Mistakes I made during my studies.....

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jbisback

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Thought this might be of help to newbies....

#1 - I spent far too much time studying the equations in quant. I spent the first week or two making flashcards for PV and FV. This was useless because once I mastered my HP 12C I didnt need to know a thing. Plug and Chug

#2 - I spent too much time actually taking notes. This also proved useless to me. I actually typed out every LOS and answered them in detail for the Econ section. This was a huge waste of time.

#3 - I spent too much time on the small details. I got tripped up on sections that shouldnt have been given as much attention to others.

#4 - I didnt do any online CFA exams. I should have done one...just for the sake of it. I was peeved at the time that they were 50 bucks for only a handful of questions. Ah well.


Things that worked for me.
Q Bank....i started banging out questions in January and it was a great tool

I made posters...like huge posters...and filled them with equations and concepts...I hung them on the walls of my bedroom and would stare at them before I went to bed and first thing in the morning. It worked. The last thing I looked at before the exam was the forumla to calculate the Std error of estimate...it showed up. I was pleased.

John Harris' FSA class....best thing I have ever done. I mastered FSA as a result of his class and notes...the guy is unreal. www.accountingworkshops.com
 
Thank you. I wish others could post something similar.

From your post above : "I got tripped up on sections that shouldnt have been given as much attention to others."

Could you name a few ?

John does not give any Level 1 workshop in Boston :( I just spoke with him. I will have to NYC to attend that.

Thanks,

--Bon Bon



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at Friday, June 22, 2007 at 12:42PM by canbonbon.
 
Things that waste your time:

(1) Writing notes (essentially copying) on the reading material
(2) Taking a class (not the intensive ones like Harris's)---don't spend the money taking the class unless you have NO IDEA about any of this stuff; otherwise, expect the most generic, useless information that will probably not be asked on.
(3) Taking the time to write note cards--this works for some, but not for me. I knew most of the formulas to begin with, so it didn't help there. And conceptual stuff can often be hard to get down on one card without writing in size .05 font
(4) Reading through the Ethics LOSs over and over---yes, it's important, but what will really help you do well is reading EXAMPLES over and over and taking notes on things to watch out for


Things that helped me the most:

(1) Thinking logically about the problems and understanding conceptually what is happening
(2) Making "cheat sheets" for every section where I would make notes about things to remember--IN MY OWN WORDS
(3) Getting scared sh1tless---it helps light the fire under your bum. BE SCARED, BE VERY SCARED. I suggest reading horror stories about the exam.
(4) Taking the Schweser practice exams (and Q bank) AND doing the quizzes online. After doing that WRITE OUT EVERY QUESTION YOU GOT WRONG AND WHY. I saw the most progress when I would have to explain why I got it wrong and why the other answer is right.
(5) Unfortunately, I didn't take advantage of this, but THIS WEBSITE is fantastic to pick up on things. I'll tell you right now that NOIR was a straight-up winner on test day.
 
Thanks for your comments, jb and wdwatson.

wdwatson, I second your thoughts on the value of this forum. I went to the Stalla seminar in Toronto last night and the speaker said something around the lines of: "Our program is great because it assigns you a private tutor, someone you can always go to with questions. Most candidates lack that guidance." And I'm sitting there chuckling and thinking to myself that AF is JUST THAT. And... it's FREE. And you have lots of tutors. I love it!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at Friday, June 22, 2007 at 02:03PM by lola.
 
I wouldnt go into depth on Regression Analysis of hypothesis testing.

understanding what each test is used for, Z, T, Chi Sqaured, F
understand how to calculate a test statistic
understand type 1 and type 2 errors

That is as far as I would go with that section

I'll post more as I think of them..
 
Notes aren't a waste of time. They are a tool to help you study. Studying for the test is like building a house. You can build a house with just a screwdriver but it's freaking stupid. Use the tools in your box at the right time for the right thing.
 
jbisback Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I wouldnt go into depth on Regression Analysis of
> hypothesis testing.

I agree about hypothesis testing (regression is used a lot at my office, and I was actually happy to take my time and have some formal background on it, but that's just me).

I was kicking myself in April when I reviewed SS 3. Initially, in December, I spent about two weeks getting through all of that. It took about an hour when I actually paid attention to what the LOS was asking (only knowing when to use each test, and not having to know the test statistic formulas).

Next time, I will pay much more attention to the actual LOS. Schweser practice questions may pound you on some unnecessary details, so don't rely on those either.
 
ChadD Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Notes aren't a waste of time. They are a tool to
> help you study. Studying for the test is like
> building a house. You can build a house with just
> a screwdriver but it's freaking stupid. Use the
> tools in your box at the right time for the right
> thing.


When I said that notes are a waste of time, I was referring to the passive copying of passages from the text. Notice that one of the things that help me was writing out cheat sheets--essentially "active" notes. ;) Copying word-for-word is a terrible way to UNDERSTAND the material, and given that there is such a mass of material that you have to know for the exam, it is also very inefficient for getting through the material.
 
I echo most of the comments above.
A mistake I made was i feel I didn't go back and re-review areas I felt I was strong in. An example:
I did very well on the portfolio mngmt section of every practice test I did. So I left this alone and went back to what I felt were weaker areas. In the exam there were some questions regarding SML/CML that should have been gimme's but I likely got wrong.
Study everything. If you have an econ degree, still study econ. If you have an accounting background, still study accounting. If you're a CFP, still study portfolio.
If you do well in the practice tests, don't let up.
And get drunk when you're done.
 
As for me - too much time spent for calculations and respective sample tests. Actual exam was more oriented on conceptual issues. Agree with jbisback - online sample CFA tests could potentially give you at minimum the answer about the structure and orientation of the exam.
 
Read a book, then take tests for that section to make sure you know what you've read. Re-do your errors, over and over again and make sure you understand why the other answer is right and why you were wrong.

Then over to the next book and repeat it.

Finally, make sure you've seen and tested all material separately and spend the last month going through exams, focus on parts you failed on and ALWAYS, ALWAYS make sure you understand why you had that question wrong.

If you can't figure it out, go to this website and check with all other guys and girls who are in the same boat. If you don't feel like studying heavily, enter some discussions. Trust me, your brain picks up and you won't get that sections wrong on exam-day.

Key to success.

(I hope)
 
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