I feel like the zombies in that movie that can’t remember.
I started studying in October and it look me nearly 3 months to get through Ethics, Stats, and Econ (I know this is not a sustainable pace). I’m now working my way now through FRA.
Today I took a break from intercorporate investments to see what I could recall from volume 1; it wasn’t pretty. Just weeks ago I was able to answer most of the CFA book’s end of chapter questions, now it looks like a foreign language again. My memory must suck.
Should I be reviewing older material while I learn new readings? How do you strike this balance?
Yes, you should continually go back to the old material.
If you’re studying five days a week, maybe 4½ days on new stuff, and ½ day review of old stuff.
Thanks S2M. I was hoping to get through the material as quickly as possible so I could have plenty of time in May to review, but the strategy doesn’t seem to be working, so I guess I will have to spend some time each week looking back.
I used to make 1 page (double sided) chapter summaries for CFAI books(essential concepts and formulae only), and go over those whenever I couldn’t read anymore.
I find it helps to study in waves.
Oct - Jan/Feb 1st wave, reading the text, (no practice qs), make summaries. I dont’ bother with EOCs because I won’t remember a thing.
Feb - Mid March 2nd wave; review summaries with the book open following along and example boxes, then do questions.
Mid March - End April 3rd wave; take a mock and finish all EOCs. Take a mock for reality check
May 4th wave; read notes and do select “bread and butter” practice questions, maybe some mocks (never been effective for me), review a few summary pages every night, and do as many questions as you can. Study topics according to weight. When you are confident, try to work on your weak spots (effort allocated by weight). Never tunnel vision. Get ample rest in the last week.
Of course there is some leeway to the plan but the bulk of your learning (foundation) should happen before March. Everything after that is just adding more brick and mortar and more percent towards passing.
You’re not going to remember everything from October, but you can layer the knowledge so it becomes more and more familiar over time. I have awful memory but wave studying really saved my bacon.