Study Advice for a Noob

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0neTwo

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Background: I am signed up for Level 1 in June and this will be my first attempt. I am using Schewer material to study but I feel VERY behind and that it’s slow-going. I’ve been through Ethics and Quant and I am in the very beginning of Economics. I make notecards as I go through the reading and make sure I understand things before moving on. I mainly just stick to the books (or the internet if I have questions) but I can look at the online classroom videos if need-be. I haven’t even opened the Q bank yet but I do all the end of chapter questions without looking at my notecards. I study about 10 hours during the week and 6 hours during the weekend.
Question: Am I going about this right?! I feel like if I wasn’t making detailed notecards as I read then I would move a lot faster but I may miss some comprehension. I definitely need to make some sort of change otherwise I won’t finish going through the books (at this rate anyway). Maybe I need to double (or more) the amount of time I spend studying on the weekends? Any suggestions?
 
As cliche as this sounds….
There is no right or wrong answer. You have to figure out your own study pace and path.
Personally, I didn’t study every day. Instead, I only studied on Tuesdays and Thursdays and weekends. So I studied half as often, but twice as long. And I went through the material multiple times.
 
What I did …
1) Read the entire CFA ciriculum, and did the EOC practice questions immediately after each reading.
2) Went back and did a review of each reading using Schweser Notes, but focused my review time on heavier weighted topics and areas I felt weaker in.
3) Created a DuPont flow chart, taped it to my bathroom mirror and reviewed it when shaving, brushing, etc.
4) Wrote flash cards for all important formulas and ratios, and tested myself during availble breaks from daily life (I carried these with me everywhere).
5) Watched some videos on areas I wasn’t grasping, but didn’t spend to much time here as videos can be great for some but they’re major time sinks.
6) Went through all the Schewser and CFAI mocks, on a timer to simulate the real test environment, then reviewed all the solutions for both correct and incorrect answers.
In total, I logged about 350 hours of prep, and I still felt crunched for time. But that’s just me. I will say this though, I personally don’t think 10 hours a week with 15 weeks left given where you are in the material is going to cut it. It wouldn’t for me anyways. I would try to push that to 15, or more if you can. I’m not saying it can’t be done, but at the pace you seem to be on you may run out of time.
Also, at this point, I wouldn’t get as hung up on comprehension. Get through the material and focus on concepts rather than comprehension. Nailing down a deeper understanding can come later, especially when you start doing mocks and practice problems. That’s where things can really start to click.
Good luck.
 
Everyone is different, but 7-9 hours per week likely isn’t enough unless you already have a strong foundation in the material. I personally find it very beneficial to write things down, even if I never look at my notes, so I wouldn’t stop doing that if I were you.
You also have to keep in mind that L1 is just the beginning. If you don’t think you’ll be able to devote more time per week for levels 2 and 3, you might as well stop now.
 
I would suggest you read all materials quickly first- no point in going over in depth over a concept you realize isn’t very important (I do this all the time- I spent so much time on quant (both currently and L1) because I like it, and realized it’s only like 5% of the exam….)
I’ve heard mixed reviews on Qbank for L2 but it saved my ass I’m sure in L1. I think they help better than notecards imo, because it forces you to regurgitate what you know, not just recollect.
Once you go over Schweser, Qbank, go back to Schweser and read carefully your problem areas.
If you still have time, fill in the gaps with CFAI material.
And do two practice exams a day in latter half of May. Save a day 2-3 days before exam to cram ethics. Regurgitate formulas too. Notecards help with this.
My problem is that I get bogged down in the details. While its important, I think it’s even more crucial to know what else is covered first. Then use your best judgement to determine what you really need to master. Obviously use the weights as a guideline.
I don’t know if I’d 100% trust Schweser though, on their notes “this isn’t that important so don’t bother memorizing” types. There was one CFAI mock last year that tested the very concept that Schweser said don’t bother. Which is why filling in gaps with CFAI materials is important…. but it’s a secondary step.
RE: time, I spent all May studying, didn’t do nearly enough Jan-Apr. Took week off work week prior to exam prob studied 12+hrs/day. Do not recommend. It’s bad for your heart.
 
emichan wrote:
I would suggest you read all materials quickly first- no point in going over in depth over a concept you realize isn’t very important (I do this all the time- I spent so much time on quant (both currently and L1) because I like it, and realized it’s only like 5% of the exam….)
Click to expand...
Couldn’t agree more- there is no reason to start hammering out problem after problem until you are at the point of doing mock exams or your second review throug the material (if you have time.) This was the one thing I would change if I had to do L1 over again- I spent way too much time at the start plodding through quant and economics worrying about getting perfect scores on qbank tests…. by the time I went through final review, it was 2 months later and I had basically forgotten it all anyways. If you’re crunched for time, do the reading, do the EOC chapters- once you are able to answer/understand the concept a few times, make some basic notes (only about tricky/important things you got caught up on the first time) and move on to the next reading.
One thing I will say is that IMO memorizing formulas in the early stages for L1 can be helpful, but don’t let it take away from the actual readings (15 minutes here and there is fine.) I was surprised by how quickly I was able to memorize most of the formulas in my final review process (the month before) just by doing enough practice problems….. they really aren’t that complex. the only formulas I wrote down to cram in the last week were some of the more extraneous FRA ones (that you don’t see often anyways.)
 
I’m only in my prep for L2 now, so take this with a grain of salt, but from my experiences so far I’ve found that taking my own notes and/or highlighting what I thought was important was just a waste of time and slowed me down a ton. Eventually I just viewed the Schweser books as the highlighted notes of the CFAI material, so that “work” was essentially already done for me. That was a nice feeling!
Now my general strategy is to do a comprehensive reading of the 3rd party material. Try to understand all concepts to the best of my ability. Do the EOC questions. Then do the same “reading” in the CFAI book. I put that in quotes because I usually do a lighter skim of this material, while focusing more on areas I might have struggled with in Schweser. Go through the blue boxes, look for anything that Schweser might not have covered (as noted by a poster above… sometimes they just leave out stuff completely). Do those EOC questions.
Try to play both books off each other. Sometimes I find that the way things are explained in CFAI material are more logical or easier to grasp than Schweser. If I’m struggling really hard with a certain part of the reading then I make a note of it and come back to it later. One of my biggest mistakes early on was being way too hard on myself and just lingering in areas that baffled me (for the life of me I just couldn’t do probability… wtf), rather than cutting my losses, moving on and then coming back to it later on. Seriously, coming back to certain topics a month or two later with a fresh attitude/new motivation suddenly made things eaiser to understand.
Momentum is key. Try to build it and run with it. Go easy on yourself if you get stuck and just try to keep chugging forward. Good luck!
 
ltj wrote:
Momentum is key. Try to build it and run with it. Go easy on yourself if you get stuck and just try to keep chugging forward. Good luck!
Click to expand...
Excellent advice. There are some topics/concepts you just might never get no matter how much time you spend on them. If you feel stuck, better to move on and make sure you cover everything. Go back to problem areas after you’ve “mastered” the rest of the material.
Remember, you don’t have to know 100% the material, you just have to give enough correct answers on the exam to pass.
 
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