3 for 3 18-monthers, what learning tips would you share?

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Casperb

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For those who passed December/June/June exams on the first go consecutively, what learning tips would you share with incoming exam-takers?
A couple of mine would be:
1. Spaced repetition matters for retention. After reading a chapter, think through the key points from the chapter that night, then do the summary the next day, then do the end of chapter questions the day after that. Leaving it longer than that means you have to review the whole chapter, which is not good use of your time.
2. Most people taking this exam are reasonably smart. It’s time constraints that cause the high failure rate, not lack of intelligence. Do anything you can to make more efficient use of your time. One tip for making more use of time: complement your normal reading with audiobooks. That way when you are commuting to work or on the treadmill or shaving etc. you can be listening to a chapter. If you’re a value investor and too cheap to buy audio material from Kaplan, there are apps out there for your smartphone that will allow you to make text read out loud to your headphones. I like @Voice for android combined with the Ivona text to speech plugin - very natural sounding. P.S. - most people miss the point on this and think “but my reading speed is faster”. Yeah I’m not suggesting you stop reading. The listening should complement your reading and makes more use of time that is otherwise lost to commuting or being bored in the gym when you can’t read. Also @Voice lets you speed up the playback speed to 2x which is faster….
 
I went 3/3 but not in 18 months. #1 most important thing is study habits. Do not study distracted. I like Cal Newport’s book “Deep Work” on this “skill”, which I believe is often overlooked and is a valuable time-saver. Really really focus, put away the social media or only do it as part of a 5min break at the end of a good chunk of reading. This is why I prefer solo-study, and starting early enough that I can 1) skip studying on most weekdays as I know I’m going be tired after work, 2) afford to skip studying on some weekends if I feel tired. There is simply no point studying at 50% efficiency, which I believe most people end up doing. Get well rested and study focused, the exam is completely doable with <250hrs of effective studying. You can avoid re-reading in circles if you do it properly the first and 2nd go around.
 
A few things that helped me alot.
  • Flashcards: Don’t buy, make your own as you go along.
  • Method of loci: Needs a little getting used to but once you get familiar with it, remembering stuff is a breeze.
  • Topic-tests: Do them again and again and again.
  • Essay Exam: Mock till you drop.
3/3 18 months is all about that Level 2 attempt. The transition from level 1 to 2 coupled with a short period of 4 months (after result) is a nightmare.
 
I agree with Casperb on his points. I would also add the following which helped me immensely, but had I known before, my journey would have been much easier:
(1) Start Mocks at least one month before the exam. Practise as many essays as you can. I did the 2007-2015 past papers and only had enough time to do one or two PM sessions. Needless to say, I aced the PM session and got mixed results in the AM session. DO NOT UNDER-ESTIMATE AM - YOU COULD BE IN FOR A SHOCK WHEN YOU SEE YOUR MARKS.
(2) The most valuable advice I could give you (which I only found out in May 15 when studying for Level II) is: For the MCQs, do not read all the vignette, and do not read all the questions. Read question 1, and then read the first paragraph or two. Then do question 2 and read the second/third. And so on. You will find that this will save you A LOT of precious time.
(3) Start early. You never know what life will throw at you on a random May day. In my case, THE DAY BEFORE THE EXAM, the whole drainage system in my flat collapsed. I ended up sweeping water/waste from the floor for seven hours and went in the exam the following day with aches and pains. But luckily, I was well-prepared having started studying in November, despite long hours at work.
(4) Master writing in point form and abbreviations.
Level III was by far the toughest exam I had to take. Do not under-estimate it.
Good luck.
 
