canucklhead
New member
- Jun 18, 2026
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I figured I would post my story here, in hopes that it could help someone else in a similar situation. These are the things that worked for me, and they may not help you at all. (insert disclaimer) In fact, you might think some of what I say is just ridiculous, but this is what worked for me so I wanted to share it. (apologies in advance for lack of grammer/punct, I’m typing this out quick on a break at work)
I attempted level 1 back in 2011 (june) and failed band 9 on my first try. I was pretty devastated as I thought I had put in a ton of effort and studied reasonably hard for 4-5 months prior. I used schweser mostly and had barely opened the CFA books. I did all my studying at home and never left my desk, so I definitely got distracted a lot of nights, probably put in around 300 hours or so and knew I had scored a borderline mark when I walked out of the exam but hoped I would squeak through.
In my 2nd attempt on Level 1, I waited until june 2012, I avoided december because I like to study in the winter instead of the summer/fall. I signed up for the LIVE online schweser weekly class, which in itself was decent (not amazing) but the most important thing it did for me was add structure to my studying. It meant one night a week I wasn’t at the library, I was in front of my PC/TV watching the online class. The pre-recorded classes weren’t helpful because I wouldn’t necessarily sit down and watch them, a LIVE class on the other hand kept me interested. I started studying in November (yes, I know that might sound insane to some people), not intense at first, just skimming/doing some problems on big areas (Equity/FRA) to get an idea of what I was in for. I went to the library every single night for almost 7 months (except for nights where I had the online class) some nights I needed a break and only went for 30 minutes, but I made it part of my routine. I just had too many distractions at home, so I needed to be somewhere else. I also signed up for Windsor week offered by Schweser, which, altough expensive, I found to be an incredible helpful way to study (1 week of isolation, no worrying about meals, family, anything). I passed level 1 in June 2012 with probably 500 hours or so of studying.
Now I started to read about level 2, basically everything I read was implying ‘if you failed level 1, you are in for a serious world of hurt on level 2’. I was so nervous about level two that I began to study in October 2012 for the June 2013 exam. Again, not intense at first, just spending each night at the library starting to get control of major topic areas. I basically did everything the exact same as level 1, I signed up for the live weekly online class, and windsor week. I put in somewhere between 500-700 hours of studying, I know its a wide range, but its an estimate, I never really kept track. I passed with over 70 in Equity,FRA, Fixed, Econ, Ethics, 51-70 in Corp fin, Deriv., Alt inv and I failed PM and Quant.
Here are some conclusions that I’ve come to:
- Mock exams: I did about 4-6 each time I passed (did 1 when I failed). Extremely important for identifying weak topic areas, HOWEVER, I never scored above 62/63 in a single mock I ever did, not schweser, not CFA, none. In fact I believe I scored a 58 on the official CFA mock. It only made me study harder in the final weeks. In my personal opinion, mocks are harder than the actual exam, especially the CFA mock, I felt this way for level 1 and level 2.
- MPS: Based on talking to some teacher/profs at windsor week, some who had been involved with marking CFA exams with the CFA institute years ago, the MPS for level 2 is actually somewhere in the 60% range (+/- a few %), and I believe them, there is no way I scored close to 70% on this exam.
- Studying: I went to the library every single night, there were some nights where I only went for 30 minutes, some nights 4 hours, it didn’t matter, it was my routine, at home I would turn on the TV, my fiancee would start talking to me, there was too many distractions I needed to be out of the house.
- Courses: I did schweser’s live online weekly class and windsor week for both levels, this is by no means an advertisement solely for schweser, there are plenty of other quality courses out there you can go to, and there are many people who attend these and fail. I however, found them extremely helpful, especially the Level 2 teachers, for example John Harris (I think thats his name) for FRA at windsor week (level 1 and 2) was the best teacher I have ever had, period. Andy Homes is great as well (again all my opinion)
- Start early: People will come on this forum and say they studied for 2 months and scored over 70 in every category, thats amazing, and I wish I that was me, but its not. I had 0 chance of pulling that off . I knew in advance this exam was going to be tough for me so I studied for 7-8 months definitely put in 500+ hours simply because its the only chance I had of passing
- CFA books vs. Schweser books: I used the CFA books on material I struggled with, (FRA, PM, Quant, Deriv). But things I had a handle on, or felt I knew pretty well (Equity, fixed, Econ, Corp Fin) I used schweser.
