Going to give it one more try...those who passed let me hear how you studied?

Did Schweser volume 1 and 2 have 3 exam each like for level 1 for 2018? I just checked their websites and it looks like both volumes only contain 2 mocks each for 2019.
 
Yeah, I bought the 2018 mocks and it had 3 full morning exams (6 half exams) and 3 full afternoon exams (6 half). You might have to buy the sets separately tho I can’t remember if they came together when I purchased
 
mheithy wrote:
Yeah, I bought the 2018 mocks and it had 3 full morning exams (6 half exams) and 3 full afternoon exams (6 half). You might have to buy the sets separately tho I can’t remember if they came together when I purchased
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Yeah two separate volumes, but only 2 mocks in each (2 mornings sessions and 2 afternoon sessions). This sucks, they are also the same price as last year.
 
It’ll probably add more when its time. They like to make edits and re-number the mocks for whatever reason.
 
As almost all have said, there’s no short cut and it’s pretty obvious that there are many paths that should have read us to the pass line.
I started with videos accompanied by study notes to get a handle on concepts and then the topic. After this, I went through the Blue Box questions and solved CFA EOC questions. Post this I took CFA website practice material (subject-wuse vignettes) which got me to a greater depth.
Completed the first read 9-10 days prior to exam and then went to vignettes again. Couldn’t take practice tests (not even one) due to time constraints. Last read was secret sauce a day prior to the exam.
Overall >350 hours of study, but it paid!
On schedule, woke early and spent 1.5-2.0 hours prior to office and then almost another hour post work. Weekends 6-8 hours a day. Started mid Jan and slogged till the last day!
Hope this helps & all the best!
 
Make your own notes/flashcards.
Don’t get hung up on difficult quant topics. Focus on qualitative definitions/model characteristics.
Video lectures (I used Arif).
Timed mocks.
Read questions posted on AF and try to solve them.
 
I did,
Schweser essential package with videos
Schweser mock
IFT mocks
CFAI topic tests
CFAI mocks
Konvexity mocks
On top of those, I made my own notes which is about 80 pages of A4 paper.
I managed to put in over 600 hours while working fulltime and taking one graduate course. If you put in the work, you’ll be okay.
 
Passed L1 in Dec 2017 (first attempt, above 90th percentile) and L2 in June 2018, all while working full time. Here was my method:
Curriculum: Mark Meldrum Videos
Practice: Kaplan & CFAI Q-Banks/EOC Problems
Mocks: Kaplan & CFAI
Review: Mark Meldrum Review Videos
Dedication Level: High
Sounds like you were really close this time, so its probably just a matter of getting more practice in and maybe firming up your understanding of the major concepts. If I were taking L2 again this year, I would dedicate more time to solving EOC problems (best proxy for exam difficulty), and CFAI q-bank problems (harder than the exam, but great practice nonetheless), and not waste my time/money on the Kaplan Q-Bank & Mocks (too easy, nothing like the exam).
Best of luck!
 
Mocks, mock, and more mocks. Oh, and do the CFAI EOCs. The EOCs are great for understanding/solidifying the material and the mocks are great for seeing how you’re retaining the material and performing (make sure to do these under test conditions - go to a library or somewhere other than where you typically study, do them under timed conditions, and no “open book” under any circumstances). After each mock, review in detail and review the stuff you got wrong. Do this over and over and over until your eyes bleed. I ended up doing nine full mocks, all of the CFAI topic tests, a bunch of the Schweser q-bank (not as helpful, but still good practice). Wished I would have done the CFAI EOCs as that would have made me feel 100x better on exam day.
I’ve seen literally hundreds of posts saying exactly what I just said, so give it a whirl.
 
I used Adapt Prep for videos (instead of reading) and I used their formula sheet (which I added to), did the CFAI EOC questions two or three times. I also took a Kaplan Schweser 3 day review, which was pretty good, did their practice book two or three times and took 7 Kaplan Schweser mocks in addition to all available mocks on the CFAI site. I didn’t get to the topic tests, though if I had to retake it, I would definitely do that.
Good of luck to you! Once you learn the material, mocks are critical.
 
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