I was fortunate enough to get level 2 done in 1 shot and I don’t have a finance background either (just accounting). I have been in the consulting industry only 1.5 years so all this duration stuff and what not is definitely new to me still. and besides just using schweser products i’m going to share some other tips i used that i haven’t seen anyone else mentioned yet that i found very helpful. (not trying ot brag, i’m just trying to make my point that my method may work for someone with the same type of background in “finance”)
1) get the free elan formula guide (70 pages i think), once a week go through it one time. the last 2 weeks i looked at it every 2 days. only takes like 1-2 hours to read it. *yes i said read it… when i read the formulas i’m talking through what each variable is, how it affects the formula, what the overall relationship is with the formula.
2) Try to answer as many questions as you can that people post on the forums. Even if you don’t know it learn how to and teach someone else. that’s the best way to learn. Also try to explain it as if that person has absolutely no background in accounting/finance/investments etc. This will really test your understanding at hand.
3) research something if you have to till you are satisfied, go outside the sources of cfa if you must. for example does anyone know the difference between total cost, net pension expense, total net pension cost, total net pension expense? this was not explained throughly in the book and the EOC weren’t helpful either. I spent an hour reading through accounting standards searching for an understanding of what the differences were. Now i won’t forget.
basically the mind set i try to keep is to understand why everything happens the way it does. Now i don’t go around thinking why the grass is green or anything. But i don’t just accept the fact that prices decrease when rates rise. I want to know why from a formula standpoint and the simple laments terms reasoning.
1) get the free elan formula guide (70 pages i think), once a week go through it one time. the last 2 weeks i looked at it every 2 days. only takes like 1-2 hours to read it. *yes i said read it… when i read the formulas i’m talking through what each variable is, how it affects the formula, what the overall relationship is with the formula.
2) Try to answer as many questions as you can that people post on the forums. Even if you don’t know it learn how to and teach someone else. that’s the best way to learn. Also try to explain it as if that person has absolutely no background in accounting/finance/investments etc. This will really test your understanding at hand.
3) research something if you have to till you are satisfied, go outside the sources of cfa if you must. for example does anyone know the difference between total cost, net pension expense, total net pension cost, total net pension expense? this was not explained throughly in the book and the EOC weren’t helpful either. I spent an hour reading through accounting standards searching for an understanding of what the differences were. Now i won’t forget.
basically the mind set i try to keep is to understand why everything happens the way it does. Now i don’t go around thinking why the grass is green or anything. But i don’t just accept the fact that prices decrease when rates rise. I want to know why from a formula standpoint and the simple laments terms reasoning.