Time to KO cfal3....

R

rahul roy

New member
Joined
Jun 18, 2026
Messages
0
Reaction score
0
I really enjoyed my preparation of CFAL2 with guys like proidence cfa,tommy,whats ur govt,cgy etc.We worked really hard for CFAL2 and now we have KOed the so called beast.However we have another dragon waiting for us in the form of CFAL3.
Personally i will start my passive preparation for L3 from mid-end of November and active preparation will start from April.I consider reading the material as passive studying and solving problems/doing mocks as active studying.I have used Schweser for L1/L2 and it has done wonders for me.I started my preparation for L2 in Feb 2014 but i am going to start my preparation for L3 from November itself as i am working full time now.
My strategy would be:
1)December - March (Read schweser books and solve schweser EOCS atleast twice)
2)April-Solve schweser q bank and CFAI EOCs and BBs(i may skip BBs if i don’t have much time.)
3)May-Mocks and Mocks.(Schweser mocks and CFAI mocks for past 5 years.)
Please do give your feedback and share your strategy as well.
Thanks.
 
Just started reading Cfai. I’ll read through it all twice, then mocks, then pass…hopefully.
 
Yup, let’s knock this one out. Started studying in September using CFAI materials. Reading through Volume 2 at the moment. Doesn’t seem too terrible, but this is just behavioral finance review from college. Plan on reading through CFAI by end of December, then reading Schweser through February, and solving mocks March through exam date.
 
Rahul Roy, you are the man! Thanks for sharing. I have very similar plans but these are some slight differences in my plan…
I’m going to start reading Schweser and EOCs in November and try to log around 40-50 hours/month. Same for December. I’ll ramp it up beginning in January and try to do 80 hours/month until exam day.
I’ll probably do a mock exam late March/early April. I did that last year and it helped guide my final two months of studying. I’ll devote May to mocks and going over EOC problems and BB’s. There’s plenty of AM mocks out there from CFA so there should be enough material.
We’ve all got a long road ahead of us, but it’s a lot shorter if you can get it done in one attempt.
 
Good strategy RR. Let’s all hope we can pass this thing. I’m gonna start in November with CFAI books and Schweser then read Schweser a second time from March as I hammer out mocks and EOC questions.
 
@RR
It may be more helpful to do the CFAI EOCs during Dec to March (and before you start q-banks and practice papers). The Level 3 AM & PM sessions both are more linked to CFAI EOCs than previous levels. Doing it after a gap from doing the material may lead to some disconnect or overlaps (costing precious time later). A few so-called tricks can be easily overcome by knowing the CFAI EOCs rather than the Schweser EOCs. In any case, you may have to refer back to them while attempting questions (from q-bank or papers) and evaluating your answers to ensure you have mastered the concepts therein.
 
Similar for me too. Starting in Dec. by reading Schweser twice. Then start mocks and drill note cards from Mid April - May. Not really changing anything from the first two levels since its proven a successful strategy both times, except I’ll probably do some past CFAI mocks for AM session practice.
 
I finally opened the cardboard box that the CFA curriculum comes in last night….. but that’s as far as I got though….
I’m debating what to read first while waiting for Schweser to come out. I’m all on board for slaying the new beast one and done. Let’s get it done folks…
 
Hi RR and everyone else who made it this far,
I’ll start on 11/1/14 which will give me 30 weeks at 15 hours/week = 450 hours. Minus 2 weeks vacation I hope to get at least 400+ in total hours logged.
I plan to finish first round by the end of the year (read + EOC) and second round by the end of Feb’14 (read + EOC + frequent review). I will then switch my focus to practicing past AM papers and all the practice exams that I can get my hands on.
From what I have heard, NOBODY aces the am section, what you can do however, is to minimize the damage and do really well in PM section. So that is going to be my approach toward this one. General rules, big pictures, bullet points, and formulas/calculations first, then all the nuances of details last. I figure if I can get 80% in PM, all I need is 50%~55% in AM to pass.
Good luck everyone!
 
