Level II Study Plan

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brownk3356

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I’m about to sign up for my fourth attempt at Level II. My performance on my first attempt was pretty weak. I scored in band 3. I started a new job in 2015, and I was not as prepared, so I would write that attempt off. I hired a tutor last year and started studying in January. The tutor started out strong, but he seemed distracted. I didn’t feel like I was getting a better understanding of each LOS. I did perform better, but I stilled scored in band 3. I’m very frustrated as you can imagine. A colleague I work with passed after her second attempt. She used the Schweser videos that cover each LOS and did all EOC problems in the CFAi books as well as Kaplan material. My plan this year is to start in October and work my way through the material twice by April so I can start taking mock exams. Does anyone have any other recommendations? I’m in the trust business/relationship manager. My strength is helping my clients better understand the capital markets. I want to pass this exam for myself. I’m very determined, and I have what it takes. I just need to find the right strategy when studying and stick to it. My wife is continuing her medical education in fellowship the next two years, so this is an ideal time for me to get this done. Thanks.
 
Passed by a hair on first attempt. No background in finance (marketing role). Economics undergrad 17 years ago.
Things that worked for me:
  • Layering knowledge. Doing multiple passes of the material. Could start from Schweser books and then switch to CFAI books.
  • Doing Blue Box examples and EOC Practice Problems multiple times. Blue Boxes at least 3 times. EOC PP 3-10 times each. It sounds insane. But…
  • Make flash cards from EOC PP answers. There’s a tonne of content. The PP zero-in on what’s more testable. I was making 20-80 flash cards for every reading. I used Quizlet, which is free, and like $10 for premium (which I pay; you get a little more).
  • Whether making flash cards or notes, always always always translate what you’re reading into your own words. It forces you to make sense of it. I find it very helpful to be conversational about it: “DP Pension is when yous gets what yous pays. DB Pension is when Big Rich Company owes you your standard of living come hell or high water.” (I never actually wrote that, but … an example).
  • Keep a record of all equations you need to know from each reading, and start a process early of memorizing them. I.e., you could make a list of them, and then get out a sheet of paper and hand write as many as you can recall. Any you forget, hand write them 3-5 more times. Start that early and they’ll appear in your mind on the exam. You could probably get 90% on a chunk of the exam just from doing this well, and it’s basically mechanical.
  • Some of the learnings are systems, in my mind – i.e., the curriculum gives you a snapshot of something bigger than CFA. Intercorporate, Compensation and Multinational in FRA are all of a larger system. For those readings, I paused doing EOC PP questions for a few weeks and focused heavily on the Blue Box Examples. I would build each one in Excel multiple times, using Excel to link the flows. You see the system from a higher vantage. I feel the questions there are on slivers of the system, so you can never really learn what the heck’s going on from mocks and other drilling. It has to be from the text and Examples. Residual income was a bit like that for me, but less so. Swaps, Options and all of Fixed Income was like that.
  • Get the Secret Sauce or 11th Hour Review and just read it end to end here and there in the last month. It’s a nice easy read, but helps you tie everything together.
  • Track hours. I only passed through insanely high hours. It sounds like you – like me – struggle a lot with the content. If you’re not tracking toward 500-600 hours, you’re probably doing too few. I could not have passed it with 400. Swaps alone took me 40 to master. If you can’t do those hours, change your life for 6 months so you can.
  • The CFAI Topic Tests were golden to me. I only did 2 mocks. Not even 2, really. Just the CFAI mock and a half other one. But I did every Topic Test question, which equate to like 4 full mocks altogether. They are so hard. So hard. It will suck. But i decided in the past 6 weeks that if I had to repeat L2, my entire strategy would be build around 4 full passes of every Topic Test. Basically do them all twice in early April, then spend a month going back and mastering every question I didn’t understand, and then 2 more passes. That, plus 1-2 more mocks, should put a person in a very confident position.
 
Thanks biuku. How much time did you spend reading the material either Schweser or CFAi books? I tend to learn best by ready and then write it in my own words, but it can take a lot of time. I want to make sure I get the most out of the time I am spending. I like your idea of working the blue boxes and EOC multiple times, but I might start memorizing answers. What did you do to prevent this? Thanks.
 
Everybody needs to develop the approach that best suits him/her. I’m inclined to ”deeper” approach - e.g. understanding and deriving formulas, making own examples , watching non CFA related videos etc. ”Deeper” approach provides more confidence than just learning formulas or key theoretical statements by heart. I started with Quant . spent entire month on reading and analyzing just 3 chapters of Quant. Even though Quant has relatively low weight, it is essential for understanding other sections especially Economics and Derivatives.
 
Have a written game plan, Start early, I will never bother asking the question when should we start studying for Level 2, if you can start today, start now. Backup your written game plan with action. Track your daily / weekly progress.
 
The only advice I can give you is that you should focus more on the part you did worse. In case those parts are the heavy-weight topic like FRA, ethics or equity, the concentration should be much higher.
 
And I love the fact that you did not give up after 2 attempts. Keep moving forward and you will pass eventually.
 
brownk3356 wrote:
Thanks biuku. How much time did you spend reading the material either Schweser or CFAi books? I tend to learn best by ready and then write it in my own words, but it can take a lot of time. I want to make sure I get the most out of the time I am spending. I like your idea of working the blue boxes and EOC multiple times, but I might start memorizing answers. What did you do to prevent this? Thanks.
Click to expand...
Stupidly high hours: 705. Could cut 100-150 of that and no impact on score. (None of those hours are admin or tracking – that was extra. But many were studying irrelevant things, or being inefficient in making notes in decks, etc.).
I rarely had a problem with remembering answers. If possible, would leave a few weeks between repetition. You ever hear the story of the octopus and the jar? Best advice I ever got re CFA. Someone puts live octopus food in a jar, pokes small holes in the lid and screws in on, then drops the jar in the octopus tank. Octopus tries to get the food. Spends weeks squeezing, swinging, smashing the jar and cannot open it. Finally, after a month, it turns the lid a bit, and soon it’s got the lid off and eats the food.
A few months later, an identical jar with food is dropped in the tank. Octopus spends weeks, squeezing, swinging, smashing the jar and cannot open it. Finally, after 2 weeks, it turns the lid a bit and eats the food.
Another few months pass, identical jar is dropped in. Octopus takes a week to open it.
More months pass, identical jar is dropped in, octopus takes 3 days to open it.
After many more cycles, the octopus can open the jar immediately. It’s internalized the principle of a screw-top lid.
Whenever I’m lost in the curriculum, I come back to that. I’m not a rocket scientist. When I learn option payoffs or swap formulas, the next day I’ve forgotten them. But I just go back and rebuild the model in Excel or hand write the equation or do whatever brain-dead activity is needed to permanently internalize something that isn’t terribly hard, but which keeps getting muddled once I get distracted by some other topic.
 
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