Can someone please advise?

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EricNg1983

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Dear Pros,
I am currently an IT guy with only IT background and zero financial knowledge. I found it so diffcult to master when I read through curriculum. I aim to have an industry job change and already enrolled myself in CFA lvl 1 exam in dec 2012.
Do I stand a chance to pass?
There are 6 books to study with understanding and I left about nearly 6 month to go. How am I going about mastering each book in 1 month?
Could someone help me to acheive my goal? Any advise on the study plan that can cater for my situation?
 
You don’t need a finance background to pass. Plenty of people have done it already
 
Hmm thanks iteracom that was a great encounragement! Guess the only challenge is how am I able to cope up within 6 mths time to catch up and complete the whole of 6 books with understanding.
 
My advice for you esp if you’re new to finance would be to ditch the curriculum and start with study guides (Elan and Schweser are good ones). Read the notes interspersed with some practice questions, then graduate to practice exams.
 
I tried however schweser notes could be too much of summarized and at times I found difficulties in understanding it. So right now I am trying to do as much question as possible and referred to both. If I encounter problems. I am just to afraid of the time taken to finish up all my lvl 1 curriculum.
Thanks for your sharing and I will take note. :)
Cheers!
 
I would not use the Schweser in your case.
Since you have no background, the CFA books are much more comprehensive and explain things more clearly.
Schweser notes are designed for people with some background, or people who are short on time, and just need to get down to the main points only.
 
Yap this is what I had encountered so far. That is why some friends actually ask me to read the curriculum instead of schweser note. I think it make more sense may need to have extra mile to get all 6 books covered. its painful!
Anyway thank you for all the helps and advise.
cheers!
 
Interesting viewpoints - I had a non-financial background when I started as well and I found the curriculum intolerable, and Schweser much better. I did have wikipedia right next to me when I studied though.
Would be interested in seeing what other instances that the CFA curriculum trumps study material.
 
It’s a trade-off, detail (in the CFA curriculum) versus time saved (schweser notes).
L1 is multiple choice, and one of the keys to passing is taking practice exams to test what you do or do not know, and schweser come with a lot of practice exams
 
It will just be slower for you but definitely possible, I would use the CFA books and when you come across something you need further clarification on head over to Google and try to find more info.
 
You should go with the official Curriculum, I believe it will be easier for you to understand. The only drawback of that learning strategy is time needed, and you have enough time until December ;)

Here’s what brought me success on the L1 December exam, maybe it can guide you on how to start preparing for the exam:

1. I started early - at the end of June. You should also start early if you work full time.

2. Create a weekly study routine that you will commit yourself to - this is very important if you’re working full time, it really helps your self discipline. I started without that, and after 15 days I realized that I’m often postponing or shortening my study sessions.

3. I used the CFA official curriculum - although it is quite a read, and takes more time than Schweser, if you have enough time left (and you do), i suggest taking that route

4. Choose the volume you like the most and start from that - it really helps you connect with the whole “learning something for that long” concept. Also, the things that are the hardest to remember (it was Ethics for me, I could not memorize all that) should be read later, as in september or even october

5. Try to get access to QBank or some other practice problems bank, and use it after each volume with questions from that volume. Also, the End-of-chapter problems after each reading are also very useful.

6. Focus on the review in the final month - use QBank, and when reviewing theory read only the imporant, highlighted things (yeah, forgot to mention, highlight important concepts and the things that you didn’t understand completely while going through readings)

Hope it helps, cheers! ;)
 
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