CFA Level 1 Material

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statsenthusiast

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Hi everyone,
I’m new to this forum and I am planning to register for the CFA level 1 exam for June 2014. I had a couple of question regarding the exam content. I was wondering if the exam will cover calculus, algebra, theoretical probablilty, and differential equations. How in depth the microeconomics part is.
Also, I have taken a couple of accounting courses in school but nothing too serious. I was wondering what is the best way to prepare for the financial reporting and analysis part for someone who has little background in accounting.
Thank you in advance for your advice.
 
Algebra with a little pre-calc is the extent of the math required… economics is 10% of the exam and about 20% of the reading material, so dont get caught up in all the specifics whereas you should focus on FRA, fixed income, equity and ethics. Macro, micro, and some international economics are covered in level 1.
 
Thank you. I appreciate the response. :)
Do you happen to know about the Financial Reporting and Analysis section as well? Are the books that come with registration sufficient reading material for this part?
Thanks again.
 
I also had no accounting experience prior to taking the exam. For me FRA was the most challenging section but overall it’s not something you need extra materials to tackle. Just buy a third party study pack (schweser, elan) and use that to study for the entire exam. For FRA, fixed income, ethics and equity do all the questions twice and make sure you have a really good grasp on those sections and you’ll be fine.
 
As Would You says, only algebra: no calculus, no diff EQ. The probability is all elementary (unconditional, conditional, Bayes’ Formula), and there’s a bit of combinatorics (combinations and permutations).
The FRA book from CFA Institute is sufficient, but just barely. If you can get some experience doing journal entries and ledger (T-account) entries, you’ll be a lot better off. It cannot hurt to look over a beginning accounting text. (I don’t know Accounting for Dummies per se, but the Dummies books are generally uniformly good, so that’s likely a good bet.)
 
statsenthusiast wrote:
Are the books that come with registration sufficient reading material for this part?
Click to expand...
Prior to sitting for Level I in June, my accounting background consisted of a single “introductory accounting” course from high school. I found that the best way for me to learn the curriculum was to actually study the curriculum. There may be a marginal benefit to the study supplements, but the curriculum is a great place to start - especially when you are just staring to build your knowledge base.
 
Thank you for your response ofthedivision17.
Are you suggesting that it’s better to study an accounting text for example along side the suplements?
 
statsenthusiast wrote:
Thank you for your response ofthedivision17.
Are you suggesting that it’s better to study an accounting text for example along side the suplements?
Click to expand...
Nope - by “curriculum,” I was referring to the six text books provided by CFAI. Honestly, I spent a lot of time with those six books last year and found them to be quite readable. I messed around with Schweser Notes in the Fall, but I kept coming back to the curriculum because the quality of the writing was better (less technical, more detailed). Some candidates will swear by the study supplements, but with my background in stats and econ, I found that I actually needed to learn most of the material rather than just review it.
 
Can anybody share/sell an ipad version of Qbank, please?

please email to analyst.rm [at] gmail com
 
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