Level 2 Topic Weights

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Does anyone have a grasp on the topic weights? Level 1 was very straight forward but now the CFAI gives us ranges. I know accounting and equity will be very dominant on the test, but what about the potentially smaller sections, such as Econ and Quant, which can be as little as 5% which is miniscule but as high as 10% which is a decent chunk
 
This is my take on Level 2.
Ethics is 10%. That’s set in stone. It doesn’t relate to any other material. You just have to plow through it.
As for the others, I didn’t view them by study session. Rather, I looked at them as “families” that borrowed heavily from each other.
Accounting/Corporate Finance/Equity are all a “family”. Sometimes it’s hard to see where one ends and the other begins. They are all inseparable, and can only be understood in context with each other. Also, understanding one will only enhance your knowledge of the other. This “family” will be 50% of your entire grade.
Derivatives and Fixed Income are another “family” that borrow heavily on each other. It’s hard to go through the Fixed Income material if you don’t know your derivatives. This “family” will be about 20% of your grade.
Alternative investments has a lot of equity-like material in it (with respect to real estate), and a lot of derivatives-type material in it (with respect to commodities). But it also has a lot of stand-alone material (private equity and hedge funds). I would expect it to be around 5%. (Just a hunch–given that it has only one study session and Fixed and Derivatives both have two.)
Econ/Quant/Portfolio Mgmt are another family. In fact, PM is nothing more than applied econ and quant. I would expect these three to be about 15%. (If you get hung up on econ and quant, just blow by them. Don’t spend too much time on them if you can’t grasp it, but be sure you understand the concepts by the time you start Level 3.)
Remember–accounting, corporate finance, and equity will be half of the exam. You should spend your time there. (If you can’t grasp the accounting material, then you probably won’t pass. No matter how much time you have allocated to accounting, it’s probably about half of what you need. I’m a CPA, and I still spent considerable time in the accounting material.)
 
@ddrobineet
I have started with derivatives and want to finish derivatives+ equity+ accounting (50% syllabus) by CFA L1 result. Its ambitious target but lets see.
I am surprised that acounting is so tought this time
 
Thanks for the advice ddrobinett. That is a great way to look at the sections of the exam
 
vicky_cool400 wrote:
@ddrobineet
I have started with derivatives and want to finish derivatives+ equity+ accounting (50% syllabus) by CFA L1 result. Its ambitious target but lets see.
I am surprised that acounting is so tought this time
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If you finish it all early then you’re going to have months of just sitting around - I found for my last week for Level 1 I didn’t really want to study anymore because I had already read everything there was to read so there was nothing new and interesting to learn.
Also, don’t you need to wait to register in order to get the books?
 
yeah…accounting needs time and inebriation to settle in…for me atleast
 
To reiterate–Accounting/Corporate Finance/Equity accounts for 50% of the entire exam. You should spend the lion’s share of your time there.
However, don’t dismiss your derivatives. This material is not easy, and as I’m studying Level 3, it is VERY derivative-intense. In fact, derivatives tends to put its fingers in almost every asset class in some way or another. So if you find yourself getting perfect scores in Acct/CorpFin/Eq, then you should spend your extra time in Derivatives–particularly Swaps.
Don’t be like me. Don’t say, “Well, it’s just too hard. I’ll just hope that it won’t be on the exam.” It WILL be on the exam (in my case, a full item set in the afternoon), and you WILL get it wrong. Then you fail with a score band of 10, then you have to waste another year of your life studying this crap again. Do it right the first time, and you don’t ever have to do it again.
 
Looking at the question from a different angle, I would say you can expect 1 item set of Ethics, Quant and Econ, about 4 sets of FRA and EQ and c. 2 vignettes of Alts, FI, Derivs, PM and CorpFin on the exam ( 20 altogether). Obviously questions are / can be mixed w/in the sets, let’s say, a CorpFin vignette contains an EQ question or two and so on. The good news is that there is no way the weights would be allowed to exceed their maximum limits. However, the ugly truth is that nothing is sure, other than that. My 2 cents.
 
The families of topics posted up there is quite helpfull…
If you follow the order of Quant -> Econ -> Portfolio
By the time you are reading portfolio many concepts necessary for the reading are fresh in your head and you can get through it a little faster
 
ddrobinett wrote:
Econ/Quant/Portfolio Mgmt are another family. In fact, PM is nothing more than applied econ and quant. I would expect these three to be about 15%. (If you get hung up on econ and quant, just blow by them. Don’t spend too much time on them if you can’t grasp it, but be sure you understand the concepts by the time you start Level 3.)
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I’m finishing up the Level 3 curriculum. I want to reiterate this particular concept.
Econ should only be about 5% of the whole exam. So study accordingly. However, much of the Level 3 curriculum hinges on your understanding of the Fisher equation, interest rate parity, and currency exchange rates. So if you don’t understand it, I wouldn’t spend an inordinate amount of time on it before June 1.
However, it is imerative that you understand this stuff pretty well before you start Level 3. So maybe you can spend a little more time on it, starting on June 2. (Actually, maybe you should wait until August, when you know whether you passed or not.)
The same is true with Swaps, especially interest rate swaps. I don’t feel like the calculations are as intense at Level 3, since you probably won’t be valuing them, but you definitely need to understand the concepts.
 
And to Elco’s point, you can study Quant and Econ in any order. The order doesn’t matter. (Personally, I think PM has more Econ in it than Quant, so I would study Quant first, then Econ.) And as soon as I got through those two, I would dive right into the PM.
The Level 2 curriculum has a lot of overlap within the different “families”, but there’s not a lot of overlap outside of them. (That is, you don’t have to understand Acct/CorpFin/Equity to understand Quant/Econ/PM.)
 
What about PM connects with Econ? Is it accounting for foreign exchange rates?
 
dailygrind wrote:
What about PM connects with Econ? Is it accounting for foreign exchange rates?
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Exchange rates were the part of PM last year but its not anymore. They have deleted the reading on international asset pricing this year.
 
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