HI all,
This question is for the Level II taker in June 2013.
Right now, I am preparing the for Level II in 2014. What sorta of things you wish you have done when first studying for Level II ? Focusing more on EOC, qBank, definitions of the terms, Accounting Rules??
Good question.
Going back in time, I would…
Ask myself if i REALLY REALLY REALLY need the CFA charter. it’s not too late at all to quit!
(assuming I really do need it) Start by watching DVD lectures from one of those alternative providers (you may be able to find past videos online or borrow from a colleague). The reason I say this is because, since you have a year to prepare, it’s worth opening the files in your end first with these lectures, they are usually simplified enough for you to understand the general concepts and materials. It’s important to know what to expect so you know how much more you need to know as you’re reading along.
Read the curriculum/ study guides quickly and go back to previous chapters and do the end of chapter questions (or Q bank). Review the material you’ve read when you’re practicing the questions. Once you get through half of the books it’s good to just randomly do questions on prior chapters just to keep things fresh. It’s not an efficient way to study one chapter at a time because by May you will forget EVERYTHING you’ve read prior to April.
Spend at least a month prior to June on mock exams. Purchase mock exam practices and go online to do past exams. It’s probably a good idea to use mock exam questions as you are revewing individual chapters, because you may want to re-do some of these exam questions because you WILL NOT remember just by attempting the questions once.
Good luck!
First I’d read right thru the Schweser books. Then, watch the videos when they come out, all of them. Finally I’d do lots of questions; qbank, mocks, etc.
Read schweser 3 times solve past 5 years mocks and schweser practice exam
Dont even waste time on CFAI books
See, I disagree. Read the curriculum and skip Schweser. Wouldn’t you want to get the feel of the test questions and learn the “CFA way” straight from the horse’s mouth?
it works for some people but it may not for others.
The reason i suggest someone to watch the videos first is that, when you read the CFAI texts for the first time you may get discouraged very quickly because 1) it’s very dry, 2) it’s very wordy and lengthy, 3) it’s waaay too complicated to follow if you don’t have an idea what the general concepts are.
Many people have a hard time managing time reading texts and they spend way too much time re-reading the texts because they keep getting stuck. So it may be easier to read a “summary version” first and get familiar with the general concepts before diving into the details.
That’s from an average intelligence person!
Start practice exams. Just start taking practice exams…it’s never too early. Start. Now.
Personally, here is what I would have done if I had more time (Dec. Level 1 / tight turnaround).
Step 1: read all Schweser books, doing end of chapter quizzes as I go along.
Step 2: do the CFAI sample tests - the 2 short online quizzes - and one full practice test to help me realize how little I have actually retained at this point… A scary wake-up call.
Step 3: read and/or do all the blue boxes (examples) in the CFAI curriculum, and do all the EOC questions in the curriculum, listing all the concepts and definitions that challenge me along the way (a do-not-know / need-to-know list).
Step 4: do 10 to 12 practice tests, working on shrinking my do-not-know list along the way. While doing practice tests, I’d make sure to spend more time studying/understanding the answers as opposed to breezing through them (all the answers - not just the ones I got wrong). The goal of a practice test is not to get a dummy score, it is to learn.
I would also be more committed to memorizing formulas, a weak point for me (I hate rote memorization with a fiery vengeance but should get over it and just do it anyway where necessary). I think one of the key skills to master - besides time management, of course - is to continually take yourself outside of your comfort zone. If you don’t like or don’t get a topic: study it twice as hard instead of having fun with the areas you’re already good at. That being said it’s a balancing act, and if there are low hanging fruits that play to your strengths you want to make sure you grab them with both hands.
Major caveat: of course everyone is different, and the best (and maybe) hardest thing to do is figure out what works best for YOU.
Don’t waste your time on CFAI books.
Make a study plan and stick to it!
EOC problems are quite important. It is not because you will see the same questions on exam day, but it let you get used to the long passage. And the way CFAI asking questions is quite different than Schweser’s.
How are you a Level 2 candidate? Thought you couldn’t register til July 24th? VIOLATION!
On a serious note, this is excellent advice. I took my first practice exam 2.5 months out and scored a 45% - the earlier the better and don’t let sh** scores discourage you. Use what you learn about your weaknesses and improve. By the end I was scoring over 80s in the Schweser exams and over 70 on the CFAI mock.
IMPORTANT ADVICE: Last year exam was really hard, this year it was really easy, so prepare yourself for a very hard exam next year
put schweser aside until you need it to complement your readings in CFAI as
Do all the EOCs twice, then mark all the hard ones and redo them twice in the last month
Do at least 5 years worth of CFAI Mocks (and mark the hard questions and redo them twice in the last 2 weeks)
Do at least 2 years of Schewser mocks (and mark the hard questions as you go along and redo them once in the last 2 weeks)
You have to be able to explain to a five year old every concept from the CFAI books, and once you can do that Memorize as many formulas as you can
DO NOT WASTE TIME ON SCHWESER END OF CHAPTER QUESTIONS!
if you do all the above, and you don’t panick during the exam, you will have no problems passing at all!
Maybe he took Level 1 in December 2012.
My advice - Read/study Schweser first, and try to understand the material. Then do as many practice problems as you can (whether it be CFAI EOC, Schweser EOC, Q-bank, or practice exams). But make sure you study first. Doing problems or exams if you don’t know what you’re doing is dumb. It’s like jumping in the water if you don’t know how to swim. At best you’ll just thrash around until someone rescues you, or at worst you’ll drown.
Don’t get hung up on the quant or econ. It’s really easy to spend too much time there and never get to the real “meat and taters”, which is Accounting/CorpFin/Equity and Fixed/Derivatives. In quant–make sure you understand simple and multiple regression. In econ, make sure you understand currency translation, IRP, PPP, and Fisher. Give the other stuff a once-over and move on.
Different folks learn different ways, so you just need to find what works for you. Maybe it’s lectures, maybe it’s practice problems. Maybe it’s Schweiser, maybe it’s CFAI texts. Likely it’s a combination of everything, but try different methods for different content and see what works best for you.
Likewise, we all come from different educational and professional backgrounds, so telling you what content *you* need to spend the most time on would be an exercise in folly. The CFAI lists the approximate content weightings, and you’ll know where you are weakest. That should be enough to tell you where to focus your efforts.
There’s nothing mystical about it, and there’s no secret to it - it’s just a test that covers a lot of material. Learn it in whatever way best suits you and you’ll be fine.;
You have got to be kidding me. based on your logic , -next -next year’s exam will be really easy then?
my. gosh.
Read Schweser by LOS.
Go to qbank and try and solve each question by LOS to confirm that I understand the LOS.
Quick read of the curriculum to identify items that Schweser doesn’t seem to cover.
Memorize all the formulas I can.
Attempt all blue box examples.
Attempt all EOC questions.
Practice and Review…Practice and Review.
Practice exams and Mocks.
Well if you took the exam last year and this year, I’d sure hope this year’s seemed easier.
I took the exam ONLY this year for the first time! I am echoing the opinion of thousands of candidates confirmed by the very low pass rate
If you found this year’s exam hard, maybe you shouldve spent more time studying!
Your wording implied you took the exam last year too, that’s all. Pass rates from 2009-2012 were 41%, 39%, 43%, and 42% respectively. Not a ton of variance there.
ya he wrote the exam, so he knows everything # sarcasm