The test is in 8 months!!! scary

Wow, I would not waste my time on Level 1 - Level 2 is so distinctively different…

8 months is PLENTY of time, folks.

Just finished Ethics today… man that stuff is BORING!!!

Just so that daj doesn’t freak people out…A ton of us took Level 1 in Dec '07 and Level 2 in Jun '08 and were lucky enough to get through it. We didn’t find out the results of Level 1 until Jan 23rd. I am definitely not someone with an extensive finance background beyond work experience, and I’m certainly not smarter than the average person signed up for this test. In fact, the shorter study time I think helped me fend off burnout and kept me focused and motivated. If you are taking Level 1 in Dec '08 and are reading these posts, definitely don’t freak out, and most importantly, enjoy the time off in Dec and early Jan before you get back into studying for Level 2. If you are taking Level 2 and don’t want to start studying until December or January, I think that’s a good call. I’m not knocking those who are starting now…to each his own…but don’t get psyched out by other people who are worried about “only” having 8 months to study. Best of luck to everyone.

Just finished book 1 and moving onto FSA tomorrow. Doing the books (CFAI) all in order. Was going to do Schweser then when I heard of the horror stories I decided to go balls out and to the cirriculum. My thoughts so far… ethics is the same (besides the additions from L1, which are as easy as the normal ethics stuff), quant is very straightforward if your good with math and numbers. Econ is a whole different ball game. It goes so in depth that alot of the time you think yoou are reading the same thing over and over again. Material not difficult but VERy indepth. Just been studying slowly. Hopefully will get through all the books before Jan then really turn it on. In my job the markets determine how busy I am, needless to say it has been a crazy time as of late. Trying to get ahead as much as I can just incase there will be atime where studying will have to take a back burner. Just want to get this thing done 3/3 and get my life back

Does anybody see anything wrong with focusing on Volume 2 (FSA) and Volume 4 (Equity) solely between now and December/January? With ~50% coming from these 2 areas, it might not be bad to get a good grasp on that material… What does everyone else think?

soxboys21 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Does anybody see anything wrong with focusing on > Volume 2 (FSA) and Volume 4 (Equity) solely > between now and December/January? > > With ~50% coming from these 2 areas, it might not > be bad to get a good grasp on that material… > > What does everyone else think? not a bad plan i reckon. I think level 2 DOES NOT go in order, so it really doesnt matter how you study???

Yes, this time around i plan to read the CFAI books…or at least all of FSA and Equity…maybe even fixed income.

daj224 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > soxboys21 Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > Does anybody see anything wrong with focusing > on > > Volume 2 (FSA) and Volume 4 (Equity) solely > > between now and December/January? > > > > With ~50% coming from these 2 areas, it might > not > > be bad to get a good grasp on that material… > > > > What does everyone else think? > > > > not a bad plan i reckon. I think level 2 DOES NOT > go in order, so it really doesnt matter how you > study??? Order doesn’t mean anything. You will open your book on test day and see something like this: Ethics 1-6 Quant 7-13 FSA 14 - 32 etc… The test follows the order of the curriculum in how it is structured, but the difference between Level 1 and 2 is that you have NO FREAKING CLUE what will be covered because there is a ton of material and only 20 vignettes. The only section that you can even begin to game for is FSA because there are only 5 topics and the test weighting shows you you will have 4-5 FSA vignettes, so you better have all the bases covered. The rest is fair game. Don’t worry about the order - start with your strengths, spend lots of time on your weaknesses, and learn everything so you don’t get caught with your pants down on exam day. That simple, or that difficult, depending on how you want to spin it.

Good job starting this early guys. I plan to read only The CFAI book as usual and use the Qbank for practise. I won’t start till mid November at the latest.

budfox, thanks

Just started studying. I think now is an okay time to start hitting the books, especially since I am a slow reader.

I think the key is slow and steady wins the race. There’s just so much material here that cramming will lead to burning out if you don’t time it right. I’ve already started, but I’m focusing on Equity and FSA first, since those were (in my opinion) the hardest sections to learn. I’m hoping to have read through all the textbooks by around Dec/Jan, then I’ll take a practice test from last year to see where I stand and what I really need to focus on. Another 3 months of more intensive studying after that should put me right where I need to be for practice tests during late April and May.