time needed to study level 1

i feel the needed to study level 1 is much more than 300 hours.any comments ?

Yes, 500 in my opinion…don’t listen to all the pundits who come on here bragging that they only spent 3 months and 200 hours studying. Seems like they talk just to boost their ego. If you are planning for a June exam start studying in January or before if possible.

If you need 500 hours for level I to pass, you won’t pass level II.

I feel the needed, the needed for speeded.

You finsta spend a little extra time on the English section.

@PalacioHill…I have read many stories on here where people have failed Level 1 two or three times and are now charterholders. Now that may not be the majority (as I also read somewhere that only 8% who actually start, finish) but it seems it can be done. Maybe some people just need to train their brains to handle the workload. The amount of material can be a shock to some…it was for me.

If you study finance in college then you need fewer hours

I completed all three exams with less than 100 hrs total and thats a fact. Y lo sabes!

What’s your background?

I studied 230 hours, but have an accounting background so I saved probably 25 hours on FRA.

Book 1 - 33 hours

Book 2 - 25 hours

Book 3 - 10 hours

Book 4 - 20 hours

Book 5 - 25 hours

Schweser’s Secret Sauce - 12 hours

Exam review - 55 hours (last month of studying)

Practice Questions - 55 hours (last month of studying)

It looks like you don’t have a background in finance. Master L1. There are many similar topics in L2, so if you own the material in L1, you will waste less time understanding readings in L2. Don’t try to get by with just passing.

ive heard ppl completed the exam wit less than 100 hr studying, not sure if they passed

^ Bleron did it in one week.

This is a stupid comment. No reason for this nonsense.

the institute has it wrong

minimum of 1000 hrs needed for level 1

^ Whatever floats your boat.

I’ve known people who passed L1 in 2-3 weeks, of course they were finance major’s who also working in finance.

I think the answer is it depends…

It depends on your background (as some people have already pointed out if you did a degree in finance and/or work in the industry already some of the material will be repetition).

It depends on your reading speed, strategy and comprehension. If you strategy is to read every single page of the curriculum you need to plough through roughly 3000 pages. If your reading speed is 10 pages an hour you will spend 300 hours just reading the material let alone time for question practise and revision. If you decide to go with a set of abbreviated study notes for at least parts of the curriculum and/or read faster it will take less time.

So in short if you are new to the material and/or need to read slowly for comprehension you may well need more than 300 hours to have a good chance at passing the test. A bit of strategy may help reduce the amount of time needed, but it’s probably a safer bet to spend a little bit too much time and increase your chance of passing, rather than spending a bit to little and risk having to go through the entire ordeal again.

Best of luck!

The number of hours depends on so many factors (background, study method, how fast you learn etc). I used 250 hours myself.

This is not a stupid comment or non-sense. It is very true. This is not meant to be a troll. Its just a reality check. People seem to be very optimistic when it comes to these exams, but the reality is that the majority do not get through the 3 exams. The exact figures escape me but I think its around only 20% make it through. The reality is that Level I is just the “Entrance Exam”. If you struggle to pass level I, the likelyhood of passing levels II and III is very small. You shouldn’t try to fit a square peg in a round hole.

I have a non-finance background and I probably spent 500 hours or damn near close to it for both levels and passed first try.

The exams are more about dedication than being smart.