June or December 2017

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Hi All,
I’m considering taking the level 1 exam this year but first wanted to gain perspective on how many hours (on average) of exam prep is required for the level 1 exam?
I work a 10 hour day so need to realistically gauge study study time if I were register today to take the exam in June vs. Dec.
Any insight would be most appreciated!!
 
There are 4 months left until the exam. You could tackle L1 if you’re diligent and organized in your preparation. Consider using Wiley’s study guides/videos, they’re excellent. If you can take L1 in June, I’d say you’d be better off than December for the simple fact that you’ll be able to register earlier for L2 (and pay less) and get access to the L2 curriculum a lot sooner, as opposed to waiting until L1 exam results are out in late January 2018 to then register for L2. My two cents.
 
I think it also depends on your background. Are you learning economics / accounting / statistics for the first time? Well versed? I would say you still have time, but you might also be making your life miserable from now until then. 300 hours is the standard gospel for how many hours but that can vary a lot. Assume it is conservative. I found this to be a good overview of what to expect and how to prepare for L1 which might help you make the decision based on your background.
A couple other things to note…L1 has a lot of plug and play type questions where if you remember something you might be able to apply a formula/solve a question vs. other levels where you will need to uptier in terms of understanding and applying the material (i.e. it gets harder).
If you can take a week or even more off right before the exam to spend full time studying, this timeline becomes a lot more feasible
 
Go for it! I have no financial background educationwise, and started studying in last august before passing in december. Put in 400-450 hours, but with varying quality. Choose a prep provider like AdaptPrep, Schweser, IFT or Wiley and fokus on study notes and EOC + a lot of test bank questions. Remember to stay true to your choice. I wasted lots of time on looking at many different providers with different structure and content. Use CFA curriculum only for reference when you feel you really need it. If you deliver consistently 75% plus on test exams and have a general understanding of most important topics your good to go. Remember that if you use video lectures - having printed notes and speeding up lecture to 1,5 and pausing when needed saves you lots of time.
Looking forward to seeing your “I passed” message on the forum come august!
Best regards, and best of luck!
 
Hello everyone,
I’m new here. I have completed Ethics Reading 1 and Quants (Reading 6 & 7). Please advise how should I go about my preparations.
I am watching third-party preparation videos. I don’t have the notes though. I watch the video and then write my own notes. After that I read the chapter from the curriculum related to the video I watched. Is this the right way? How many hours should I put in from now?
Thank you.
 
I think you can do it in June. I agree with @black8Mamba23 with every thing he/she said. I have put 28 hours so far and finished Quantitative Methods and finished 5 readings from FRA. I have been taking extensive notes as I’m studying too. So I think there is still sometimes left for you.
 
The CFA curriculum notes will take you forever to read in my opinion. If money is an issue, then I would suggest buying used old third party notes and double check the added readings and study everything unchanged from the third party notes. Then you can go back and read the added readings from the CFA curriculum.
Best,
 
Personally, I did not take notes. I read the schweser notes, did the EOC (schweser and CFA), mocks and topic tests. <- Key to success
The only way to test your comprehension of a topic is to do a ton of practice problems.
 
There are a few things that I learnt from my experience with level 1:
- Qbanks are good for memory checking but not for giving you the idea of how exam questions should look like. I would recommend you do the QBanks on only a certain topics that required calculation.
- Blue boxes and EOC from curriculum are the must. You can skip those EOC from Schweser if you dont have time.
- Topic tests, CFA mocks are highly recommended if you want to pass. Try to find those previous year mocks and do them. Schweser’s mocks are optional if you have time.
- After finishing 1 reading, double check with the curriculum to see if you miss any concept. I made a huge mistake not checking what I have missed using the Schweser books. As a consequence, instead of spending my last month on doing mock tests, I spent most of my time checking what I have missed.
 
do it in June man. 4 months is more than enough for L1 - even 2 months is enough to pass. You will be surprised about how easy the exam questions will be - at least i was surprised - compared to Schweser mocks.
 
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