My advice might not be very helpful for people without relevant majors in school. But for those who have econ/math/finance majors or those who is considering this early in their student life, my experience could be useful.
(Skip this if you don’t like story) Background: I never considered taking CFA exam initially which I would blame one friend who told me based on my majors (math/econ/accounting) the exam does not add much value for me. But it turns out that friend took CFA himself LOL. So don’t listen to those who try to stop you from improving yourself. I started searching for jobs without CFA on my resume. For a long time there were literally no interviews or I simply could not get through 1st round, I realized ‘on the CFA track’ is a big plus if not a must for fresh international students who want to get into financial industry.
I finally decided to take level1 in Dec 14 and spent one week studying and passed it luckily. Same happened for level 2 b/c I was seriously looking for full-time and taking finals then-two weeks doing PP and passed luckily. I would say it’s not just luck. All the days I worked hard for my college classes helped me build a solid accounting & finance background. If anyone wants to pass level1 & 2 but does not have time to study, you should have relevant majors in college. So anyways, you still have to spend time.
Level 3, I know essay is very hard for foreigners. And I work fulltime. I started listening to CFAI book (it has audio in its app) every night since mid-March. I finished reading all the books except 1st one. I did past 3 year’s AM and went through answers line by line. Doing too many exams won’t help you more if you did not analyze CFAI’s answer and absorb it. I took 2 mock exams and did terrible for the first 3 item sets. At that time I was so stressed and felt there’s no way I could pass this year. But after finishing all of them, the total score is >70 which gave me confidence. I did not have time to do any EOC PP. But in the last week, I used FinQuiz smart summary and went through it twice to check my knowledge (it has many typos so you have to know the material, it is only to help you build a framework and organize knowledge). The day before exam I took off and reviewed the SS and formulas.
Through out the 18 months, I did not use any non-CFAI books (except some summary and formula sheets). Although I saw so many people recommending all kinds of books, I insist CFAI book is your best choice. Do the PP for level 1 & 2 and read the books for level 3.
Ethics? I only do the PP. And got >70%. So maybe the best effort to ace ethics is to help people as much as you can in daily life and be lucky in the exam. :)
 
ftmm1234 wrote:
Ethics? I only do the PP. And got >70%. So maybe the best effort to ace ethics is to help people as much as you can in daily life and be lucky in the exam. :)
Click to expand...
Not sure what “PP” means but I assume you are saying that Ethics is very touch-and-go. I agree with you. Your time is probably better spent reviewing other areas such as IPS.
 
PP- practice problems. Yes, there are tons of other interesting and meaningful material to go through than ethics. Somehow , IPS is relatively much easier for me than some other sections. There is a pattern in CFAI’s IPS answers.
 
ftmm1234 wrote:
PP- practice problems. Yes, there are tons of other interesting and meaningful material to go through than ethics. Somehow , IPS is relatively much easier for me than some other sections. There is a pattern in CFAI’s IPS answers.
Click to expand...
Completely agreed.
 
