What is the Best Way to approach Level II ?

CFA Level II
#1

Hi

I have appeared for Level 1 and hopefully clear it when the results are announced.

Could you please let me know how to go for Level II

->CFAI Study material or The notes from Schweser.

Becuase in other forums it was discussed that notes are very easy and doesnot take into consideration the complexity of the exam.

Thanks

#2

Schweser lectures and notes are pretty good. Some parts of the notes ARE too basic. The QBank is horrid. Practice exams are good. Overall, it’s a great product though.

#3

I give it 97% grade.l

#4

Seriouly after this exam I would say start reading the curriculum now. Practice all blue boxes and EOCs

#5

So it should be Studied in combination with CFAI books or they can be approached standalone also.

#6

So it should be Studied in combination with CFAI books or they can be approached standalone also.

#7

read the schweser…but do EOC/bluebox from CFAI perhaps

#8

It doesnt really matter unless you have photographic memory…so just pratice loads of questions and pray for a less trickier paper

#9

vikasrastogi,

here are some tips:

  1. don’t wait too long to start. if you work in finance now or had finance and accounting classes at your university, a good amount of the level I material was probably at least a little familiar to you. level II is more specific in some areas, so more of the material will probably seem new to you (at least it did to me). if you can get a good start on the material and get through it, you will be in much better position for your review. 2) like Alladin said, whether you read the schweser notes or the cfai books, review the blue box items in each CFAI reading and do the end of chapter questions as well. These are much more valuable than the Schweser questions (though the Schweser challenge questions have some value). 3) get familier with the item set question format early. the level II questions are very different from and more difficult than the level I questions. the sooner you start practicing, the better. do not underestimate the difficultly of making the change to the item set questions. 4) write down the formulas on notecards or on a separate sheet as you go through your reading, vs going back to do it after-the-fact. when writing the formula, include an example or steps on how to use it. good luck
#10

If you really want to pass, put in an atrocious numbers of hours. I plan on putting in 800 hours for level 3, starting in October. I’m doing 3 passes through all the material: 1st pass will be Schweser videos, 2nd pass will be core curriculum, 3rd pass will be Schweser notes. I’ll do a lot of practice questions as I do each pass as well. Also, I’m going to make a list of things to memorize, and take a month to memorize all the formulas and facts that aren’t intuitive. And that’s what it takes to pass a level “for sure”.

Also, after the exam I plan on telling everyone how easy it was to make them mad.

#11

start with an elaborate prayer ritual ceremony, then buy 2 sets of books and sacrifice the first set to the sun god Ra, this will grant his favor

#12

The curriculum should be your friend. I’m not a fan of being soley dependent on Schweser and the like. Go straight to the source. And do those EOC! They’re gold!

Of course, I’ve yet to find out my score and sadly don’t feel too confident. But I think this is the most comprehensive study method. And then whatever happens, happens.

#13

I have to say I’ve studied exclusively with Schweser and did CFAI EOC questions. I would suggest doing them ALL (EOC), it may feel lengthy but you are drilling concepts into your memory.

I’m a big fan of Schweser notes and Schweser videos, I find the CFAI Curriculum soooo boring to read, there is just too much useless information. I prefer synthesis of the Schweser notes and filling in the holes by doing EOC questions and a lot of practice.

I studied like this for Level 2 and got over 80% on both 2011 and 2012 CFAI Mock Exams. Also felt like I killed the real level 2 exam, so I don’t believe that avoiding Schweser is a definite answer. I guess we’ll really see come result day…

#14

I agree with Wayne the way he prepared… I prepared the same way too… Some additional points:

  1. Do the EOC questions atleast 3 times. I realized by around may 20th that I was actually making the same mistake in the same problems repeatedly!!! Very late realization but atleast it helped me to concentrate the last few days which I marked as tough for me.

  2. NOTHING IS UNIMPORTANT. I think after this exam most of the forum members would agree with me. The thing I thought would least appear in Quants came in the exam :slight_smile: So CFAI will surprise you and so dont put weightage to any area within a subject!