- Ethics: I didn’t open the ethics books until two weeks before each exam, I scored over 70 in both level 1&2 on ethics. Ethics at level 2 is WAY harder than at level 1, don’t underestimate it.
- Weak topic areas: I am terrible at quant. Level 1 wasn’t so bad, but level 2 killed me. 2 months before the exam I gave up on quant, I picked the same answer for every quant question on the exam, and failed the section. Was this a bad strategy? I don’t think so, in the weeks it would have taken me to learn quant, I instead worked my butt off on FRA, Equity, Etc. to make sure I had the big categories covered. Simply look at the weights allocated to some of the sections, there is going to be like 6 questions on the little ones, guessing gets you 2/6 (generally) you will have bigger sections with 18-24 questions. I wouldn’t advocate doing this with multiple areas, but if there is an area you’ve worked on for a long time and still can’t get it then simply MOVE ON
- Cue cards: Used schweser cards, but also made my own for tough topic areas on both levels (had my fiancee quiz me on them each night for the last few months before I went to bed)
- LIFE: Life happens, you have a birthday, someone gets married, find a way to take a mental break from studying every once in a while. I took the odd break for a day or so, and would come back to the books feeling refreshed and ready to study harder, I had the ‘burnout’ feeling a few times, but I would just take a break for a day. (and yes, a break meant I still went to the library for 30 minutes that day). The most important part here is there are no excuses, my fiancee was pregnant, our baby was due the day after the exam. She was ultimately 10 days late, so it worked out, but I worried each day leading up to the exam about her going into labor, but it didn’t matter, I still studied just as hard. Everyone makes excuses of why they failed, using the wrong books, the wrong study aids, etc. but if you study hard enough and long enough, you will give yourself a good chance at passing this thing.
Good luck to everyone
I attempted level 1 back in 2011 (june) and failed band 9 on my first try. I was pretty devastated as I thought I had put in a ton of effort and studied reasonably hard for 4-5 months prior. I used schweser mostly and had barely opened the CFA books. I did all my studying at home and never left my desk, so I definitely got distracted a lot of nights, probably put in around 300 hours or so and knew I had scored a borderline mark when I walked out of the exam but hoped I would squeak through.
In my 2nd attempt on Level 1, I waited until june 2012, I avoided december because I like to study in the winter instead of the summer/fall. I signed up for the LIVE online schweser weekly class, which in itself was decent (not amazing) but the most important thing it did for me was add structure to my studying. It meant one night a week I wasn’t at the library, I was in front of my PC/TV watching the online class. The pre-recorded classes weren’t helpful because I wouldn’t necessarily sit down and watch them, a LIVE class on the other hand kept me interested. I started studying in November (yes, I know that might sound insane to some people), not intense at first, just skimming/doing some problems on big areas (Equity/FRA) to get an idea of what I was in for. I went to the library every single night for almost 7 months (except for nights where I had the online class) some nights I needed a break and only went for 30 minutes, but I made it part of my routine. I just had too many distractions at home, so I needed to be somewhere else. I also signed up for Windsor week offered by Schweser, which, altough expensive, I found to be an incredible helpful way to study (1 week of isolation, no worrying about meals, family, anything). I passed level 1 in June 2012 with probably 500 hours or so of studying.
Now I started to read about level 2, basically everything I read was implying ‘if you failed level 1, you are in for a serious world of hurt on level 2’. I was so nervous about level two that I began to study in October 2012 for the June 2013 exam. Again, not intense at first, just spending each night at the library starting to get control of major topic areas. I basically did everything the exact same as level 1, I signed up for the live weekly online class, and windsor week. I put in somewhere between 500-700 hours of studying, I know its a wide range, but its an estimate, I never really kept track. I passed with over 70 in Equity,FRA, Fixed, Econ, Ethics, 51-70 in Corp fin, Deriv., Alt inv and I failed PM and Quant.
