CFA LVL1 Candidate, CPA completed.

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adrost

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Hi everyone. I am new here just wanted to introduce myself and get some pointers on studying. I recently received the CFA Access Scholarship and have registered to take June Level 1. I completed my undergrad last May in accounting and finance and took the CPA this past summer and passed in the top 2%. I am now in my MSF program and work at my universities finance lab. I will be busy, but should be able to dedicate 15-20 hours a week to study.
I am going to wait until after the holidays to begin studying for the CFA, but does anyone have any pointers. I think I will be strong on the corporate finance and FRA sections, but am a bit worried about QM and some of the asset classes. Any insight for pointers would be greatly appreciated.
 
adrost wrote:
Hi everyone. I am new here just wanted to introduce myself and get some pointers on studying. I recently received the CFA Access Scholarship and have registered to take June Level 1. I completed my undergrad last May in accounting and finance and took the CPA this past summer and passed in the top 2%. I am now in my MSF program and work at my universities finance lab. I will be busy, but should be able to dedicate 15-20 hours a week to study.
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Your undergrad in finance will have covered most of the Equity and Fixed Income portions of the L1 curriculum. By no means am I suggesting that you brush these two topics off to the side, especially since they carry a pretty significant amount of weight on the exam. But at least they will be somewhat fresh in your mind, and mostly review. Much of the QM portion would have been covered in an intro business stats class. It may sound intimidating, but it’s not that difficult. If you can dedicate the amount of time you say you can, with your background, you should be fine. The best pointer I can give you, and the one you will see most often on here, is to be sure and leave yourself the last full month before the exam to take timed mock exams, grade them honestly, review weak areas.
Congrats on your other accomplishments and good luck.
 
I think just go appear in the exams and you will pass… based on your background. May just casual read of ethics section just be sure…. You never the ethics of CPA…… (Just Joking).
 
If you take the advice above – study only 4 weeks, just go an appear for the exam – you are almost guaranteed to fail. I’ve seen it many times; arrogance will see you return for the same level next time around.
Your background will help immensely, but you’ll still have to study and practice for these exams. You might want to take one practice exam very early on (late January, say) to help you evaluate where you are, pinpoint your areas of weakness, and motivate you to study and practice in earnest.
Welcome to AF! There are lots of good, smart people here who can help you along. Best of luck in your journey.
 
To everyone, I would like to say THANK YOU! I am blown away by the responses and support this forum seems to provide. All of your feedback is greatly welcome.
Specifically, @S2000magician, thank you for your input and I will be taking your advice on an early practice exam. I look forward to being a member of AF!
 
Level 1 materials aren’t “challenging” - if you are just out of undergrad and just took your CPA exam, you should be fine. Just dedicate about 6 to 7 months in studying for the CFA Level 1. I think 10 to 12 hours per week is definitely plenty - do this while you are still in school. I didn’t, and I had to wait another 3 years until I get out of investment banking - now I have some time, but still not as much as when I was still back in undergrad…
Good luck! I would be diligent and not be too cocky thinking you will breeze through the materials in a short period of time and pass…just put in hours, that’s all.
 
@jdamian123 thanks for the advice. You said you did three years in IB? How do you think the CFA will help in this aspect? While I don’t want to end in IB, I would like to do a stint to gains some experience. Do you think any aspects of the CFA will be helpful? Also what are your thoughts about have the CPA and level 1 completed for recruiting prospects? I didn’t go to a target for my undergrad and am not at a target now, but I do have some connections at boutique and MM firms, but I am not sure that will be enough. Any feedback you might have on this would be great.
 
adrost wrote:
@jdamian123 thanks for the advice. You said you did three years in IB? How do you think the CFA will help in this aspect? While I don’t want to end in IB, I would like to do a stint to gains some experience. Do you think any aspects of the CFA will be helpful? Also what are your thoughts about have the CPA and level 1 completed for recruiting prospects? I didn’t go to a target for my undergrad and am not at a target now, but I do have some connections at boutique and MM firms, but I am not sure that will be enough. Any feedback you might have on this would be great.
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I would say where you went to school (target), your GPA, and SAT scores matter A LOT more than whether you are a CFA charterholder or a Certified Public Accountant. CFA / CPA alone won’t get you into IBD if you didn’t get in through a typical recruiting cycle (i.e. undergrad junior summer analyst internship, then a full-time offer).
Your best alternative is getting an MBA degree. Most people who are recovering investment bankers, myself included, do the CFA process if they want to transition to an asset management / investment management role or because they wanted to just have that under their belt because they now have some time to kill. I am the latter - and I am still planning on getting my MBA regardless whether I pass all three CFA exams or not.
In short, CPA and Level 1 won’t make you materially better than other candidates especially for IBD / PE recruiting.
Best of luck though.
 
Thank you for the feedback. This seems to be the consensus. From talking to others, I believe my best path would be to start at a Big4 firm and attempt to get into advisory then to top MBA. Again, thank you for the feedback.
 
adrost wrote:
Thank you for the feedback. This seems to be the consensus. From talking to others, I believe my best path would be to start at a Big4 firm and attempt to get into advisory then to top MBA. Again, thank you for the feedback.
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Like I said, I don’t think MBA matters as much if you are looking to get into AM/IM…I thought you didn’t want IBD anyway. If you are doing a Master’s program right now, have CPA under your belt, and going for the CFA designation…and you don’t want to work in IBD, why another Master’s?…might be a waste of time…you are going to get too old to pull off all-nighters
 
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