month ago but not intensely so as not to burn out. i want to have all the curriculum done by Feb or March and then do problems from there on out. Make note that the sample problems in the curriculum are three answer multiple choice format. i’ve heard this is the same format as the exam. this is crucial.
Started studying this week, going to have a similar schedule as lobaugma 12 hours a week - 5-6 during the week and the rest on the weekends since I work 45 hours a week Still have to have somewhat of a social life and watch The Office & 30 (Rock starting next week) and my Giants football but other than that I’m working and studying. Starting right at the beginning with Ethics, woohooo! Good luck all
I started a few weeks ago, going at ~10 hours/wk, using Schweser. I work around 50-60 hours/wk, so I’m having difficulty balancing work/study/life, and I’m definitely going slower than I planned. Hopefully the early(?) start will pay off. Best of luck to all of you, too.
Are you guys taking notes or just reading?? I started taking notes but I feel like at the rate I am going I will have 100 volumes of note books so I may stop. Are most of you guys using the CFA material? I think I plan on reading all the CFA material than picking up stalla or schweser.
At first I also started to take notes but it seemed like it would take forever to go through 6 books with taking notes, so I stopped. Right now, I only write down what’s really really important or something that I come up on my own to help me understand some difficult stuffs. I guess if you start early, you can read all the material and after the reading assuming you will have 4 months left for drilling and practice then you can always go back to take notes. I am using CFAI material.
I only took notes on Ethics, which took forever. On quant I didn’t take notes, I just highlighted the important stuff and everytime I get through a new reading, I try to go back and skim through the old information. I find it useful to review the schweser flash cards while I’m on the train, so I don’t forget the old stuff. The flash cards are good, they have some formulas the LO’s, and some definitions. They also have space to write in case you want to add more info.
i wouldnt start this early unless you’re completely foreign to this material.
I am taking notes… but it’s going slow though. And some chapters are not that suitable for note-taking–Ethics being one of them.