Approach for level 2

[AndyBernard]

Hey guys,
I’ve passed level 1 with everything above 70% and I can’t wait to start studying for level 2, here’s how I did for level 1 and I want to know if that approach will work for level 2:
1) Started early: probably in November, for level 2 I’m thinking to start right now.
2) Read Schweser 2 times and did concept checkers after reading just to retain (1 reading per day, I do not think it’s too demanding)
3) Did all EOCs
4) Did all EOCs (twice) and Concept checkers on final review
5) Finished QBank
6) Did a lot of practise exams
That seems that I overprepared, and I did! However, CFA is a big thing for me, and since I started early and had the discipline to study a little every single day for a year, I made a big building put a brick by day.
If I apply this formula (and that’s the standard formula: Schweser+EOC+Mocks (for me + QBank (I guess that’s what made the brake))) for level 2 it’s efficient or should I drop some tool?

 

[hei.so]

I started end of September/beginning of October.
Some people say relying only on 3rd party is not enough. For me, I read through the entire curriculum. I had time, I just didn’t want to spend any more money. Depends on the person. I’m guessing when you say “made all EOCs” you mean you did them. I went through EOCs twice.
I also did about 6 mock exams, going through CFAI twice. I found the mock exams extremely harder than the actual exam. I never scored above 55% on the mock but passed on exam day.

 

[ltj]

I also read the CFAI readings at least once the full way through. Subsequent read throughs/reviews were all through Schweser and then I would circle back to the CFAI EOCs and/or blue boxes to make sure I was covering everything. I’m not sure you have to read through the CFAI to pass, but I definitely came across areas where Schweser wasn’t hitting stuff that was in the CFAI EOCs.
One thing I don’t think I saw you mention were the online practice assessments provided by the CFAI. These were *critical* for me in the final month. There were enough vignettes to cover something like 3 and a half mocks worth, and they’re all in the style that you would expect to see on exam day. As hei.so said, I found them to be more challenging than the actual exam which proved to be a fantastic prep tool since all the solutions are given once you submit your answers. (Edit: Just want to clarify one point here - I’m not saying the exam itself was “easier” per se, but the exam questions were more straightforward and less wordy than the official mock/online practice assessments)
I would slap any candidate with a fish that didn’t take full advantage of those free assessments. Use them all!

 

[Cory688]

If you have the time, which it appears you do, I also would say reading the CFAI material is great. That’s all I’ve used for both levels so far.
I second the online practice assessments provided by CFAI. I did all of them for Level I but only about 3-4 for Level II. They are definitely useful, and always very challenging. Good way to see where you’re at.

 

[hei.so]

ltj wrote:
One thing I don’t think I saw you mention were the online practice assessments provided by the CFAI. These were *critical* for me in the final month. There were enough vignettes to cover something like 3 and a half mocks worth, and they’re all in the style that you would expect to see on exam day. As hei.so said, I found them to be more challenging than the actual exam which proved to be a fantastic prep tool since all the solutions are given once you submit your answers. (Edit: Just want to clarify one point here - I’m not saying the exam itself was “easier” per se, but the exam questions were more straightforward and less wordy than the official mock/online practice assessments)

Yes, I missed mentioning this. I went through the online practice assessments twice.
I would definitely say the actual exam was “easier” because it was more straightforward. (But you still have to study, of course). The mock that was provided was WAY harder. I heard they were recycled questions that were too difficult for the actual exam.