Hi guys, this website has offered a lot of help to me and I thought I would discuss how I passed the level 2 exam and hopefully it may help someone out there. Here is what I did. I must also add everyone has his own style of studying. What worked for me, may not work for you. So please keep this in mind while reading this.
1) Read schweser notes Book 0 to Book 5 and ofcourse did all eoc questions. In my first read I had zero focus on retention and memorizing formuls etc and 200 percent focus on making sure I understood everything and every concept inside out. So If i did not understand anything, I would maybe do some more research on the internet, use this forum, read other books, reread and reread until I was sure I had in depth understanding of what was written and why things were the way they were. I feel this is important. Some people get some satisfaction by telling themselves hey i read 50 pages today or 100 pages today but maybe it works for them but for me. I would not understand anything that way and its just false sense of satisfaction. I think I would read 20-25 pages in a session/day. So idea was read very slow, thorough understanding, less to no focus on retention.
2) Once I was done with book 5, I found that I did not remember much from previous books. I would say my total retention was maybe 20 to 25 percent. This can be scary and cos some to panic but I feel its normal atleast given the approach that I took. The second step was to reread everything again word for word like you were doing it for the first time and this time focus on retention and also REDO all eoc questions again by hand like you were doin for the first time. Hopefully on the second go everything will start to come togather and you will start developing confidence. After this painstaking second go, I felt my retention level was around 85 percent.
3) I also watched schweser videos along with my second go of the course content. I also felt this was highly benifical. Like read a particular topic and watch schweser videos after to let everything sink in.
4) Then I tore of the formulas given at the end of 5 schweser books and commited them to memory.
5) Finally ready secret sauce. this was helpful
6) I had 2 3 days to go for the exam when I was done with all this and I went into the exam without giving ANY practiice exam of any kind! I felt that if I gave an exam last 2 to 3 days and scored low marks It would completely shatter my confidence. Please note (I DONOT RECOMEND THIS APPRAOCH AT ALL). I think the fact that I redid all schweser eoc saved me otherwise I had no chance.
7) some final comments tips.
a) I do recommend doing schweser eoc twice to truly get the computations/calculations under your grip.
b) I also read original cfa book and did all original book eoc for ETHICS SECTION ONLY. Again i recomend this as ethics is a very important part of the exam.
c) I definaly recomend you NEED TO do as many practice exams as possible schweser/cfa mock/cfa sample. Anything you can find. The more the better. Also try to do atleast 3 to 4 under fully timed conditions. Timing is crucial in this marathon exam.
d) Do not SKIP anything from schweser books. Everything is important, even small little topics/concepts that may seem you can ignore you NEED to know them. You need to know Everything and need to know it solidly.
e) Keep your composure during the exam, if something seems hard it is probably hard for other candidates as well. do your best on every question and donot think you are doing bad or you are doing good. While you are in the exam room just do you best and forget about everything else.
f) I recommend start early, as early as possible. There are no shorcuts, you need to put the effort in and I am sure you will nail this exam.
g) p.s I read schweser quick sheet too and that was helpful. Also I definately recommend using schweser videos for level 2. They really helped me . especially through more difficult concepts/ideas. also even after second revision, i felt some accounting stuff, maybe there were two methods to deal with exchange rate or something. dont remember. but some accounting stuff was slippin from my mind. As accounting is computational mechincal, set of rules you need to rememeber. they can slip through your head. make sure you go through this stuff again after everything else is done and get some PRACTICE IN AGAIN for more tricky methods/computations etc. (this is at the end of all your prep or close to the end). As this stuff can slip from you even at last moments when you felt you had it down. that was my impression and it could have been fatal so i just thought i would write it down as warnning!
