esco1 - which question bank are u speaking about for econ? is it the schweser? i only have the cfa texts so far and havent gotten very far. looking for other resources online and/advice on which practice kit to invest in - any advice? thnx
Hi laurensaba Re your question about “question banks”. I guess Esco1 is referring to question in general, whether the end of chapter questions from CFA/Schweser text, mock or sample exams, and the QBank application from Schweser (Stalla probably have something similar). The last four/five weeks should be spent doing questions and revising what you’ve already leant. Cheers
thanks for that #1guy - you all talk alot about the schweser kits - are they worth the $$? i am signed up to do exams in june but still stuck on book 1! having hell with the calculator… the questions (npv annuity etc) are all easy but figuring out how to use the calc is time consuming… these tips seem like they’d come in handy when i get past book 1 and see what u guys mean by quants, derivatives, as/ad etc
Great advice. Thanks, guys.
laurensaba Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > thanks for that #1guy - you all talk alot about > the schweser kits - are they worth the $$? i am > signed up to do exams in june but still stuck on > book 1! having hell with the calculator… the > questions (npv annuity etc) are all easy but > figuring out how to use the calc is time > consuming… > these tips seem like they’d come in handy when i > get past book 1 and see what u guys mean by > quants, derivatives, as/ad etc Just gonna throw this out there, throw it back if you don’t like it. Try GOOGLE for TI-BAII Plus tips and tricks. MIGHT work.
Take the B-Vitamins everyday and on exam day !
Here are some basics about exam logistics that seem rudimentary but there always ends up being a handful of people who don’t get it. A) Look at your exam ticket a few days before the exam. Heard horror stories of people being signed up for the wrong site. (There was a post on the forum of someone thinking they had the exam in London and instead was in Edinburgh and they found out too late). B) Make sure you have a valid ID…check your drivers license and passport to make sure they are not expired…NOT KIDDING about this one. C) Bring an extra calculator D) LEAVE YOUR CELL PHONE IN THE CAR OR HOME…If it ring during the exam and they identify you, your exam will be voided. E) No plastic bags are allowed. No cardboard that holds the erasers are allowed. Batteries must be out of packaging. F) DO NOT WRITE ON YOUR TICKET! Good luck! jasonms, CFA
I passed L1 on first try last December…and now I’m getting ready to start studying for L3. Just think of that: you could be looking at L3 books a year from now! 
My 2 cents: -Do all the practice exams you can get your hands on and make sure that you understand the answers to the ones you miss and the ones you have to guess on. -Relax. Easier said than done, but try to get plenty of sleep the week of the exam. Exam day: -Know exactly where you are going. I took L1 in a different city, and made the mistake of not going to the convention center and finding the room the day before. I freaked out when I couldn’t find the entrance to the parking garage. For L2, there was a 1/2 marathon going on in between my house and the exam location, which almost made me late. -Eat a decent meal at lunch. Nothing greasy. I didn’t eat enough over lunch for L1 and I could have really used the energy for the afternoon session.
thanks steph
Like Steph I took L I in December for the first time and am now a L III candidate. Some of you will also be looking at Level III books a year from now. But first things first… My advice: Don’t study on Friday. If you must do something, just read ethics or corp governance, or Porter’s 5 forces, but don’t get wrapped up in problems. You can start missing them and increase your stress level - let your brain get its rest before the long day ahead. I always made it a point to quit everything no later than noon. Eat a good dinner, watch a movie, wind down. It is a very good idea to drive to the exam center a day (or a few days) before the exam. Just knowing the location of the entrances and parking situation, etc is one less thing you will have to worry about that morning. For lunch, I always bring sushi and eat it in the car, away from the crowds that are debating how you should have calculated modified duration on question 47… and all of them are wrong. Just get away and relax and stay away from the grease, you need brain food!
Good read!
Hey guys, I’m a senior Accounting and Finance major registered for the June 2011 exam. I obviously covered a lot of the FSA section in my Intermediate Accounting classes but focused on GAAP. I’m taking a Derivatives and a Fixed Income class in the Spring. In the Derivatives class they use the Options, Futures… book by John Hull and in the Fixed Income course they use Bond Markets, Analysis and Strategies by Fabozzi. Do you think these books will cover the necessary topics or is it worth it to read the CFA books or just get the notes and Qbanks from Schweser or Elan? Thanks.
dont write an endless novel the night before the exam about how much you studied and why you think you should pass, no one cares.
luisg99 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Hey guys, I’m a senior Accounting and Finance > major registered for the June 2011 exam. I > obviously covered a lot of the FSA section in my > Intermediate Accounting classes but focused on > GAAP. I’m taking a Derivatives and a Fixed Income > class in the Spring. In the Derivatives class > they use the Options, Futures… book by John Hull > and in the Fixed Income course they use Bond > Markets, Analysis and Strategies by Fabozzi. Do > you think these books will cover the necessary > topics or is it worth it to read the CFA books or > just get the notes and Qbanks from Schweser or > Elan? Thanks. I studied these exact textbooks in university and found them EXTREMELY useful… Regarding Fixed Income, Fabozzi is the author of the CFA curriculum relating to fixed income, so of course it’s helpful… After your fixed income course, you should find this topic much easier!! John Hull’s textbook is also really helpful… it’s more quantitative then CFA requires, but the theory is still there… Put-Call Parity, although very basic in the CFA curriculum, is covered in the textbook and you likely studied it in the course… it’ll help you alot… Futures, forwards and Options theory and applications from the textbook are GREAT for the CFA knowledge… I hope you use the Solutions Manual provided by Hull as well; it’s a great tool for practice problems and reinforces alot of the problems… I’m sure this textbook will be very helpful for level II… I don’t know about you, but I LOVE the Black-Scholes-Merton formula, and I think this textbook will be helpful (more for level II though)… Anyway, long story short, those two textbooks are extremely useful and directly relate to the CFA curriculum… in my opionion, I think it’ll help out more in level II… best of luck, and I’m sure you won’t need it given your education.
Take it easy on the Friday before the exam and also don’t study too much inbetween the a.m. and p.m. sections. It’s amazing how taking a little rest can make you understand and think through the problems better plus catch little tricks that are thrown in the questions.
- Change your batteries the week before the test. Trying to do it during the test is a B*7ch. If you do change it during the test, don’t forget to switch your calculator from “BEGIN” mode to “END” mode. 2) Scope out the location before the day of the test. I am amazed how many people show up late because they can’t find it. 3) Finish all going through the material at LEAST one month before the test date and spend that entire last month doing practice exams, qbank questions, and redoing EOC questions. 4) Red Bull during break = good idea 5) Remember that there are no real subsititues for hard work, tons of practice, and knowing your stuff backwards and forwards 6) Most important, take a duce before leaving your place. You DO NOT want to wait in that line…
^ Best advice on this thread
As far as studying goes, I’ll usually start studying around 4:00 after a day at work and stay until 9:00ish. This leaves me with periods while studying where I’ll start dozing off or my eyes will get real heavy. Up until a couple weeks ago, I’d just slam a red bull and power through, but I’d just get hit with another nap attack an hour or so later. What I started doing, was whenever I’d start getting sleepy in the middle of a reading (where you just keep re-reading the same line over and over which is not good), I’d hop on my iPhone and play a mentally stimulating game of Backgammon or Scrabble. I game for 2 minutes and I’d be wide awake for another hour and that hour would be incredibly efficient studying. Taking a break every hour or so to do something like that (keep it mentally stimulating though) I’ve found to keep me focused on the material more than if I’d take a nap or pound a red bull or two.