Newbie Question: Can I get by with the Secret Sauce?

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jjm1181

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I am registered for the Level 1 exam in December. Did some research on study materials and went with Schweser. I bought the premium package with all the lectures, books, workbooks, etc. Do I really need all that study material? I know it depends on your background and experience. I have an undergrad in Finance and masters in Finance. I also have a CPA. I’ve seen this material many times during my educational and certification studies.
Here’s my study plan…
- read Schweser’s secret sauce for 30 - 45 minutes per day (while exercising on an eliptical).
- Listen to lectures for 2 hours per day (1 hour drive each way to work).
- Work end of chapter questions from CFA books
- Work Qbank from Schweser
Do you all think that’s enough? I’ve read on here where people suggest reading through the big books at least once, but would the condensed version (secret sauce) be enough?
Again, I’m a newbie to the CFA so I don’t quite understand the process. Thanks in advance.
 
Whatever the case, I wouldn’t skip out on the ethics. Read schweser’s ethcis/gips study sessions (book 1) at the very least.
 
im just a level one candidate, so take this thought process for what its worth…but id say definitely read ethics since theres no way you know the candidate body ethics of an organization you’ve never been enrolled in..so that will definitely be new….and then i would read every learning outcome statement…if you read a LOS and can talk about that in detail and can remember the formulas associated with it then you’re probably safe to not read it…my guess, however, is that you will find that while you’ve “seen” this material before, you cant just simply read the LOS and go into a 5 minute discussion of the topic and reiterate formulas from the back of your mind…so you’re probably going to read the material
you’ve got 5 months…why not?
 
Secret sauce isn’t condensed. It’s like note cards. Based on what I saw on my test a month ago, the secret sauce is def. not enough. Seems your trying to avoid putting a lot of time into studying. I don’t think this is a good mindset.
 
rawiswarden wrote:
Secret sauce isn’t condensed. It’s like note cards. Based on what I saw on my test a month ago, the secret sauce is def. not enough. Seems your trying to avoid putting a lot of time into studying. I don’t think this is a good mindset.
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i mean, if you just study the secret sauce, i think it covers the VERY basics of everything but it doesn’t go into detail at all and will definitely not be sufficient to take the exam. CFA is not a joke, it requires time and effort, and sometimes blood, sweat, and tears….the tears part is probably gonna come around in about 11 days from now…either from joy or from pain lol
 
Also, I’ve seen other CPAs post on these boards that accounting isn’t as easy as they’d expect it to be due to IRFS being different than what they are used to. So be sure to make sure you have a handle on IRFS before skimming through accounting.
Good luck
 
I highly advise against just using Secret Sauce. As rawiswarden said, there is no way you get enough material from just one small book. The points in SS are meant to jog broad concepts that you’ve already reviewed in the study notes.
You do have an advantage with your Finance background and CPA and this will help your Level I, but I wouldn’t take the risk of just jumping straight into Secret Sauce. Read the study notes now, if you still think it’s a waste of time then just skip sections as you go along.
Having said that, if you ignore my advice and Secret Sauce it (on the elliptical no less), and pass - do let me know. You’d be my f**king hero.
 
In my opinion you should invest yourself more fully into the study. You obviously have an extensive background and a way better starting point than 90%+ of candidates do. I think though if you are going to pursue something you might as well invest yourself fully into it. It will be a waste of time and resources if you don’t study enough and fail when you could have spent more time and passed first time around. I personally did not find Secret Sauce all that helpful and don’t see it as a tool to use as a base of study. You would probably be fine with Schweser Notes read through and some review problems either CFAI EOC or Qbank. The ethics section is a must read as well as Secret Sauce has like 11 pages on it and literally tells you to read the full notes. Just my 2 cents though.
 
Take a mock test. If you feel confident and can answer 70% then i would say maybe, if you do all the EOC questions and Schweser questions.
 
rawiswarden wrote:
Also, I’ve seen other CPAs post on these boards that accounting isn’t as easy as they’d expect it to be due to IRFS being different than what they are used to. So be sure to make sure you have a handle on IRFS before skimming through accounting.
Good luck
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IFRS is covered on the Financial Analysis and Reporting portion of the CPA exam. Very similar material to what you will see on level 1.
 
mjhoward4 wrote:
rawiswarden wrote:
Also, I’ve seen other CPAs post on these boards that accounting isn’t as easy as they’d expect it to be due to IRFS being different than what they are used to. So be sure to make sure you have a handle on IRFS before skimming through accounting.
Good luck
Click to expand...
IFRS is covered on the Financial Analysis and Reporting portion of the CPA exam. Very similar material to what you will see on level 1.
Click to expand...
Is that a recent change? I wonder why I’ve seen others report it screwing with their mind.
 
I advise against your plan. Level I tests very basic concepts. the real challenge is to keep the hugh amount of concepts fresh in your mind the day of the test. and for that at minimum you need to skim all the readings (cfai or schweser).
of course EOC, and practice tests are a must.
 
Thank you all for your comments thus far. Again, I’m a newbie to the CFA exams so I’m not fully aware of the depth of knowledge required on each topic to be fully ready for the exams. I don’t plan on spending all this money just to half-ass the study preparation and then fail the exam.
I highly doubt I would pass the level 1 exam with just the secret sauce as my main source of reading material. I am primarily in accounting so my finance background fades daily as I don’t use the education I received. Many of the concepts I will have to re-learn.
I will probably finish the secret sauce book and then begin reading the the Scweser notes as suggested. I will also definitely be sure to read through the ethics materials as I’ve read on here that those are usually overlooked while preparing.
As far as the IFRS discussion, the CPA exams didn’t begin including the IFRS topics until 2011 so it’s relatively new to the CPA exams. Anyone having their CPA prior to 2011 didn’t have to learn the differences between GAAP and IFRS for the exam. From what I’ve read so far, the required knowledge of the two standards is the same for the CPA and CFA level 1 exam.
So any advice on my study plan would be appreciated. Hopefully you all won’t tell me this is not enough :)
- Read Schweser’s secret sauce AND NOTES for 30 - 45 minutes per day
- Listen to lectures for 2 hours per day (1 hour drive each way to work).
- Work end of chapter questions from CFA books
- Work Qbank from Schweser
- Complete several mock exams
- Use the Scweser Final Review weeks before actual exam
 
rawiswarden wrote:
mjhoward4 wrote:
rawiswarden wrote:
Also, I’ve seen other CPAs post on these boards that accounting isn’t as easy as they’d expect it to be due to IRFS being different than what they are used to. So be sure to make sure you have a handle on IRFS before skimming through accounting.
Good luck
Click to expand...
IFRS is covered on the Financial Analysis and Reporting portion of the CPA exam. Very similar material to what you will see on level 1.
Click to expand...
Is that a recent change? I wonder why I’ve seen others report it screwing with their mind.
Click to expand...
Yea it’s a recent change. If someone took the CPA awhile back they wouldn’t be familiar with it. When I took it a year ago, it was very heavy on IFRS
 
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