h) One more point I would like to add which I didnt in my original post. Make sure you make a realistic plan which covers all important aspects I have discussed and stick to that plan. if your plan is too ambitious , you may find you are constantly revisn and updatin your plan and fallin short of your targets and may end up running out of time. like i did . So make a realistic plan. monitor your progeress and adjust if necessary but make sure you remain on course to cover all important things discussed
cheers
1) Read schweser notes Book 0 to Book 5 and ofcourse did all eoc questions. In my first read I had zero focus on retention and memorizing formuls etc and 200 percent focus on making sure I understood everything and every concept inside out. So If i did not understand anything, I would maybe do some more research on the internet, use this forum, read other books, reread and reread until I was sure I had in depth understanding of what was written and why things were the way they were. I feel this is important. Some people get some satisfaction by telling themselves hey i read 50 pages today or 100 pages today but maybe it works for them but for me. I would not understand anything that way and its just false sense of satisfaction. I think I would read 20-25 pages in a session/day. So idea was read very slow, thorough understanding, less to no focus on retention.
2) Once I was done with book 5, I found that I did not remember much from previous books. I would say my total retention was maybe 20 to 25 percent. This can be scary and cos some to panic but I feel its normal atleast given the approach that I took. The second step was to reread everything again word for word like you were doing it for the first time and this time focus on retention and also REDO all eoc questions again by hand like you were doin for the first time. Hopefully on the second go everything will start to come togather and you will start developing confidence. After this painstaking second go, I felt my retention level was around 85 percent.
3) I also watched schweser videos along with my second go of the course content. I also felt this was highly benifical. Like read a particular topic and watch schweser videos after to let everything sink in.
4) Then I tore of the formulas given at the end of 5 schweser books and commited them to memory.
5) Finally ready secret sauce. this was helpful
6) I had 2 3 days to go for the exam when I was done with all this and I went into the exam without giving ANY practiice exam of any kind! I felt that if I gave an exam last 2 to 3 days and scored low marks It would completely shatter my confidence. Please note (I DONOT RECOMEND THIS APPRAOCH AT ALL). I think the fact that I redid all schweser eoc saved me otherwise I had no chance.
7) some final comments tips.
a) I do recommend doing schweser eoc twice to truly get the computations/calculations under your grip.
b) I also read original cfa book and did all original book eoc for ETHICS SECTION ONLY. Again i recomend this as ethics is a very important part of the exam.
c) I definaly recomend you NEED TO do as many practice exams as possible schweser/cfa mock/cfa sample. Anything you can find. The more the better. Also try to do atleast 3 to 4 under fully timed conditions. Timing is crucial in this marathon exam.
d) Do not SKIP anything from schweser books. Everything is important, even small little topics/concepts that may seem you can ignore you NEED to know them. You need to know Everything and need to know it solidly.
e) Keep your composure during the exam, if something seems hard it is probably hard for other candidates as well. do your best on every question and donot think you are doing bad or you are doing good. While you are in the exam room just do you best and forget about everything else.
f) I recommend start early, as early as possible. There are no shorcuts, you need to put the effort in and I am sure you will nail this exam.
g) p.s I read schweser quick sheet too and that was helpful. Also I definately recommend using schweser videos for level 2. They really helped me . especially through more difficult concepts/ideas. also even after second revision, i felt some accounting stuff, maybe there were two methods to deal with exchange rate or something. dont remember. but some accounting stuff was slippin from my mind. As accounting is computational mechincal, set of rules you need to rememeber. they can slip through your head. make sure you go through this stuff again after everything else is done and get some PRACTICE IN AGAIN for more tricky methods/computations etc. (this is at the end of all your prep or close to the end). As this stuff can slip from you even at last moments when you felt you had it down. that was my impression and it could have been fatal so i just thought i would write it down as warnning!
h) One more point I would like to add which I didnt in my original post. Make sure you make a realistic plan which covers all important aspects I have discussed and stick to that plan. if your plan is too ambitious , you may find you are constantly revisn and updatin your plan and fallin short of your targets and may end up running out of time. like i did . So make a realistic plan. monitor your progeress and adjust if necessary but make sure you remain on course to cover all important things discussed
cheers