yeah, i hear you guys. it just that nothing sticks for me when i’m reading unless i write it down. i probably won’t even come back to reread what i wrote, but the excercise makes me focus. but i agree it’s a huge time sink. i like the secret sauce a lot too…
cfasf1, that’s great if notes work well for you. good luck on your studies!
you too, maratikus. one more to go, gentleman.
I read/highlight the CFAI texts and just make quick notes in the margins. I do write out formulas just to pound them into my head. I have to agree about the Secret Sauce. . . it is an awesome way to nail down the big picture as exam day approaches.
yeah, i need to take notes, and i’m going to do them on the schweser page this year. starting doing it late last year and wondered why i didn’t do it earlier. i’ll do schweser first, because then it makes reading the CFA alot easier. just look in CFA for stuff that isn’t fleshed out well in schweser.
Haven’t cracked the books.
LordJeffrey Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Haven’t cracked the books. hmm me too …but i’m starting to get nervous looking @ all the above posts …
Geez, guys. Congrats to you for being to open the books in this mess… Right now I am more concerned about not loosing my job and bringing home bread & butter for the family… can’t find the time to open a book…
crablegs Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Geez, guys. Congrats to you for being to open the > books in this mess… Right now I am more > concerned about not loosing my job and bringing > home bread & butter for the family… can’t find > the time to open a book… exactly… i open the book and my thoughts start wandering. think the only reason i’m even going through with it is because i’m on level 3. not sure if i could do it if i were on level 1 or 2. this mkt is unreal.
100% with you. If I was only at LI or LII, I probably would have to postpone this, and substitute the hours studying with a 2nd job. I don’t want to be complainging as we still have a much better life than most of the world who is at war, hungry… etc… but man is this a nightmare or what!
I’m having a really hard time studying. I’ve finished the behavioral finance schweser book, and I felt like I was on a good track. Then my boss got laid off and I assumed all his responsibilities and suddenly I am saddled with work from 7am until 6pm and I have to go home to help with a 2 month old and a 4 year old. I’m so happy to have a job, but I really wonder how the hell I’m going to pull this level III thing off. I keep telling myself it’s too early to start worrying, but I have a feeling I’ll keep saying that and find myself in march with no studying under my belt.
Smarshy, it’s understandable why you feel overwhelmed. There is a lot on your plate … There is nothing wrong with taking a break but I’m sure you will be back to tackle the exam in June.
can’t start…tried. Just cant do it.
I haven’t really started either. At serveral points I have tried. I know myself and until I sit down and map of a strategy it won’t happen. I just can’t get myself to do that yet. The current markets are a factor for sure.
Smarshy: Hang in there - it’s tough with a couple of little ones. With my first, it took me twice as long to get anything done (and then I had to recheck everything to make sure I hadn’t made sleep deprivation-induced msitakes). One (partial) solutions may be to try to get in shorter but more frequent study sessions (i.e. grab 15-20 minutes here and there). It’s not as good as 1-2 hours at a time, but every little bit helps, and it’s much less daunting. But on the other hand, it’s good to have little ones around - they’re great for making us smile and for reminding us what’s important and why we’re going through all this.
I am kind of in the same boat. My job all of the sudden becomes more important because the project I am in is super critical now. I have two kids too and am the only income provider in the family. Therefore, I prioritize the job over the my study right now. The reason is, what is good about having level III passed without a job? A friend of mine just got his charter AND laid off. He has been sitting at home for about a month and I think in this market, he might have to wait a bit longer. I hope that I don’t have to deal with that either this year or next year. So far I can still manage my schedule. However, as soon as things are getting out of hands, I definitely will focus on having the job rather than studying.
All of this makes sense. My start is very ‘hypocrite’. I have started on the Ethics/Gips book from Schweser. I can carry it around, not really taking notes or doing any calculations, just a casual read, but a little voice in my head tells me it’s king of pointless what I am doing. Smarshy, congrats on assuming new responsibilities, hopefully it will pay off. I personally find my motivation through my kids. Just need to look at them and thinking… ‘boy, I have to bring the bread & butter…’. My 2 girls are 6mth & 20mths. They don’t care this is a recession and daddy’s getting a 1/3 pay cut in 2009…
I just started 14 days ago and have finished Schweser book2 today Dec: Book3 and start book 4 Jan: Book4 and book5 Feb: Book1 and book2 & 3 again March: Book4 & book 5 again Mar: Book 1 and stuff I dont understand April: Exercises and read difficult stuff May: Exercises and read difficult stuff
Waiting to receive schweser qbank. Schweser routes their africa-bound products through south africa, and that compounds the lead time for me. My first run on the LOS (with 2008 schweser) was really half-hearted. writing essays as response to answers is not yet clicking with me. this time, hope to solve qbank plus end-of-curriculum qs in additions to concept checkers…
On my last CFA text - which is mostly port mgmt crap and GIPS - rebalancing, monitoring, etc. So basically I have seen everything and my first reaction is that L3 will be the easiest exam of the three to study for…but may be the hardest exam to take. The focus is clearly on portfolio mgmt and understanding the broader concepts and applying them to make decisions for the client. I am anticipating exam questions to generally pertain to the theme of conditions based decision making. i.e. how will specific variables factor into the port mgmt process and under what conditions should you choose X specific strategy, etc etc. To conclude…I don’t anticipate having any problems with knocking L3 out. I have seen nothing that makes me nervous or that I am dreading. Much of it was introduced in L1 and L2 and now I feel like they just want us to apply it to the actual investing and decision making process.