Here are some conclusions that I’ve come to:
- Mock exams: I did about 4-6 each time I passed (did 1 when I failed). Extremely important for identifying weak topic areas, HOWEVER, I never scored above 62/63 in a single mock I ever did, not schweser, not CFA, none. In fact I believe I scored a 58 on the official CFA mock. It only made me study harder in the final weeks. In my personal opinion, mocks are harder than the actual exam, especially the CFA mock, I felt this way for level 1 and level 2.
- MPS: Based on talking to some teacher/profs at windsor week, some who had been involved with marking CFA exams with the CFA institute years ago, the MPS for level 2 is actually somewhere in the 60% range (+/- a few %), and I believe them, there is no way I scored close to 70% on this exam.
- Studying: I went to the library every single night, there were some nights where I only went for 30 minutes, some nights 4 hours, it didn’t matter, it was my routine, at home I would turn on the TV, my fiancee would start talking to me, there was too many distractions I needed to be out of the house.
- Courses: I did schweser’s live online weekly class and windsor week for both levels, this is by no means an advertisement solely for schweser, there are plenty of other quality courses out there you can go to, and there are many people who attend these and fail. I however, found them extremely helpful, especially the Level 2 teachers, for example John Harris (I think thats his name) for FRA at windsor week (level 1 and 2) was the best teacher I have ever had, period. Andy Homes is great as well (again all my opinion)
- Start early: People will come on this forum and say they studied for 2 months and scored over 70 in every category, thats amazing, and I wish I that was me, but its not. I had 0 chance of pulling that off . I knew in advance this exam was going to be tough for me so I studied for 7-8 months definitely put in 500+ hours simply because its the only chance I had of passing
- CFA books vs. Schweser books: I used the CFA books on material I struggled with, (FRA, PM, Quant, Deriv). But things I had a handle on, or felt I knew pretty well (Equity, fixed, Econ, Corp Fin) I used schweser.
- Ethics: I didn’t open the ethics books until two weeks before each exam, I scored over 70 in both level 1&2 on ethics. Ethics at level 2 is WAY harder than at level 1, don’t underestimate it.
- Weak topic areas: I am terrible at quant. Level 1 wasn’t so bad, but level 2 killed me. 2 months before the exam I gave up on quant, I picked the same answer for every quant question on the exam, and failed the section. Was this a bad strategy? I don’t think so, in the weeks it would have taken me to learn quant, I instead worked my butt off on FRA, Equity, Etc. to make sure I had the big categories covered. Simply look at the weights allocated to some of the sections, there is going to be like 6 questions on the little ones, guessing gets you 2/6 (generally) you will have bigger sections with 18-24 questions. I wouldn’t advocate doing this with multiple areas, but if there is an area you’ve worked on for a long time and still can’t get it then simply MOVE ON
- Cue cards: Used schweser cards, but also made my own for tough topic areas on both levels (had my fiancee quiz me on them each night for the last few months before I went to bed)
- LIFE: Life happens, you have a birthday, someone gets married, find a way to take a mental break from studying every once in a while. I took the odd break for a day or so, and would come back to the books feeling refreshed and ready to study harder, I had the ‘burnout’ feeling a few times, but I would just take a break for a day. (and yes, a break meant I still went to the library for 30 minutes that day). The most important part here is there are no excuses, my fiancee was pregnant, our baby was due the day after the exam. She was ultimately 10 days late, so it worked out, but I worried each day leading up to the exam about her going into labor, but it didn’t matter, I still studied just as hard. Everyone makes excuses of why they failed, using the wrong books, the wrong study aids, etc. but if you study hard enough and long enough, you will give yourself a good chance at passing this thing.
Good luck to everyone