I’m an actuary and passed all those exams. Dont start with the less painful. Do the hard stuff - Econ, Quant, FSA, Derivatives first. I’ve never failed an actuarial exam.
Thing is you learn thru repitition. There might be a time on a subway or something and concept will just come together over time. Even if you read difficult topics and understand them you wont rememeber them. You have to do them early and then do them again.
Easy stuff is just easy. Really I wasted my time doing ethics. I’m not touching it til May. Not that it’s easy but its the same stuff. No repitition is required – Or to the same extent
FYI you can definitely order level 2 curriculum before receiving level 1, you just have to actually call up and order it as a “non candidate”. It is slightly more expensive as a non candidates but it is definitely possible…I had hard copies sent to the UK and I haven’t received my results yet.
be aware that when you do register for level two you will still be forced to buy the electronic copy of the curriculum.
Ya, I just ordered my level 2 books, should be here in a few days. The cost is the same… but when you are a candidate they provide the e-book. So just purchase the hard copy and its not extra cost assuming you were planning to buy it in Feb.
I have just started. Am ~14 hours in studying… aiming to make ca. 450hours. I don’t go in the curriculum order… just jumping from one reading to another. For now picking up only the ones that are easy-to-read for me.
I’ve finished Quants, about half way through Corporate Finance.
The thing is I like to write my own notes; it’s the best way for me to learn the material. Of course the problem with that is it’s very time consuming. I don’t know if this is the correct approach to take. Any suggestions would be appreciated. I currently am just using the curriculum notes, don’t have any study guides.
I’m going in order (though I skipped ethics) and am doing alts right now. The plan in theory is to get all the material done by the end of February then just attack my weak areas. My approach has been one study session per week (with review weeks built in), relying primarily on Schweser but working through CFAI blue boxes and EOCQs. Then it’s Q-Bank and hitting my weak spots, and finally I’ll have at least a month or two of practice tests.
I’m finished reading FRA, Fixed Income, Equity and Corporate Finance. I had started Quants but after the first reading, had to set it aside because it’s really difficult for me. Will try that again in mid-January. I’m trying to get through all of the material by mid-February, then go back and read my highlights and do tons of practice problems.
@arun29491 – I haven’t really started yet; went through some of the case studies with Ethics, haven’t even really begun with Quant…
I’ll probably get started next week though, and I generally put in close to 6-8 hours on the weekends so I’m thinking I’ll be fine. (I also started studying for L1 in early March)
So far I’m done reading Quants, Econ, and almost done FRA from the CFA curriculum… it’s taking a long time to go through the material and take (short) notes as I go! I also find that I’m not really retaining concepts I’ve already read after a few weeks… anyone else finding this?
I am currently on the last reading for the 3rd book. and Iam reading the curriculum in volume 1-6 order.
And I allocate 1 month per book.
Sadly my scores are just also around 60%-70%, but most of the time it is just around 65%
planning to do book 4 for January, book 5 for FEB, book 6 for march, april to rescan everything, and for may, I will have a LEAVE OF 20 days! HOPEFULLY MY MANAGER WILL APPROVE IT! OR ELSE GRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!
I will do a nonstop answer questions the whole may
Maybe a dumb question but most of you are mentioning your “scores”, what are you using to test? the excercises after each reading???
Im done reading Quant, Econ, FRA and Corporate Finance, but I havent tried any excercise yet, I prefer reading all the material first and then starting excercise and mock exams…
I nearly finished fixed income, done of FRA and did some Quant readings. I (really) started a few weeks ago and try to finish 2-3 readings per week.
But: I don’t have to go through the Derivatives part in detail as I am teaching this stuff. I am also familiar with the basic concepts of IFRS because of my job. Therefore I don’t have to spend so much time on these issues.
Started about 3 weeks ago…finished AI, pretty much finished Quant (although will DEFINITELY need to go through again), halfway through equity and had a quick run through 2/3rds of FRA.
using the CFAI books and planning to complete first read through by March 20th.
I have a pretty rigorous study regime (read and highlight, copy highlighted notes to notepad, then do EOC questions followed by Schweser Q-Bank in between readings)…notepad helps me study on subway rides. I had about 300 pgs of notes from Level I. Started second week in November and just now finishing first CFAI book. If I finish by end of April I will be happy.
I’m still waiting for the Level 1 results and will start learning right after receiving the result. Will be tough then, but let’s have a try. Nothing to lose, except of the money for schweser and exam registration
I just got done Quant. I did Ethics and Quant, now going into Econ. I’m doing the readings in order. I’m using the CFA Curriculum this time around. I used Schweser only last year (first Level II attempt) and I failed with scoreband 8. I like better the curriculum because I find it provides more explanation. Mind you 3000 pages vs 1500 in Schweser, but I understand better reading the curriculum. To each their own