cgy5478 wrote:
Hi RR and everyone else who made it this far,
I’ll start on 11/1/14 which will give me 30 weeks at 15 hours/week = 450 hours. Minus 2 weeks vacation I hope to get at least 400+ in total hours logged.
I plan to finish first round by the end of the year (read + EOC) and second round by the end of Feb’14 (read + EOC + frequent review). I will then switch my focus to practicing past AM papers and all the practice exams that I can get my hands on.
From what I have heard, NOBODY aces the am section, what you can do however, is to minimize the damage and do really well in PM section. So that is going to be my approach toward this one. General rules, big pictures, bullet points, and formulas/calculations first, then all the nuances of details last. I figure if I can get 80% in PM, all I need is 50%~55% in AM to pass.
Good luck everyone!
Click to expand...
Don’t know if you need that much. I logged 202 hours, started in Feb 2014, started a new job in April, which set me back but crushed in May working ~60-65 hour weeks and staying in the office to study almost every day until midnight/1am. I took 8 practice exams, I think that was key. Only used CFAI for EOC’s and the summaries right before the EOC’s…Schweser for the main reading content though. Did some Qbank, maybe 5-10%, don’t recall. Track your weak areas using a combo of EOC’s and practice tests, and focus on those while mixing in your good sections too.
 
^ just to add to this, do as many practice exams as humanly possible, especially for the AM section. I took the slow and steady wins the race view, but that’s because I knew I’d have the time. In other news, I’m so thrilled to not have to take a CFA exam this year…
 
rahul roy wrote:
I really enjoyed my preparation of CFAL2 with guys like proidence cfa,tommy,whats ur govt,cgy etc.We worked really hard for CFAL2 and now we have KOed the so called beast.However we have another dragon waiting for us in the form of CFAL3.
Personally i will start my passive preparation for L3 from mid-end of November and active preparation will start from April.I consider reading the material as passive studying and solving problems/doing mocks as active studying.I have used Schweser for L1/L2 and it has done wonders for me.I started my preparation for L2 in Feb 2014 but i am going to start my preparation for L3 from November itself as i am working full time now.
My strategy would be:
1)December - March (Read schweser books and solve schweser EOCS atleast twice)
2)April-Solve schweser q bank and CFAI EOCs and BBs(i may skip BBs if i don’t have much time.)
3)May-Mocks and Mocks.(Schweser mocks and CFAI mocks for past 5 years.)
Please do give your feedback and share your strategy as well.
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Hi folks..
Would suggest a couple of changes to the above plan..
1. December to March - Remember to do all the solved examples in CFAI text for the Individual and Institutional PM. Doing the EOCS on these chapter a couple of times, really helps.
2.April - Doing CFAI EOCs only in April could be a little too late, I personally did them along with my studies. For ex: I would study reading 20, but would be solving EOCs of Reading 19 (which I read last week) when I get bored of reading. This way your chances of retention are high.
3. May - Good strategy to do the mocks. Doing 5 schweser mocks could be an overkill for the simple reason that many of us felt this year that after their 3rd mock - they were basically way off how a CFAI test looks like. Remember to do mocks for PM as well as AM.
Most important - Dont look at the number of mocks you did. Look at how much you can improve from each of these mocks you took. And I suggest you go further than 5 years of CFAI exam for Solving the Individual and Institutional Portfolio management questions. And to some extent even Fixed income questions - I personally found them very very helpful for me when I wrote 2014 exam. (after having failed band 10 in 2013).
These are just my thoughts and as you can see I have failed once in 2013 - so you can always take it with a pinch. Good luck folks!
 
Read CFA modules to familiarize yourself with the language used there. CFA examiners will look out for those keywords in your answers. In level 3 though it says essays , the key words really matter. You dont have time to write complete sentences. Practice writing the AM . I kept practicing and reveiwing the mocks to see where I could improve. I reveiwed each AM mock thrice. It paid off I passed in the first attempt. Also I agree alot with what sooraj says regarding the EOCs. Reading gets boring so read well the first time around and write summaries using key words from the module. The summary really helps 2 days before the exam.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top