True to my name, made this account only to share what I’ve learned and pay it forward. This is my honest review and analysis of my entire process.
My background: 18 months, 3/3 straight out of college with a STEM major, but I work in the industry and have work/internship experience in front office equity and alternative investments.
Seems like there is a theme to studying for those who passed, so some points may be repeats of above. My game plan was:
  1. Only used Kaplan notes, never read the actual curriculum
  2. Reviewed the curriculum twice. First read through started about ~2.5 months before the test., made notes in the margins and did EOC questions + online questions.
  3. Second read through, happened about 3-4 weeks before the test. Made notecards on almost every subject in each topic (example: I had a card on Immunization, and on the back I would write everything I know on immunization). I have 600+ notecards for L3 alone
  4. Used space repetition to review note cards, basically aiming to know everything on every subject.
  5. Started mock tests and redid EOC questions and online questions at least 1 week before
  6. Anytime I came across a subject or question I didn’t know how to solve, I would look up how to do it and write it down on a new note card
So that was my game plan, but in reality I almost always felt understudied and unprepared going into the tests. I am a serial procrastinator. My schedule almost always slipped and I never was able to master and review all the subjects going into the tests. As a result, I only left ~2 days for mocks in L1/L2, and 3 for L3. I signed up for the L3 Kaplan mock two weeks before, and walked out after the morning session after realizing I was woefully unprepared.
My 40/60/80 scores:
  • L1: 63.7, maybe 100 hours of studying, didn’t even get through the entire curriculum once. Passed almost entirely based on industry background.
  • L2: 60.0 (probably a band 11 pass… <50% on fra), maybe 150 hours of studying with a majority of those hours taking the week off before the test and studying 12+ hours a day. Industry background helped alot.
  • L3: 61.8, maybe ~225 hours of studying after I freaked out on band 11 pass on l2
So, for the real advice:
  1. Learn how to “punt” on subjects. Its better to aim for 100% for 4 topics, and 50% for the rest (guessing helps alot), than aiming for 75% for all of them. I always aim to do well on the subjects I actually enjoy learning. When punting, figure out which subjects are hard and will take too long to learn. I punted on derivatives and fra on l2, fixed income on l3.
  2. If you are under-slept on test day (I probably averaged like 3-4 hours of sleep before each test), drink caffeine and chew gum. Both are very helpful.
  3. If you have poor study habits or procrastinate like me, you better (1) have a industry/academic background (2) be lucky in guessing.
Don’t do as I do, do as I say. Please start studying earlier and put more time in than me.
 
firstandonlypost wrote:
True to my name, made this account only to share what I’ve learned and pay it forward. This is my honest review and analysis of my entire process.
My background: 18 months, 3/3 straight out of college with a STEM major, but I work in the industry and have work/internship experience in front office equity and alternative investments.
Seems like there is a theme to studying for those who passed, so some points may be repeats of above. My game plan was:
  1. Only used Kaplan notes, never read the actual curriculum
  2. Reviewed the curriculum twice. First read through started about ~2.5 months before the test., made notes in the margins and did EOC questions + online questions.
  3. Second read through, happened about 3-4 weeks before the test. Made notecards on almost every subject in each topic (example: I had a card on Immunization, and on the back I would write everything I know on immunization). I have 600+ notecards for L3 alone
  4. Used space repetition to review note cards, basically aiming to know everything on every subject.
  5. Started mock tests and redid EOC questions and online questions at least 1 week before
  6. Anytime I came across a subject or question I didn’t know how to solve, I would look up how to do it and write it down on a new note card
So that was my game plan, but in reality I almost always felt understudied and unprepared going into the tests. I am a serial procrastinator. My schedule almost always slipped and I never was able to master and review all the subjects going into the tests. As a result, I only left ~2 days for mocks in L1/L2, and 3 for L3. I signed up for the L3 Kaplan mock two weeks before, and walked out after the morning session after realizing I was woefully unprepared.
My 40/60/80 scores:
  • L1: 63.7, maybe 100 hours of studying, didn’t even get through the entire curriculum once. Passed almost entirely based on industry background.
  • L2: 60.0 (probably a band 11 pass… <50% on fra), maybe 150 hours of studying with a majority of those hours taking the week off before the test and studying 12+ hours a day. Industry background helped alot.
  • L3: 61.8, maybe ~225 hours of studying after I freaked out on band 11 pass on l2
So, for the real advice:
  1. Learn how to “punt” on subjects. Its better to aim for 100% for 4 topics, and 50% for the rest (guessing helps alot), than aiming for 75% for all of them. I always aim to do well on the subjects I actually enjoy learning. When punting, figure out which subjects are hard and will take too long to learn. I punted on derivatives and fra on l2, fixed income on l3.
  2. If you are under-slept on test day (I probably averaged like 3-4 hours of sleep before each test), drink caffeine and chew gum. Both are very helpful.
  3. If you have poor study habits or procrastinate like me, you better (1) have a industry/academic background (2) be lucky in guessing.
Don’t do as I do, do as I say. Please start studying earlier and put more time in than me.
Click to expand...
You just sum up my studying plan for level III.
 
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