How good were you focusing on study in the last two months?

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band2

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For me, not so good. I knew I should not waste any 5 minutes when I sat there. But once I read 30 minutes or one hour I could not help but wasted 5-10 minutes doing some tirvial stuff unrelated to the study materials. This was not good.
 
The last two months were very intense and it was getting harder and harder each day to motivate me. I didn’t go gym during the last four or five weeks or so and instead spent about 1 1/2 hours every evening (right after the kids went to bed). Sometimes it was hard to start and I was distracted the first 5 to 10 mins, but then it went well. So, for me the first part was a problem.
I also took two days off before the exam and worked more hours these days. With respect to distractions this was ok as I made regular breaks. In most of the cases it was easy to get back to the books.
 
Alex, you did L2 having kids? Respect! Don’t think I could do that, so I’m trying to complete the CFA now before starting a family.
 
That’s a very good idea! Because I can’t really recommend to do CFA and having (young) children. At least when you try to still have time for the children you are forced to learn in the evening or when the kids are away with their grandparents. Another aspect is that it doesn’t make any sense to take more than a few days off only for learnin. Because usually I try to spend the holidays with the children.
To sum it up: Good decision to do CFA first and then to start the family thing… That’s exactly how a colleague is planning it…
 
OP, that’s perfectly normal. In fact, it’s called the pomodoro technique. No one can possible study hard for 3 hours straight. So this technique breaks down study periods
Read for 25 minutes, take a 5 minute break. Do this 4 times.
For the fourth break, take a 15-30 minute break. Repeat.
 
Pretty damn dedicated. I stayed in to take exams and review, and I didn’t touch a drink. Sad part is I’m 90% certain I failed..
 
As dedicated as possible I’d say. I checked my log and I did 197 hours over the final 2 months, with a full time job, wife and 2 kids age 7 and 5. And this included zero study for 6 straight days from April 10 to April 15 due to a move. It was rough but I mostly stayed on track. Still, I didn’t get to mocks as early as I wanted to and didn’t get as many practice questions done as I wanted. In the end, 4 months just wasn’t quite enough prep time for me, somewhat due to having a study plan that worked great for Level I but not as great for Level II. If I end up a retaker, I’ll have a better plan and more time.
 
hei.so wrote:
OP, that’s perfectly normal. In fact, it’s called the pomodoro technique. No one can possible study hard for 3 hours straight. So this technique breaks down study periods
Read for 25 minutes, take a 5 minute break. Do this 4 times.
For the fourth break, take a 15-30 minute break. Repeat.
Click to expand...
Good to know this pomodoro technique thing. Thanks. I just hope my act did more good than bad to me. Had I stayed more focus or had more urgency sense, I would have time to finish the mock and practice. If I did so I would feel more confident.
 
^ hei.so is right on with this one. The Pomodoro Technique is very helpful. You can download any number of free apps from the iTunes app store.
Closer to the exam, I extend the length of my study sessions to 50 minutes followed by a 10 minute break rather than the default 25 min on / 5 min off. Although I prefer to plow through with no breaks, I can generally stay focused for 6 -8 hour stretches if I take scheduled breaks. Also, it’s easier to start studying when I fake myself out by commiting to study for “only” 25 minutes rather than 3 hours….
 
I am in a situation similar to Alex74: born ‘76, full-time job and a 2 yr old kid.
Learning is late in the evening (after 9 pm), and weekends are supposed to be family time. Best time of the day is when being at work, second best time is when someone needs your attention at home.
So, I would be very interested how you handle family and the CFA (after?) work. More than two hours on a weekday is really hard, if not impossible. Set aside the commute to work, basis help at home, etc etc - where do you cut back on? Social life, family, sleep, …?
The last two weeks were aweful for me - stress at work, could not focus on learning (even when I took some days off) when I needed it the most, felt like a waste of time. Let’s see,
xk
 
My utilization at work for the the month of April was 170%….so, not as well as I would have liked.
Bachelor parties and weddings on the weekends did not help, either.
I got used to functioning on 5 hours of sleep.
 
In april I tried to study atleast 3hours after work and atleast 6hours each on weekends. Last month May was a bootcamp. Studied 10-14hours straight every day. Eating time was the only break.
 
waleedhussain wrote:In april I tried to study atleast 3hours after work and atleast 6hours each on weekends. Last month May was a bootcamp. Studied 10-14hours straight every day. Eating time was the only break.
Click to expand...
wow, this translates into a sure pass.
 
band2 wrote:
waleedhussain wrote:In april I tried to study atleast 3hours after work and atleast 6hours each on weekends. Last month May was a bootcamp. Studied 10-14hours straight every day. Eating time was the only break.
Click to expand...
wow, this translates into a sure pass.
Click to expand...
Not really, still fell short of mock exams. Did just 3 incomplete mocks. Revision took lot of time, if you revise 1 topic in 2 days it takes 22 days to finish revision and by 23rd day you start forgetting things from topic 1.
 
band2 wrote:
waleedhussain wrote:In april I tried to study atleast 3hours after work and atleast 6hours each on weekends. Last month May was a bootcamp. Studied 10-14hours straight every day. Eating time was the only break.
Click to expand...
wow, this translates into a sure pass.
Click to expand...
Not really, still fell short of mock exams. Did just 3 incomplete mocks. Revision took lot of time, if you revise 1 topic in 2 days it takes 22 days to finish revision and by 23rd day you start forgetting things from topic 1.
 
band2 wrote:
waleedhussain wrote:In april I tried to study atleast 3hours after work and atleast 6hours each on weekends. Last month May was a bootcamp. Studied 10-14hours straight every day. Eating time was the only break.
Click to expand...
wow, this translates into a sure pass.
Click to expand...
Not really, still fell short of mock exams. Did just 3 incomplete mocks. Revision took lot of time, if you revise 1 topic in 2 days it takes 22 days to finish revision and by 23rd day you start forgetting things from topic 1, thats CFA L2 dilemma !
 
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