CFA Level 1 vs GRE advice

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cfalevel1help

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Hello Everyone,
My background is in Information Technology. I was originally thinking about getting a masters in finance and as a result I took my GREs three years ago and scored a 149 Verbal and 153 Quant. I have taken the GRE two more times and no matter what I do, I cannot seem to improve. I took the exam again after studying 8 hours a day for the last two months and only scored a 154 Quant and 149 Verbal, which is only a 1 point improvement in my Quant score. How is this even possible? As a result, I’m thinking about taking my CFA Level 1 instead of getting a Masters in Finance. Realistically, Do i even have a shot as CFA Level 1 since the amount of material is a lot tougher and considering that I could not score 90th percentile or raise my score on the GRE even after studying for two months, 8+ hours a day.
 
Could you please mention your scores in percentile? Raw scores are hard to decipher.
 
GRE and CFA1 isn’t an apples to apples comparison (except for the fact that they both require good test taking skills).
153-154 in GRE quant is really low (any decent finance/econ department will ask for 160+, among other criteria). But that doesn’t mean you can’t pass the CFA exams.
I’ve taken both GRE and recently passed level 1. I feel a lot stronger in the level 1 material than some of those GRE quant problems.
Some of the math in GRE pretty much comes down to test taking skills and preparation that I personally found really boring.
Whereas most learning objectives in the level 1 curriculum gave me the feeling that I learnt something new. For example, technical analysis in the Quantitative Methods section. While I’m not some Fibonacci king of technical analysis now, I at least feel equipped to partake in a relevant conversation.
So it’s possible that you might find the CFA curriculum more interesting and worthwhile. The only way to find out is to read through the curriculum and see how it aligns with your long-term goals and interest.
 
Hi Tactics,
Thank you so much for your respond. You are a huge help. I completely agree that preparing for the GRE was extremely boring and even after an intense amount of studying, it seemed that I didn’t do any better then when I took the exam over two years ago, even though I went through all of the Manhattan 5lb book questions and Magoosh. I felt like a failure. The part that made this all more frustrating is that the material is very simple and is not rocket science and in practice exams I was doing well and understood almost all concepts but still did extremely poor.
- I just finished watching a video on Technical Analysis based on your suggestion and it seems a lot more interesting then just doing routine GRE problems. Also, what material would you suggest to someone with no finance experience looking to take the CFA in December? It seems that Schweser CFA Level 1 material seems to be the most useful.
Best Regards
 
Hi Tactics,
Thank you so much for your respond. You are a huge help. I completely agree that preparing for the GRE was extremely boring and even after an intense amount of studying, it seemed that I didn’t do any better then when I took the exam over two years ago, even though I went through all of the Manhattan 5lb book questions and Magoosh. I felt like a failure. The part that made this all more frustrating is that the material is very simple and is not rocket science and in practice exams I was doing well and understood almost all concepts but still did extremely poor.
- I just finished watching a video on Technical Analysis based on your suggestion and it seems a lot more interesting then just doing routine GRE problems. Also, what material would you suggest to someone with no finance experience looking to take the CFA in December? It seems that Schweser CFA Level 1 material seems to be the most useful.
Best Regards
 
Hi,
The percentile is extremely low. I think I was in the 50th percentile in Quant/Verbal. I felt like a complete failure since my goal was to score in the 90th percentile. Do I even have a realistic chance at the CFA Level 1? In addition, do you have any prior experiecne taking both the GRE and CFA Level 1.
Best Regards,
 
@ Cfalevel1help:
I took GRE in 2003 i.e. 13 years ago. Back then, scores were on a scale of 800. My quant score was 800 out of 800 (yup, no typo) with a percentile of 92. Verbal was 610 with a percentile of 75. I am a non-native speaker.
I had no background in finance, economics, and accounting prior to taking Level 1 in June 2016. I scored more than 70% in everything except Portfolio Management. I studied for 600+ hours. The difficulty of the Level 1 exam is similar to Fundamental of Engineering exam in US. It is huge but not hard.
I will suggest that you borrow Financial Reporting and Analysis Schweser Notes from your friend. Go through couple of chapters and solve End of Chapter (EOC) problems. Plumb your confidence level while reading the Notes and solving EOC problems.
If you are also from non-financial background, 300 hours are not enough to study for Level 1. You have to put something like 500+. If you have a full time job, give yourself plenty of time to prepare for the exam like an year or so. The exam is straight forward with few red herrings. Your biggest enemy on Level 1 is ’unfamiliarity’.
Now, to answer your ‘unasked question’ - probability of switching career after CFA exams is extremely low.
I don’t mean to enervate you. But, it is always a good idea to know what you are getting into.
Hope it helps and good luck on your study.
Phil



cfalevel1help wrote:
Hi,
The percentile is extremely low. I think I was in the 50th percentile in Quant/Verbal. I felt like a complete failure since my goal was to score in the 90th percentile. Do I even have a realistic chance at the CFA Level 1? In addition, do you have any prior experiecne taking both the GRE and CFA Level 1.
Best Regards,
Click to expand...
 
Thanks Phil,
I appreciate the feedback. I think I’ll try to study for CFA Level 1 this December and take a break from the GRE since I cannot seem to figure out what why I cannot improve on the GRE.
Best Regards,
Ali
 
cfalevel1help wrote:
Thanks Phil,
I appreciate the feedback. I think I’ll try to study for CFA Level 1 this December and take a break from the GRE since I cannot seem to figure out what why I cannot improve on the GRE.
Best Regards,
Ali
Click to expand...
to answer your question about study material, I found Schweser sufficient for Level 1. However, I highly recommend doing all CFA curriculum end of chapter questions and examples in the blue boxes through each CFA textbook. I also read some chapters in the CFA curriculum if I didn’t understand a particular topic. Drilling practice questions is also key and make sure you read the full answer explanation to each of the questions. Good luck
 
philstinnet said:
@ Cfalevel1help:
I took GRE in 2003 i.e. 13 years ago. Back then, scores were on a scale of 800. My quant score was 800 out of 800 (yup, no typo) with a percentile of 92. Verbal was 610 with a percentile of 75. I am a non-native speaker.
I had no background in finance, economics, and accounting prior to taking Level 1 in June 2016. I scored more than 70% in everything except Portfolio Management. I studied for 600+ hours. The difficulty of the Level 1 exam is similar to Fundamental of Engineering exam in US. It is huge but not hard.
I will suggest that you borrow Financial Reporting and Analysis Schweser Notes from your friend. Go through couple of chapters and solve End of Chapter (EOC) problems. Plumb your confidence level while reading the Notes and solving EOC problems.
If you are also from non-financial background, 300 hours are not enough to study for Level 1. You have to put something like 500+. If you have a full time job, give yourself plenty of time to prepare for the exam like an year or so. The exam is straight forward with few red herrings. Your biggest enemy on Level 1 is ’unfamiliarity’.
Now, to answer your ‘unasked question’ - probability of switching career after CFA exams is extremely low.
I don’t mean to enervate you. But, it is always a good idea to know what you are getting into.
Hope it helps and good luck on your study.
Phil
Definitely not a typo. I took back in 2008 when it too was out of 800 for each section. 800/800 on quant equaled 92 percentile when you took it – meaning that 800 is better than 92 people out of 100. 8 out of 100 people scored a perfect 800. I got 770 on quant (88th percentile) and 750 on verbal (99th percentile). The overall 1520 was still in the 99th percentile. The verbal portion is significantly harder to score 800 on.
Anyways, study for the CFA and level 1 shouldn’t be an issue.
Click to expand...
 
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