Confident? Should you start L2

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pokhim

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Hi All,
If you’re fairly confident that you passed the exam and you’re thinking about L2 then I would say; bite the bullet and do it!
I passed L1 in December 2012 after c.5months of studying and was ‘fairly’ confident of a pass after completing 10 mock exams and getting scores between 69% and 73%. In the 3rd week of December I bought the L2 Schweser books from Ebay and started studying from the 1st week of January….
I had already honed my study style over the prior 5 months and knew how to strategize, make notes, be time efficient. My mind was still in study mode and my friends were already forgetting about me, so I thought what the heck…what’s another 5months?…
Luckily in June 2013 I was able to pass the L2 exam, and I am now starting to study for the L3 exam. If you think you’ve passed, then start studying for L2!!
 
Which topics are the ones you should focus early on and benefit from studying earlier than others ?
 
I couldn’t agree more with you Pokhim!
I also started studying for Level 2 right after the christmas break. By the time my Level 1 result came, i had already covered the whole of quants. Thanks to Elan’s free trial offer.
I totally second Pokhim’s advice. Level 2 is no joke and it would require even more time, effort and discipline than Level 1. Start as soon as you can!
 
an-alyst wrote:
I couldn’t agree more with you Pokhim!
I also started studying for Level 2 right after the christmas break. By the time my Level 1 result came, i had already covered the whole of quants. Thanks to Elan’s free trial offer.
I totally second Pokhim’s advice. Level 2 is no joke and it would require even more time, effort and discipline than Level 1. Start as soon as you can!
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What are the hardest parts of Level 2 ?
 
^ that depends on you. For me FRA, Quants ( weak area), derivatives and all that MBS ABS crap in FI.
the most boring was Econ. too much material given its weightage.
 
I agree with you. In my opinion Econ is very hard because it seem to require much more reading/work per point. Like for Financial Reporting, if you do not truly understand what is going on, it is very hard to learn by heart and therefore it is very time consuming.
I really enjoyed the learning process but the preparation for the exam was less enjoyable in my personal experience.
 
planning on starting dec. 21st.
does L2 mostly build off of L1 or is all the information independant of L1?
 
L2 is about Valuations; think Dividend Discount Model, Free Cashflow to the Firm, Free Cashflow to Equity, Residual Income, Market Based Valuations. IMO Equity Investments was a fairly easy and accounts for c25% of the exam.
FRA doesn’t get too difficult, it’s the same set-up as before; just learn the rules and some of the more cruel nuances. The hardest parts from me were Quant and Derivs.
L2 builds off L1, but don’t under estimate the amount of reading you’ll have to do as it’s quite a lot harder which is why I’m advising you to start before the L1 results come out.
I used the schweser L2 material which I bought 2nd hand from ebay.
 
If you buy second hand from EBay, aren’t you at risk of having outdated material since you are buying the one from the previous session ?
 
BlueTrin wrote:
If you buy second hand from EBay, aren’t you at risk of having outdated material since you are buying the one from the previous session ?
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There will be people selling the 2014 L2 material online right now.
 
I will start to study for L2 on 1/4/14. I need a few weeks to get back into work mode and enjoy my vacation time.
From my L1 studying I definitely learned how best to approach each section, what not to do and how to retain the information that just seems like one big boring textbook. One thing I will definitely remember is to bring a lunch! When I exited the test hall at 12:15ish the line at the only nearby food stands were inundated with other candidates. That was the only downside but luckily I ate a good breakfast.
Looking forward to L2 though as the content closely follows what I do at work. Of course, if my L1 results don’t cut it it’s back to L1 curriculum…
 
if there is a concept i didnt have nailed down from L1 would it be possible that i need to go back and review it, or will the readings in L2 be sufficient?
 
I think if you have the fire, may as well start right away, because once you wait till the result comes out, you may not have the motivation anymore.
 
Schweser gives free access to some of their L2 material to the December candidates waiting for their results, that should be enough to entertain you guys : Book 1 + some online classes + Q-bank, but Qbank is bad for L2, don’t use it. Check their website, look for CFA jump start.
 
BlueTrin wrote:
If you buy second hand from EBay, aren’t you at risk of having outdated material since you are buying the one from the previous session ?
Click to expand...
A lot of L1 candidates think the curriculum changes DRASTICALLY every year when in fact, they are hardly noticeable.
So using materials from 1-2 years ago is totally fine.
 
BlueTrin wrote:
What are the hardest parts of Level 2 ?
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There were definitely some topics that i found them quite challenging.
FRA (Intercorp and Pensions), FI (MBS and ABS), Quants (Time Series), Econ (all of it), Derivatives (Options and Swaps), PM (Treynor black).
That’s all i can think of off the top of my head.
 
NANA Hachiko wrote:
A lot of L1 candidates think the curriculum changes DRASTICALLY every year when in fact, they are hardly noticeable.
So using materials from 1-2 years ago is totally fine.
Click to expand...
Well there is an addition of 5-6 new readings this year, so i would still call it DRASTIC.
 
NANA Hachiko wrote:
BlueTrin wrote:If you buy second hand from EBay, aren’t you at risk of having outdated material since you are buying the one from the previous session?
Click to expand...
A lot of L1 candidates think the curriculum changes DRASTICALLY every year when in fact, they are hardly noticeable.
So using materials from 1-2 years ago is totally fine.
Click to expand...
Especially if you’re just getting started and will transition to the current material at the end of January.
If you’re at all concerned about outdated material, you can look at the LOS changes from year to year, or simply stick with the material that is most unlikely to change. I’d submit that Ethics, Fixed Income, and Derivatives are unlikely to change (at least, not much), with Equity and Economics not far behind. They occasionally shuffle things around in Quant, FRA (which also changes when there are new accounting pronouncements), Corporate Finance, and Portfolio Management, and, perhaps even more so, in Alternative Investments.
 
S2000magician wrote:
Especially if you’re just getting started and will transition to the current material at the end of January.
If you’re at all concerned about outdated material, you can look at the LOS changes from year to year, or simply stick with the material that is most unlikely to change. I’d submit that Ethics, Fixed Income, and Derivatives are unlikely to change (at least, not much), with Equity and Economics not far behind. They occasionally shuffle things around in Quant, FRA (which also changes when there are new accounting pronouncements), Corporate Finance, and Portfolio Management, and, perhaps even more so, in Alternative Investments.
Click to expand...
+1
Here you go BlueTrin, http://www.elansguides.com/docs/Los-changes-2013-2014.pdf
 
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