What topic first?

I just received my CFAI materials yesterday. Where should I begin?

i’d suggest quant - and go through in order from there. pick up ethics towards the end since you’re gonna want that very fresh in your head on exam day.

more of a question than a suggestion…how about starting with FSA for someone with finance backgound?.. suggestion by jut111 perfectly suits if you have non-finance background…

Quant is a good place to start. It will show up in various other areas of the material (FI, Derivatives, etc). Sequentially works well.

I would start with Quants followed by Economics, Corporate Finance, FSA, Fixed Income, Derivatives …

i’m following the order that i obtained from the schedule of a prep course in the uk and have found it quite useful as fixed income, equities, corp finance, portfolio management all follow from concepts taken from quant (note: i am from a finance and accounting background) Quantitative Methods SS 2 Quantitative Methods SS 3 Portfolio Management SS 12 Corporate Finance SS 11 Analysis of Equities SS 13 Analysis of Equities SS 14 Fixed Income SS 15 Fixed Income SS 16 Derivatives SS 17 Alternative Investments SS 18 Economics SS 4 Macroeconomics SS 5 Monetary Economics SS 6 Financial Statement Analysis SS 7 Financial Statement Analysis SS 8 Financial Statement Analysis SS 9 Financial Statement Analysis SS 10 Ethics SS 1 Standards Ethics SS 1 GIPS

I would just start with the first book and go in order. Try to get through 2 readings/day to leave you with enough time to review.

go in order and review ethics at least once the night before. I was looking at ethics flash cards as I was literally walking into the exam… jumping around can actually stress you out more…go in order, but reaize that time is running out and you may get stuck on FSA since it is a monster…

hmm which of the topics dont require Quant as a pre-requisite besides Ethics? I guess Econ as well…how about FSA? I know all the rest of the topics do require Quant

sumz Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > hmm which of the topics dont require Quant as a > pre-requisite besides Ethics? > I guess Econ as well…how about FSA? > I know all the rest of the topics do require Quant Econ none. FSA a bit (maybe 10%). Mainly a basic understanding of time value of money is required for FSA.

libba Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > i’m following the order that i obtained from the > schedule of a prep course in the uk and have found > it quite useful as fixed income, equities, corp > finance, portfolio management all follow from > concepts taken from quant (note: i am from a > finance and accounting background) > > Quantitative Methods SS 2 > Quantitative Methods SS 3 > Portfolio Management SS 12 > Corporate Finance SS 11 > Analysis of Equities SS 13 > Analysis of Equities SS 14 > Fixed Income SS 15 > Fixed Income SS 16 > Derivatives SS 17 > Alternative Investments SS 18 > Economics SS 4 > Macroeconomics SS 5 > Monetary Economics SS 6 > Financial Statement Analysis SS 7 > Financial Statement Analysis SS 8 > Financial Statement Analysis SS 9 > Financial Statement Analysis SS 10 > Ethics SS 1 Standards > Ethics SS 1 GIPS Interesting. I sort of started that way myself. I basically read whatever gains the most of my interest. I’ve skipped around through 5 books already in only one week. The best advice is to experiment and figure out what topics get you motivated. For me, I just took corporate finance in school only a few months ago. I have no interest in re-reading that now and will glance it over later on. Fixed Income (which didn’t get any attention in my undergrad program) is more interesting to me now and something I’ve been reading separately at work only.

Studying what motivates you is a great call. I’m retaking the exam for the second time and failed under the 10th band in June. Probably going to follow libba’s lead, thanks!

Hi can you post the entire list here

daj224 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > go in order and review ethics at least once the > night before. I was looking at ethics flash cards > as I was literally walking into the exam… im not sure if thats the right way to approach a topic second only to FSA in weighting (15%). granted theres not much to it but arent there some tough ethics questions in the exam?

Not really. Ethics is pretty straightforward but it could be challenging if you don’t know it very very very well.

Start off with Quant…it’s the only logical choice. I started off with Eco though cos that’s my strong suit…it was more of a mental thing for me. That may work for some… Cheers, Nash