How to prepare for Ethics

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cfalevel_1

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I think Ethics part is very tricky. I am sitting for Level 1 in Dec. Any suggestions or advice will be appreciated.
 
Don't rely on Schweser or Stalla for ethics. They themselves say they are insufficient in this topic. Get the CFAI material (it is free on the web site right now) and read it front to back 2 or 3 times, including the day or days just before the exam if possible. Take a lot of questions on ethics. The good news is that it's about the easiest material on the test, the bad news is there are alot of little nuances to know.
 
CFA always emphasizes latest material... so whatever is added for dec 2k6... know it by heart
 
Personally I got the Schweser Qbank for L1 and I found the questions were both harder and more ambiguous, in so far as they presented situations that were not as clear, while still demanding a high level of descernment. The Qbank questions were far harder than the test, especially on the advanced level a few days before the exam I got 80% on an advanced ethics exam (only 63%, 4 months before on the same type of exam).

What also helped me was the day before the exam I did 2 thorough go-throoughs of all the ethics material, including reading GIPS and Schweser LOS summaries on Corporate Govern (twice) and GIPS (once), as well as LOS summaries on the ethics (once). I also read the ethics handbook, but only 5 out of the 7 sections and left the examples or application. I felt this greatly helped me on the exam and I was very well prepared for the ethics.
 
Read the Standards of Practice Handbook a couple of times. Then read it once more just to make sure.
 
Hmmmm, sometimes it's best to learn by doing..... Perhaps putting a few of the scenarios in the book into action to see what happens...... ;-)

I plan to read the book (already did the ethics and GIPS), then reread it. I then figure the best way to drill is to get a test bank. I'm thinking PassPro- they have 10K L1 questions
 
In my opinion, CFAI's official Ethics book is good, but still it could be better to read Schweser first then the book. Schweser has the main material summarized, which I think makes you clear on where to focus before you go read the 'novel'.
 
Read notes first, then review the material in the CFA readings for more detail. Be sure you go over it again before the test. It's memorization, plus basic common sense. So plan some time to reread it about a week before the exam, and take lots of practice questions to figure out the style of answers.

It's not that hard, but there are some nuances you have to be aware of... missing stuff on practice questions was a good way for me to figure out some of the key nuances.
 
Pick up the Ethics Handbook (Don't rely on the studyguides for this section)
Read it through once at the beginning and once before the exam.. inbetween try to work through a lot of Ethics questions.. through question banks, Schweser, you can find a lot of free ethics questions online... sample exams that ppl have put up.. just do the search..

Good luck!
 
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