  3. Practise practise practise… More the number of questions you do more the speed/better your memory and more clear the topic.

  4. Take as much practise tests as possible. Last 3 days I was actually just solving practise exams without timing myself. This helped me in gaining confidence and at the same time apply whatever I learned. Taking the exams from atleast two providers is helpful - I mean it helped me. I used to take exams from finquiz and schweser and found it helpful.

Of course Ive just shared what I think worked for me (am actually hoping it did :))

#15

depending on how good you were in Level 1,

  1. Try not to forget basic stuff like correlation, hypo testing, fixed income basics etc. If you have a firm ground, that will pay you back heaps come L2 exam.

  2. Your own notes on different approaches would be valuable.

  3. Proper and clear formula sheet is crucial. L2 is all about valuation. Be ready that it will be around 20 pages.

  4. Practice questions in the CFA Texts both in the chapter and after the chapter.

  5. Schweser materials arent as useful for L2. Unlikely for 1st Level, 2nd Level practice exams and after the reading problems are too simplified. Challenging questions in Schweser are probably good indicator of a normal CFA question.

  6. Schedule would be more valuable for L2. Stick to it. 6 months ago I saw a 100-pages pdf with a L2 structure. Does anyone have it still? Could not find it afterwards. Very helpful!

#16

If you have less than 500 hours to study, I suggest using Schweser exclusively + EOC questions, but only the multiple choice ones.

#17

vikasrastogi,

here are some tips:

Don’t take it. Enjoy your life and do things that are fun. I think i may have passed the Level II exam this past weekend, but i also may have not. It was very difficult in my opinion…i had to guess on a sh*t ton of questions. I passed Level I with no problem and can honestly say that Level II is about 5x harder and more time consuming. After going through what i went through to prepare for L II and knowing there is a real possibility I failed it, i would recommend just using what you learned in L I to help you at your job and save the time and your sanity. I know most people will bash me for saying it, but im starting to think its not worth it. If i passed i will take L 3, but if not i will have to seriously consider saying “eff it” to this whole thing and going back to actually enjoying my time away from the office. Good luck if you decide to pursue.

#18

vikasrastogi,

here are some tips:

Don’t take it. Enjoy your life and do things that are fun. I think i may have passed the Level II exam this past weekend, but i also may have not. It was very difficult in my opinion…i had to guess on a sh*t ton of questions. I passed Level I with no problem and can honestly say that Level II is about 5x harder and more time consuming. After going through what i went through to prepare for L II and knowing there is a real possibility I failed it, i would recommend just using what you learned in L I to help you at your job and save the time and your sanity. I know most people will bash me for saying it, but im starting to think its not worth it. If i passed i will take L 3, but if not i will have to seriously consider saying “eff it” to this whole thing and going back to actually enjoying my time away from the office. Good luck if you decide to pursue.

#19

Big mistake I made : Is getting overconfident from killing the Level I exam.

I absolutely destroyed Level I (over 70% in all topics). That gave me some confidence for Level II and I band 10 failed the first time (although I did mismanage my time and had to guess 12 questions outright on Level II in 2011… probably would have passed if not for that, but still).

Erase any level of confidence you may have, Level II is a beast and uncomparable to Level I. Study hard.

#20

I did not use Schweser notes, but Schweser videos were a saving grace, simply because of how convenient they are. If you are cooking, ironing clothes, or simply don’t feel like reading for a bit, pop in a video.

I used the CFAI books exclusively to study, and my plan of attack was to read the entire curriculum once, then go through it all again doing all the EOC, Do a bunch of practice tests (for a month), re-review each section and re-do EOC one l;ast time (ONLY THE VIGNETTE STYLE QUESTIONS this time). Alll in the meantime re-watching the videos as soon as I got home from work. My biggest mistake was actually the first phase, since I wasn’t doing questions. The reading is worthless if you don’t practice.

In the last week, I made sure I drilled the topics I knew FOR SURE would show up in the exam, and lo and behold, they did. The EOC vignettes were invaluable for the exam. One of them even asked almost the same questions. Level I is a filter, for Level II you are expected to be an analyst already.