I would like to ask for ideas re the time management. Finished two levels at school so that never felt time management was an issue. Now with 12-18 hours in the office per day, I really find problems in reading CFA materials. Just started and found that I could hardly read 10 pages per hour. Exhausted mind + boring contents just created inefficiency. How do you handle the problem at work? Any suggestion will be really appreciated.
hey! what is exactly your job? 18 hours a day?!! that’s a lot,if they appreciate you getting your CFA ask them to let you go home at a certain time, 10 hours lets say…i do ten at my job and go home chill and sleep by 9 or ten max,i wake up at quarter to 4,get my coffee and study till 6:30-7 when 6 hours of sleeep should make u feel fresh,work is off your mind after sleeping and no1 else is up to distract…it is hard the first week maybe but u will get used to it…on the weekend be in bed by 12 max,sleep in but make it up during the day… dno if that is of any help! good luck!
DO NOT listen to Masa - do not ask them to let you go home at a certain time, that’s quite likely some of the worst advice i’ve seen. By the sounds of it you’re likely a banker and that’s the hours they expect. your job is more important than the CFA. The CFA is a priority for us, not for your employer (until they hiring process begins then that reverses). Anywaz, dealing with 18 hour days and studying will be next to impossible. Schweser will have to do - you don’t have time for the CFAI texts. Study while you take a crap. Seriously. Study on your commute (walking, or subway or…its something)… Read a page or two throughout the day. There is always some downtime in a job and even five mintues will add up. Either way, the odds are against you on finding enough time to study, so best of luck. But remember that your job comes first then the CFA, not the other way around.
Just do questions during the week. Questions aren’t as boring as readings, so you can get them in even if you’re tired. Read Schweser on the weekends. Don’t read CFAI texts at all, except for practice problems
I don’t know about Level 3, but I passed level 2 by studying almost exclusively on the weekends, and taking 1 week off of work the week before the test. Maybe that is an option for you, maybe not. 12-18 hours at work is a broad range. Maybe study an hour on days when you work only 12 or 13 at work, and skip days where you work 14+. I cannot imagine what amount of money would actually compensate you for an 80+ hour work week. I work about 55-60 hours a week, and I think 80+ a week would ruin my life for as long as I tried to keep that up. Best of luck to you.
Thank you so much for everyone of you. Each of your inputs is very helpful for me. Strikershank, you are right. Job is the first thing in this tough market. Good luck to all of you!
sleepyrabbit Given your time schedule, you should focus on Schweser Notes and do past exam papers 2001-2007, and end of chapter questions from both Schweser and CFAI notes. you dont seem to have enough time to do a thorough review of all CFAI material, so you need to be very LOS-specific. If you understand Schweser LOS , you should pass… compared to Levels 1 & 2, it’s critical that you practise writing out the answers to the questions, espec. on IPS. good luck…
If you work in IB, then as long as you have a desk which is not in plain sight of your boss, you should easily be able to establish 2x 30 mins slots when you do some on-the-sly studying. Make the most of the facetime. I am more +ve on your chances than some posters above. I presume you work fewer hours at the weekend, if any. Go into (social) lock-down for the next few months. My other bit of advice is just to totally ignore CFAI texts, despite good intentions you may harbour. In your circumstances, Schweser all the way is the only course of action.
Hm, going to bed at 10pm, waking up at 4 am, studying til 6-30/7 sounds nice.
Your’re not alone sleepyrabbit, I’m having exactly the same problem here. working 16 hours a day is not helping, so are the readings on portfolio management when you’re in IB. will concentrating solely on schweser notes be sufficient?
Get the Video CD’s, and slag them onto a video IPOD for the commute. Or get the MP3s and just listen. Study at your desk at lunch and for strategic 15 minute breaks. Instead of opening the schweser books, either photocopy (and later destroy of course) the pages you are studying that day and read off them (looks like you’re working on summarizing a file), or download the pdf to your work computer. When the inevitable dinner break comes - (if you work 18 hours, there’s a dinner break, even if at your desk) - study. Nobody will hassle you for a study break while you eat at 7 at night at your desk. On Sunday mornings, go to work and study at your desk, you’ll look like a stud for being there, and you’ll get some quality quiet time. I did all of these and was fine at level II.
What do you guys do for 18 hours per day? Do you actually work for 18 hours net ?
Thank you all for the messages. Apparently starting from Schweser Notes is more efficient. Will follow that. Really appreciate it! Surprisingly to find out that so many bankers are still having the CFA dream. 
Good luck to all of you.
mo34 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > What do you guys do for 18 hours per day? Do you > actually work for 18 hours net ? I have the same question.
Sometime you have to but not all the time. There are some light days when you can go home before 10pm. In general, my first year’s average time back home was 12-2.
Still what do you do for 12 hours ? I am not familiar with banking and I always read posts talking about 12 hours work day in IB. Just what is it you guys do for 12 hours in a given day ?
how much of that time is spent bsing at the office?