How I passed Level I....
This is just what worked for me. Use it (or ignore it) at your own discretion (peril). I have an econ background and have worked as a fixed income PM for fifteen years.
I started a little later than I would have liked for the June exam (mid � February). My basic approach was to keep pace (after catching up) with the 16 week Schweser online seminar. I liked the course because it gave me a schedule to adhere to (discipline is paramount in any self-study venture).
An ideal week of studying consisted of reading the CFAI text (excluding the optional readings) and attempting to do all the problems for each chapter (although these were sometimes pretty hard, so I didn�t always get through them all). Then I would follow up with the relevant Schweser notes, again doing all the Concept Checker questions at the end of each section. That usually took me up to the class (on Tuesday night). Then I�d spend a day or two doing a hundred or more practice questions from the Q bank before I moved on to the next section of CFAI readings.
I endorse the Schweser Notes and Q bank without reservation. The notes especially are an impressive work. Many have relied on them exclusively for their studies, which is a testament to the thought that went into producing them. For me, the CFA charter is so relevant to my professional career, that I wanted to get as much as possible out of the studying and I would encourage everyone to read the CFAI text as well. Even if you have to skip some sections because you don�t have time or don�t understand it, you should try to read the full text first. This will vastly improve your retention of the material when you review the Schweser notes. For review, I usually just referred to the Schweser notes, although sometimes I did go back to the CFAI text.
Throughout the four months of studying, I periodically reviewed sections when I was ahead of the schedule I was following (Schweser also incorporates a week off mid-way through the course � use this for review of your �worst� area). This was especially true of the Ethics material (I read the Practice & Stds book entirely through about once a month). By the time May had rolled around, I had probably completed about 75% of the 4000-odd question bank at Schweser. Ultimately, I did every question in the �Bank�.
I also took the John Harris accounting seminar for CFA candidates. I had never taken an accounting class in college, and have always (over) relied on colleagues for financial statement analysis, so this was really important for me. The class wasn�t mind blowing (though others think so), but he did provide a few invaluable tips / approaches, as well as a comprehensive set of brief notes and three or four hundred problems that I worked through no less than three times over the last two months of study to be sure I had mastered the material.
By the time I got to early May, I was able to clean up the last few sections ahead of time, leaving me almost two weeks before the exam to take my first practice test. The first practice exam I wrote, I scored in the mid 90s. It�s not clear to me that I substantially improved that score over the next two weeks leading up to the exam. Others have (frustratingly) reported similar experiences. This may be the result of the amount of material (and the brain�s fatigue at absorbing it all), or it might just be nerves. But it seemed like many AF�ers had a hard time pushing scores up very much in the last two weeks (with some notable exceptions). If you really want to pass, study early and hard, not late and hard.
June 2 was just another day for me. I honestly felt less exuberance yesterday when I found out my score ( >70% in all sections), than I felt when I sat for that first practice exam and realized I was going to nail this thing. I was literally giggling as I sat in the room waiting for the exam to begin (it wasn�t because I was nervous, it was because everyone else was so nervous!). Of course, if you don�t need to be so confident in passing, you may not need to follow all these steps. For me, the cost of taking this exam again (in mental anguish and time) was too steep to take that risk.
Good luck to all.
This is just what worked for me. Use it (or ignore it) at your own discretion (peril). I have an econ background and have worked as a fixed income PM for fifteen years.
I started a little later than I would have liked for the June exam (mid � February). My basic approach was to keep pace (after catching up) with the 16 week Schweser online seminar. I liked the course because it gave me a schedule to adhere to (discipline is paramount in any self-study venture).
An ideal week of studying consisted of reading the CFAI text (excluding the optional readings) and attempting to do all the problems for each chapter (although these were sometimes pretty hard, so I didn�t always get through them all). Then I would follow up with the relevant Schweser notes, again doing all the Concept Checker questions at the end of each section. That usually took me up to the class (on Tuesday night). Then I�d spend a day or two doing a hundred or more practice questions from the Q bank before I moved on to the next section of CFAI readings.
I endorse the Schweser Notes and Q bank without reservation. The notes especially are an impressive work. Many have relied on them exclusively for their studies, which is a testament to the thought that went into producing them. For me, the CFA charter is so relevant to my professional career, that I wanted to get as much as possible out of the studying and I would encourage everyone to read the CFAI text as well. Even if you have to skip some sections because you don�t have time or don�t understand it, you should try to read the full text first. This will vastly improve your retention of the material when you review the Schweser notes. For review, I usually just referred to the Schweser notes, although sometimes I did go back to the CFAI text.
Throughout the four months of studying, I periodically reviewed sections when I was ahead of the schedule I was following (Schweser also incorporates a week off mid-way through the course � use this for review of your �worst� area). This was especially true of the Ethics material (I read the Practice & Stds book entirely through about once a month). By the time May had rolled around, I had probably completed about 75% of the 4000-odd question bank at Schweser. Ultimately, I did every question in the �Bank�.
I also took the John Harris accounting seminar for CFA candidates. I had never taken an accounting class in college, and have always (over) relied on colleagues for financial statement analysis, so this was really important for me. The class wasn�t mind blowing (though others think so), but he did provide a few invaluable tips / approaches, as well as a comprehensive set of brief notes and three or four hundred problems that I worked through no less than three times over the last two months of study to be sure I had mastered the material.
By the time I got to early May, I was able to clean up the last few sections ahead of time, leaving me almost two weeks before the exam to take my first practice test. The first practice exam I wrote, I scored in the mid 90s. It�s not clear to me that I substantially improved that score over the next two weeks leading up to the exam. Others have (frustratingly) reported similar experiences. This may be the result of the amount of material (and the brain�s fatigue at absorbing it all), or it might just be nerves. But it seemed like many AF�ers had a hard time pushing scores up very much in the last two weeks (with some notable exceptions). If you really want to pass, study early and hard, not late and hard.
June 2 was just another day for me. I honestly felt less exuberance yesterday when I found out my score ( >70% in all sections), than I felt when I sat for that first practice exam and realized I was going to nail this thing. I was literally giggling as I sat in the room waiting for the exam to begin (it wasn�t because I was nervous, it was because everyone else was so nervous!). Of course, if you don�t need to be so confident in passing, you may not need to follow all these steps. For me, the cost of taking this exam again (in mental anguish and time) was too steep to take that risk.
Good luck to all.
