Studying so far.....actually not so bad

CFA Level II
#1

L1 felt as though everything was foreign. Whether it was seeing new terms and definitions, formulas, ideas, etc. It really left my head spinning with all the new material.

Though L2 delves deeper into the main subject matter, I’m finding it more familiar and less daunting than L1. I wouldn’t dare to go as far as to say its “enjoyable”, but I don’t feel like every flip of the page is a new concept leaving me scratching my head.

Specifically thinking of the “L1 vs L2 - whats it like” thread that compares L2 to the opening scene of Saving Private Ryan…I’m just not finding it that bad. It makes me feel like I’m missing something.

I have looked over the 2011 CFA L2 mocks, and the worst part of all this seems to be adapting to a new exam format.

Before I get flamed, I’m not saying I find L2 easy by a longshot. I’m just finding the preparation to not be nearly as bad as I imagined. Granted, I may look back at this in 6 months in embarassment that I posted such a topic and failed…but currently I feel pretty good about this.

For now I plan to stay the course and hammer away at this thing and not get overly confident.

How is everyone else feeling at this point?

#2

SS 6 is waiting to anally probe you

#3

Man, I’m hearing alot of bad press about SS6, might have to take a week of work for that one…

I’m one week in and just to the end of Quant. It seems ok but all the testing for autocorrelation, hetro, F-test for this and t-test for that etc is fucking draining.

Looking forwar to hitting corporate finance, econ etc.

Could someone please confirm that, with the exclusion of SS6, Quant is the most tedious on the 18 study sessions?

Or, if anyone knows the secret that makes this easier to learn, please let me on on it.

Cheers,

Chris

#4

MissCleo - Hilarious comment!

Evolsteevol - I agree with you. I’m finding L2 info less tedious and fewer tiny subject areas that ‘might’ be tested. That being said, maintaining exposure and expecting the worst. CFA books have been great, didn’t use them at all for L1.

How did you get CFA level 2 mocks from 2011? I’m curious to see how worried I should be…

#5

Thats sort of my point. Less tedious minutiae which may or may not be covered in the exam (L1).

Though the main topics that are covered in L2 (such as SS 6, as MissCleo so eloquently described) are a real mind f*ck.

As for finding the mock exams: I don’t recall exactly, but I think when CFAI releases their mock exams you have access to all 3 levels.

So when I downloaded the L1 mocks, I also downloaded the L2 and L3 mocks for future use (if I even made it that far).

#6

well if you find it comfortable, then good for you. You’re ahead of the herd then

#7

I found economics insanely boring n dry–could not wait to be done with it. At least in quant I learned some new words like heteroskedacity or w.e. The trick I guess is to memorize what u look for to find herero, serial corr, and multicollinearity in a regression (std errors, t stat). There’s practice probs on it.

#8

Stats was fairly mind blowing. Econ was fine and Accounting is ok so far, but Pension Accounting is next…

#9

Pension Accounting is simple, the most intuitive of all of the SS 6. Now deciding whether to use the temporal vs. current method, and then whether to use the current historical or average rate, well… good luck

#10

I like how you don’t always use the Current Rate in the All Current method. Very Intuitive.

#11

Can IFRS and US GAAP just converge already so we don’t have to deal with all these differences.

#12

I think you’ll find that the biggest issue with L2 is not being able to bang out 1000 practice problems like in L1 to repeatedly learn the material. When you begin the mock exams and discover vignette structured problems you realize it takes 12 to 20 mins to do one item set, which may only cover 5% of that topic. Reading the material is the easy part, understanding it to a level to which you can recite it on demand is the challenge. Make sure you are doing all of the CFAI EOC questions. Also, keep in mind some topics on the exam will only be 5% or just 1 item set (6 questions). They can test you on anything in those LOS’s.

#13

+10000

#14

Screw that, let’s just take it a step further. All companies 20% tax, no deductions, kill off LIFO,

#15

LIFO will go away once they converge, but too much talking not enough action. Converge already, they’ve been talking about it for at least 5 years.

#16

multinational is far more enjoyable than pension accounting…at least for me.

#17

I LOVE IT!

#18

You all think this is easy just wait till you hit derivatives. Then if you have any brainpower left, Treynor Black is waiting for you at the end of PM. After swalling all that, see if you recall some of that garbage you learned in the back half of equities…

No one thing is all that hard. Holding it in your brain on test day is a challenge.

#19

Nah derivatives isn’t bad and very intuitive, just TVM stuff. Treynor Black I find interesting, since my firm uses that mixture of passive and active. And equities really isn’t bad either FCFF, and FCFE, justified P/E, are stuff most of us deal with daily. Temporal method though? Kill me. Accounting is the hardest in Level II ainec.

#20

I find Quant to be the hardest part of L2 … SS 6 is pretty difficult too esp Pension accounting and Intercorporate…International Operations is kind of OK once you get the hang of things i guess.

Any idea how difficult Portfolio management and Ethics are?