First Time Level 2 Taker

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reddyna

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Hello everyone,
First of all, I want to say thank you for everyone’s help who responded to questions that I posted for Level 1 this past June. Guys like S2000Magician, Greenman72 and itera, with his comic relief, were very helpful when I would spend countless hours at the library studying for Level 1. I didn’t use the site much, but thank you to everyone who answered my questions.
I studied about 400 hours for Level 1 and passed first try, luckily. I studied for about 5 months and was so happy to get that congratulations email. I only had above 70% on 3 topics, but one of those was FRA. I’m just glad it’s behind me for now.
My question is for those of you who have taken Level 2.
When did you start studying? How many hours did you put in? And lastly, do you recommend taking a couple of months off before studying? I want to jump back in and start studying, but I understand the importance of letting the body recharge first.
Just looking for some feedback.
Thanks.
 
January
~350 hours
Absolutely recommended, enjoy the next few months of freedom
 
Well put. Thank you sir. Looking forward to having a life again.
FWIW, Brady shouldn’t have been suspended.
 
I have failed in Band 9 hence take my 2p with a pinch of salt
(i)I have studied for 1.5 month which is absolutely NO. It hurts to fail so close, and L1 and L2 are very different. However, for a prepared student exam should be a cakewalk.
(ii)Read prep provider or CFA curri(I will say CFA O.C. is volumnious, a good prep provider material is good enough for conceptual clarity, however refer to the O.C. once you are in doubt)
(iii) Do all solved examples from the official curriculum, and EOCs(chuck schweser EOCs, they are too easy)
(iv)Mocks will enhance your knowledge(I did not have time to practise and revise enough, which made the difference). I will suggest to do (a)Schweser 6 exams (b) CFA official mocks(last 2/3 years) (c)Online Assessments from the CFA website (d)extra pracise (Finquiz, Konvexity)
(v)Do not leave any stone unturned, practise tons till you clear each and every concept. Traget to score 70+ in all areas while doing the mocks if not redo the exercise
(vi)Enjoy life and don’t sacrifice it for an exam(take till the point you can tolerate, take off days from studying, hit the pub, roam around with your girl friend etal)
All the very best!!
 
Not sure of the number of hours but I started studying in October. I read through all six textbooks from October to around January/February, doing EoCs after each chapter. Once I finished that I did Wiley. I was a bit disappointed because their questions were not item sets. They were basically BB with different numbers. Then I did EoCs again.
I did mocks around April. I did the CFAI mocks, found some mocks from previous years online and also Konvexity.
I never got over 55% on any of the mocks though but I found the actual exam a lot easier. Level 2 is still harder than level 1 though.
 
Start in Jan should be fine, use last month for mock & it will be better if you can take one or two week off before the exam.
 
Interesting. Yeah I think i’m like you and need to start in October so i can read everything twice. I’ve heard Level 2 is harder than Level 1 and I was probably on the lower end of those who passed Level 1, but who knows.
I’ll probably use Schweser again as it worked for Level 1. Thanks for the input and congrats on passing level 2!!!!
 
Thanks for the feedback. You only studied for 1.5 months? If so, getting band 9 is really good! I’m going to take your advice to heart, especially (vi), but i know sacrifices must be made in order to pass. My goal is to be hitting 70+ in every topic as you mentioned before exam day. I will defiinitely have started studying by October 1st.
 
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