Hi All, I read all over these boards that there is no comparison between L1 and L2. I’m looking for some insight from those who have been through the painful experience of the Level2 curriculum - whether you’ve passed or not. What makes it so much tougher than Level1? Is it the coursework? Is it the volume of knowledge that has to be mastered? Is it the way you are examined? Or is it perhaps a combination of these things, or even something else? Also I would be interested to hear from those who have successfully adapted their approach. What did you do to get through L2? Thanks in advance.
BishBosh Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > > Is it the coursework? > Is it the volume of knowledge that has to be > mastered? > Is it the way you are examined? > Or is it perhaps a combination of these things, or > even something else? Yes. Know EVERYTHING, or you will most likely fail. There are no shortcuts.
I thought there is a comparison. I took the same aproach to L1 & L2. Basically put in the time required. I Did around 300 hours for L1 and around 330hours for L2. Basically be consistant in your study, if you’re going crazy take some time off, but in the end study until you feel somewhat confident.
LII is doubly as hard as LI. Material is more difficult, more information to study, q’s require a lot more thought, and fewer q’s (120) puts higher pressure on answering correctly. time for me to pass both is 170 hours versus 280.
YES to all of the above… As someone else on this forum said: level I is a mile wide and an inch deep level II is a mile wide and a mile deep Level III well ??? I’ll let you know but I’m scared…
I thought of Level I as a recap of University courses in accounting, economics, finance, etc. But level II introduces some very unique concepts and theories that require patience and repetitive practice to fully understand, (example: foreign currency translation or time series)
It’s hard because there is so much. What you do about it is study, study, study. Really – that’s all there is to it.
i don’t know… the exam itself was endlessly frustrating, but to be honest i did probably less work for the l2 (skipped all deriv material and most of alt inv) and (somehow) passed by roughly the same margin (maybe did a little better). this is not to tell you that it’s a cakewalk… i had almost no social life for over a month, and–to reiterate–i felt completely lost at times during the exam. just saying that i don’t think the 2nd level is significantly worse.
Well I feel like I did just enough to pass - which was a lot. Months of pain and no life. However, my lack of confidence haunted me for two months as I waited for my results and was sure of failure but somehow squeaked by. It seems like I had some luck, but that’s not how you want to do it. No shortcuts, read ALL of the CFAI. Use study notes to supplement or help you get down concepts. Start reading in Sep or Oct. If you do this, you will pass. If not, you’re looking to lady luck and that’s just a low odds bet.
DOnt get frightened, even a low guy like me aced it.
Yep, no shortcuts. So many people on this site looking for ways to spend two hours a week trying to cover an exam that is meant to prove you are worthy of a professional designation. Put it this way, the exam is designed to catch out those who make short-cuts. If you cover everything, and are thorough, you’ll breeze it.
Thanks to all who have responded so far. You have given me a lot of interesting perspectives. Keep them coming! Bish
timfindlay Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Yep, no shortcuts. So many people on this site > looking for ways to spend two hours a week trying > to cover an exam that is meant to prove you are > worthy of a professional designation. > > Put it this way, the exam is designed to catch out > those who make short-cuts. If you cover > everything, and are thorough, you’ll breeze it. I agree. I got caught up with work and other crap while studying for level II right after getting my results from level I back in January. Let’s just say that I eventually had to cram the last few weeks leading up to the exam. Seems like the CFAI can tell who really know the material and whos just crossing their fingers and hoping to pass (I got Band 10…my failure was justified). Give yourself some extra time in case things get in the way. No reason to really buckle down until Dec. but you can certainly start perusing the material now if you’d like.
Something nobody talks about because everyone focuses so much on the material itself, is the TEST. The difference in difficulty between L1 and L2 has much to do with the way they ask the questions. An item set presents a much more challenging problem because, as has been said, there’s nowhere to hide. If you dont know the subject, well then you’re going 2 or 3 out of 6 and you’re f*cked. On L1, if you dont know economics, you can pass anyway if economics isnt heavily tested. On L2, if they ask two item sets on economics, well then you might as well get up and leave.
the REAL frustrating part about L2 is that they won’t test everything. on L1, you know that they will at least touch the surface of *almost* every LOS, but in L2 you could spend hours(or days, weeks) on a particular topic… and it never sees the light of day on the actual exam because CFAI decides it’s not worth an item set. not only that, CFAI can take a really obscure topic… and dedicate a whole item set on it.
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I think it is a matter of perception in difficulty level from I to II. Someone with a finance background who was able to coast though level I will perceive the Level II exam to be MUCH harder than Level I. However someone coming from a non-finance background who had to learn everything in the Level I curriculum from scratch will perceive the difficulty of the Level II exam to be on par with the Level I exam, especially in terms of amount of time required for study.
Its tougher since the quality of candidates is much better in Level II. Thats the biggest difference from Level I
Caspian and misslee touched on the two most important reasons, in my opinion. Item sets are a whole different beast than the LI format. The test is designed for people with experience, people that know the material well and that have several years of experience in the field. Hence, my advice is the following: 1. Don’t be arrogant while studying If you want to pass on the first try, don’t be arrogant and think that you can pass with as little effort as possible. Yes, there are people that have done it depending on their background, but most people can’t, so again don’t be arrogant. 2. Don’t take shortcuts As mentioned before, you really have to know ALL of the material inside out. It is worth repeating that you have to KNOW ALLLLLL. For the Level II exam you have to be ready for whatever comes your way. What you will see for every topic is random, it has nothing to do with topic weight or importance. Since you’re dealing with Item Sets, it’s much easier to fail if you get a topic you’re not familiar with. 3. Practice, practice, practice I used the CFAI books and the amount of questions there is just not enough. I will be using the Schweser Qbank this time to supplement end of chapter questions.
KrukVT Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I think it is a matter of perception in difficulty > level from I to II. Someone with a finance > background who was able to coast though level I > will perceive the Level II exam to be MUCH harder > than Level I. However someone coming from a > non-finance background who had to learn everything > in the Level I curriculum from scratch will > perceive the difficulty of the Level II exam to be > on par with the Level I exam, especially in terms > of amount of time required for study. Absolutely true of me. In fact, I think level II might be easier for accountants like me. I studied less and did better on level II. But one thing I did differently for level II was do a ton of practice QBank questions as I went along to make sure I really understood the material. In level I I waited until the end to really do QBank questions.