Any retake advice for a mother of 3 toddlers?

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Muneera

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Hi All!
First of all, congratulations to all who have passed Dec’15 level 1 exam! Well done!
Now coming to my subject, being a mother of 3 toddlers (age: 3.7, 2.3 and 7 mths old) and not working at the moment, I had appeared for Dec’15 level 1 exam thinking I could pass the exam as I’ve got bachelor’s degree in finance and accounting. Well I guess I was in for a shock as I could hardly study with 2 toddlers and a newborn without any external help! I somehow could manage to touch the books (Schweser not CFAI books but would’ve loved to) in the last 2 mths before the exam. And no I couldn’t give in 5-6 hrs per day like many but barely 2-3 hrs per day only after the kids would fall asleep. I guess you can do the math! I could barely finish all the topics and CFAI EOC questions, didn’t get to do any review or what soever, and merely did 1 practice paper. So you can calculate my pass rate!?!
After I received my result (band 4) yesterday, I’ve been rethinking again and again if I should retake the exam? If yes, then should it be June or December exam? What should be my study strategies considering i’ve kids all under 4? Being in my 30s will it be the worth the time and effort? Though I still feel if I could’ve given my 100% then I would’ve passed.
Please feel free to advice/suggest (positive/negative) as I really need to think through it. And as I plan to get back to work, perferrably in a consultancy job if I get lucky!
Thanks in advance.
 
If you’re working in finance or serious about working in finance, then yes, it’s worth it. Idk about timing though. Can you regularly dedicate 2-3 hrs per day for the next 3 years? (L1,2,3)
 
I’m a working mom of 3 so I get where you are coming from. It’s tough being a mom and needing to study while other people, especially small people, are needing you too.
I failed band 10 in June 2015. I completed the material, some mocks, and put in the hours the first time and I have come to believe that the hours aren’t as important as the quality of study, # of questions answered, mock exams, etc completed. I don’t know how many hours I put in this time around but the quality study time was much better… and the outcome was much better too.
If I were you, I would assess your support system (husband, partner, grandparents, etc) and then have a conversation with them to see how much support they can provide. My husband and I sat down and really talked through what I was going to need to study and pass and we put together a “family” study schedule. That gave everyone involved an idea of the times I needed to study and it also gave me an idea of when I needed to plan NOT to study.
Forget the 300 hours of study thing and study smarter instead of clocking time. Also, figure out how you learn best (there are lots of free online tests). I discovered that I am and audio/visual learner so the Wiley videos were a lifesaver for me. Plus I could put headphones on to listen and I couldn’t hear the rest of the house being loud. ;)
It’s not easy but if this is something you really want to do, it will definitely be worth it. And believe me, my whole family was estatic when I got my results yesterday; it’s really an accomplishment for the whole family.
 
I am the mother of a 13 year old who is pretty self sufficient and it was very hard for me to make the time. I cannot even imagine finding any time to study with 3 little ones. And to be honest, Level 2 and 3 took a lot more preparation than Level 1. I think unless you are willing to create 300 study hours for Level 1 and more for Levels 2 and 3, you are not going to get through. And you will have given up valuable family time along the way which you can never get back. Only you know how bad you need or want it, but I just don’t see it.
 
Firstly, I would like to commend you on making an effort to juggle the CFA exam while looking after your toddlers.
You posted:
“Being in my 30s will it be the worth the time and effort? Though I still feel if I could’ve given my 100% then I would’ve passed.”
“And no I couldn’t give in 5-6 hrs per day like many but barely 2-3 hrs per day only after the kids would fall asleep.”
Whether it’s worth or not is a judgment that only you can make. I personally wouldn’t care about being in your 30s - these are limitations created by a bunch of insecure people.
Your second comment tells me that realistically you can dedicate around 2 hours a day.
So instead of rushing into preparing for the exam over the usual 6 month interval, why not adjust the equation to your advantage by increasing the preparation interval to 1 year and studying 2 hours daily ? This way you get to spend time with your kids and continuously develop your skills in the CFA Program. Of course, like anything else you will need to be disciplined, which I am sure you already know.
 
I’m a father of two under 10; my wife and I both work long hours, but she was absolutely amazing support for me in L1.
I definitely think you should seriously consider continuing. I also think June makes sense, as the material is fresh.
Given that time is a huge constraint for you, I recommend a strategy that will help you pass L1 with limited time at the expense of hindering you for L2.
My best advice is, at level 1, don’t treat the test as an education in finance. Treat it as a test. You can get 1/3 of your guesses right, so you need to know about 55% of the questions extremely well. This approach lets you ignore a vast amount of material. If your time is limited, it lets you focus with double or triple the intensity on what matters most (it won’t help for L2, but that would be a good problem to have).
It’s not about scholarship; it’s about drilling. Rehearsing for exam day. Seeing the same type of question a dozen times till the time to solve any iteration of it with any figures drops from say 4 minutes to 25 seconds. Just like how a basketball player can pass without looking.
Don’t read readings. Skip any blue box or practice problem that makes your brain fuzzy. Don’t get bogged down. Move light and fast every day and every week through only the low hanging fruit.
  • Flashcard definitions. You can learn a huge amount by building 100’s of flashcards to drill definitions and basic concepts. Check out Quizlet; lots of people have done the hard work for you.
  • High-priority questions. If a set of end-of-chapter practice problems ask about basically the same thing 5 or 10 ways, spend more time on that issue. You’ll also see things come up on the CFAI mocks and topic tests more than others. Focus on those things. Among the 1000+ practice problems in all readings, you can find a core of maybe 200-300 high priority practice problems across the entire curriculum, and repeat them over and over – 4, 6, 9, 10 times. It’s about drilling in practice what you will face on the exam.
  • CFAI mocks and topic tests – These are not tests. They are signals. They tell you what specific mico-topics matter most. Of 240 mock questions, maybe 150 are comprehensible without much study. Repeat those 150 at least 5, 6, 9 times. Same with topic tests.
  • All this will give you an imprenetrable core of knowledge to answer maybe 55% of the questions perfectly (assuming an 18% bonus from random guesses). If you get to that point early enough, you can branch out strategically – in high-value topics, and invest energy learning select additional concepts so your guaranteed 55% becomes a guaranteed 60% or 62%. Plus guesses.
Last piece of advice is to try as much as possible to get a solid, intensive review in over the last 2 or 3 weeks. Even the last 9 days. If you can get a bit of relief from kids for 9 days, and do 11 hours of studying per day, that’s 100 hours, right before the exam. Don’t learn anything new. Just reheatse and drill. Burn enough key concepts into your brain so you can perform robotically on exam day. If you finish a chunk of the exam robotically, you can go through the rest and start trying to turn your 1/3 guesses into 50% guesses.
Good luck! This won’t prepare you for L2 very well, but if you pass L1, you may gain advantages to solve that problem.
 
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