Your opinion required

I know passing CFA exam is doable in 5 months for some candidates, and we can start studying in Jan/Feb. But I am a slow reader, and tend to forget what I studied. So starting late doesn’t work for me.

I’ve prepared a study schedule and will start by going through 2013 schweser notes from Sept to Dec, then I will starting serious studying from CFA materials in Dec.

Appreciate your thoughts/opinions regarding the below study plan.

Part 1 - Going through the material (15 weeks):

read schweser notes (exclude GIPS and Ethics) - solve EOC questions of schweser and CFA materials.

  • Wk 1 - 1 Sept: SS3 - Behavioral Finance
  • Wk 2 - 8 Sept: SS4 - Private Wealth Management
  • Wk 3 - 15 Sept: SS5 - PM for Institutional Investors
  • Wk 4 - 22 Sept: SS6 - Capital Market Expectations
  • Wk 5 - 29 Sept: SS7 - Economic Concepts
  • Wk 6 - 6 Oct: SS8 - Asset Allocation
  • Wk 7 - 13 Oct: SS9 - Management of FI Portfolios
  • Wk 8 - 20 Oct: SS10 - PM of Bonds and FI Derivatives
  • Wk 9 - 27 Oct: SS11 - Equity PM
  • Wk 10 - 3 Nov: SS12 - Equity PM
  • Wk 11 - 10 Nov: SS13 - Alternative Investments
  • Wk 12 - 17 Nov: SS14 - Risk Management
  • Wk 13 - 24 Nov: SS15 - Application of Derivatives
  • Wk 14 - 1 Dec: SS16 - Execusion of Portfolio Decisions
  • Wk 15 - 8 Dec: SS17 - Performance Evaluation

Part 2 - Studying CFAI material (18 weeks):

study material, take notes, solve BB, EOC

  • Wk 1 - 15 Dec: SS1 - Ethics
  • Wk 2 - 22 Dec: SS2 - Ethics
  • Wk 3 - 29 Dec: SS18 - GIPS
  • Wk 4 - 5 Jan: SS3 - Behavioral Finance
  • Wk 5 - 12 Jan: SS4 - Private Wealth Management
  • Wk 6 - 19 Jan: SS5 - PM for Institutional Investors
  • Wk 7 - 26 Jan: SS6 - Capital Market Expectations
  • Wk 8 - 2 Feb: SS7 - Economic Concepts
  • Wk 9 - 9 Feb: SS8 - Asset Allocation
  • Wk 10 - 16 Feb: SS9 - Management of FI Portfolios
  • Wk 11 - 23 Feb: SS10 - PM of Bonds and FI Derivatives
  • Wk 12 - 2 Mar: SS11 - Equity PM
  • Wk 13 - 9 Mar: SS12 - Equity PM
  • Wk 14 - 16 Mar: SS13 - Alternative Investments
  • Wk 15 - 23 Mar: SS14 - Risk Management
  • Wk 16 - 30 Mar: SS15 - Application of Derivatives
  • Wk 17 - 6 Apr: SS16 - Execusion of Portfolio Decisions
  • Wk 18: 13 Apr: SS17 - Performance Evaluation

Part 3 - Review and Practice (7 Weeks):

  • Wk 1 - 20 Apr: review notes and solve EOC: SS1 to SS6
  • Wk 2 - 27 Apr: review notes and solve EOC: SS7 to SS12
  • Wk 3 - 4 May: review notes and solve EOC: SS13 to SS18
  • Wk 4 - 11 May: 3 mock exams
  • Wk 5 - 18 May: schweser practice exams - Vol 1
  • Wk 6 - 25 May: schweser practice exams - Vol 2
  • Wk 7 - 1 Jun: final review (mocks + important notes)
    What do you think of my schedule? what should i change? Advices plz

That looks like a good schedule. I’m a slow reader myself and my memory is below average so i always plan to have at least 1.5 months before the exam just to practice with mock exams (which IMO are the best way to review and recall long forgotten material).

BTW, the actual CFA exam in 2014 is gonna be on June 7th (that’s June’s first saturday) so you get an extra week of practice in ur schedule :smiley:

Take more time to do practice exams/questions. You can do some exams, read up on parts you mess up, then repeat.

That’s a good schedule in theory but I’m not sure you’ll be able to stick to it. If you’re a slow reader then certain study sessions are going to take more than a week. In fact even if you’re a fast reader some might go over a week if you want to understand what you’re reading. Also, life happens. Unless you have absolutely nothing else going on in your life (which would be sad) it would be very difficult to stick to such a rigid schedule. Finally always remember to allocate time for yourself to just relax, maybe go out an have fun…jus time to give your brain a break. Burnout is a biatch!!

My advice, you need a week off probably in early-mid April to re-charge and get ready for the final push, maybe when you finish “Part 2”. I always took a week off, otherwise you will burn out, at least I would.

Agree with VT on the finish push and the break. As to your study order, I would skip Ethics and GIPS on the 2nd time around and throw it on the final review instead. You’ll want to make sure they are super-fresh on your mind before the test. I know that doing that most likely got me the extra points needed to pass.

I know that “1 June is the beginning of the week, not the end” : D

I have 9 practice exams, CFAI EOC, schweser EOC, when you say i need to spend more time to do practice exams, you mean I should repeat? or do more of them? if it is the later, what sources do u think is good for this? elan, finquiz?

Thanks for your help

Actually I have serious change in my life after July next year, when I won’t have time to study anything at all; and this big change needs around 2-4 years!! this is why i need to pass level III next year bcz i won’t be able to do it later.

What you mentioned scares me because i know level III has less material than level II; 35 readings total. I was not expecting that SS may take more than 1 week. I’m worried now.

Thank you, weekly week-end, hangout plan is a must!! specially working 60 hours + studying CFA !!!

GREAT ADVICE!! now you mentioned that, i’m thinking about taking one week off in April, and maybe - travel!

I couldn’t go on leave after level II exam because my colleagues went on leave and I have to do the work!! I feel i can’t relax.

I’ve been trying to travel for 2 years but always something happen.

Thank you again, this is brilliant!!

I skipped them on the 1st time, so you think i should also skip them on the 2nd time? btw do u think it is enough to study ethics and GIPS from schweser only and not go through the pain of CFAI books!

I agree with KWIZZ, review Ethics/GIPS up front then again at end so it is the most fresh in your mind. In fact before each level, I would read the CFAI Ethics study session (not GIPS) the night before. If you can nail Ethics it takes a lot of the pressure off the other topic areas.

ethics/gips is rote memorization. DO it closer to exam. You wont remember how many years back you need for real estate vs. private equity.

Start w/ behavioral and indiv PM. These are easiest to master and comprise a large part of exam. CFAI has focused a lot of their lectures, readings, etc on behavioral topics so it probably grows in importance for the exam. I would also recommend reading Kahneman’s paper and latest book Thinking Fast and Slow.