what do you think is the Hardest Topic in CFA level II exam ?
Derivatives
Quant (time-series), Derivatives, Econ, AI a bit.
Hardest topic will probably vary depending on folks’ work experience and/or education focus.
That said, the topic that I dislike the most is easily the reading in PM on analyzing active management.
For me it was FRA. I hate memorizing stuff and sadly FRA lends itself to that style of learning.
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Black scholes!!!
The hardest topic is the one that you have to do the most work to learn. The easiest is the one you do minimal work to ace.
For me, the hardest was FRA and the easiest was derivatives.
The hardest part is coping with my caffeine addiction the week after the test
Derivatives is the most challenging, yet most rewarding to learn (imo). There is no shortcut through it, just have to struggle for as long as it takes til you get it.
FRA was relatively easy for me because I come from a CPA background. But I agree with exactly what 125mph said in that
- “The hardest topic is the one that you have to do the most work to learn. The easiest is the one you do minimal work to ace.”
Money quote there…
I was nervous about Quant and now that I have covered the work (slowly) I have realized that it is not that bad. Scored 60% ave on the CFAI dashboard Questions. Hope Fixed income and Derivs will give me the same satisfaction.
For derivatives, the notation in the formulas is the most confusing part.
Try to tackle actual questions as you go through the formulas/notation at the same time, and then come up with your own interpretation of the notation or come up with your own version of how the formulas look.
F RA was definitely the hardest topic for me. Quant was a pain in the ass as well. Derivatives was the easiest.
im not sure if its still the same reading or content (rdg 40, valuation of fwds futures and swaps 2018), but i had to redo that reading’s blue boxes and EOCs no lie like 8 or 9 times to finally understand it
2019 hardest topic in an exam: FRA (ninety percentile line was below 70% line) and derivatives
I finished reading FRA and started testing my knowledge retention on the CFA1 FRA questions…I was rudely awaken!
will use the questions as learnings tools but wow it takes long to work through.