Level 1 candidate for June 2015. Any advice?

[Layalsmaili]

I’m a first timer candidate and I was wondering what to expect, what topics should I focus even more on. I’ve been studying everyday for 4 hours and sometimes 8 hours so Im determined to pass it. Any advice would be appreciated!

 

[itera]

do lots of practice problems. you have the exact exam weightings so that should answer your question on what topics to focus on more.

 

[Arif Irfanullah]

Focus on understanding the concepts.
Make sure you do all the questions in the CFA Program curriculum.

 

[This_is_not_easy]

Congrats on deciding to sit for the Level 1 exam Layalsmaili and good luck!
I just found out this week that I passed the Dec 2014 level 1 exam so I will share with you my recently vindicated advice (for what it’s worth, if anything).
I will preface my advice with a quick disclaimer on my background to help put my advice in perspective - I have a BS in Finance from a mediocre university, am of reasonable intelligence, a fast test taker, and have ~ 2 years industry experience. I studied for 3 months while working 50-60 hours per week and passed with >70% for all topics - IMO not because I’m smart, but because I studied my ass off.
1 - Create a study schedule (you’ll find that advice everywhere) that blocks out 250-300 hours from now until exam week. More importantly, meticulously track your study time as you study so you know if you’re behind or not. I truly believe having a schedule was essential in passing for me (granted, everyone is different).
2 - Read through all of the material first. If you have the time (and the capability) to read the official CFAI books, I would do that. However, I read a blend of Schweser and CFAI material (mostly CFAI material) to get through everything becasue I struggled to read through some of the CFAI material (Economics, I’m talking to you) and I still felt it gave me an adequate background. I’ve also heard many people claim they only read through supplemental material and passed.
3 - PRACTICE QUESTIONS. I spent ~225 hours studying for the Level 1 and would estimate that ~70% of that time was spent doing practice questions. I took ~6,400 practice questions (CFAI material questions, CFAI mocks, all Schweser Qbank questions, and a few other mocks). IMO, spend two straight months doing practice questions if you can. I read through all of the material, and was bombing practice questions for a solid 2 weeks afterwards. It took a month of me doing practice questions before I started to materially improve my correct percentage on practice questions.
Also, I can’t recommend enough to check your answer after each question. This will allow for you to read the explanation as to why you were right\wrong while the reason you orgininally chose the answer is still fresh in your head. Granted, as you get further along in your studies, you won’t need to read the explantion as much because some areas will become gimme questions.
4 - Tell all friends and family you won’t be around on the weekends anymore. Quiit drinking alcohol for the next 4 months (and any other “recreational” items you may or may not be using). Drinking 5 beers on Friday night could lose you 2 hours of studying time early Saturday morning.

You should expect everything that’s on the curriculum. With regards to focusing on topics, use the CFAI provided weights as a guide. Don’t waste time trying to hone in on any valuable intel that will give you and edge, there is none. Just study.
That was longer than I originally intended but I hope it helps someone!

 

[Jsnazz]

Like everyone says, so much comes from practice problems and mocks. Defintely do the CFA problem as you go. I didn’t and was going crazy the last 6 weeks doing them.
Kaplan while I went, after finishing that reading started doing CFA problems and releasing, then looked at some more kaplan problems, and then did 4 mocks (2 CFA 2 Elan).
Economics is ridiculous. I have a degree from a UC and love economics (read papers, study it still, etc) and it was brutal. 20% of the material for 10% of the exam. It’s pretty much the first 3 weeks of every undergrad class I did, which sounds awesome except for the fact it’s mainly graphs and theory, not much utility max and calculus. On that note, if you are familiar with econ, you can solve the marginal revenue stuff with derivatives. The books doesnt do it that way, but I find it much, much easier.
FRA - Do this multiple times. I probably went though it 3 times in full, and did the problems at least 3 times.
The 11th hour guide from Elan was AMAZING. It really helped me get a wide overview the last 2 weeks. I also read almost 300 pages the day before the test.
S2000 is a beast. His website is a must read. http://financialexamhelp123.com/
My last piece of advice: It’s going to get hectic. Months before the test I was nailing Equity. The 2 weeks before, was getting under 50%…it was stressful. Don’t sweat it. Remember your training, put the time in, try and understand as much as you can, and do more problems then you want to. (if curious, I got >70% on all except Econ/Corporate finance, which was 50-70%).
Edit: I lied, one more thing. Ask questions on here AND help people. For example, with the discount cash flow model with Growth, I actually helped someone on here solving it. This helped reinforce my understanding and made me more confident in my abillity to do it. Also, fall in love with your caculoator, he/she is amazing and deserves all the love you can provide.

 

[andy231]

First of all, congrats to people who passed the exam. I took level 1 some years ago and here is what I got;
FRA, FIXED INCOME, EQUITY, DERV, ECO, QUANT above 70
CORP FIN, ETHICS, PORTFOLIO 51-70
ALT below 50
FAILED

 

[Layalsmaili]

Thank you all!!! I’ll be definitely popping up in here. Just graduated with a BA in finance and my brother passed all his CFA exams, he was the one telling me about this forum.