What was it like preparing for the encounter with the beast?

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swatiupadhyay

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Now that we are done with the exam, would love to know your struggles on the way to taming the beast. I feel a PASS or a FAIL is too laconinc a term to cover the hours of effort put in.
So, irrespective of whether we make the cut or not, let’s share our stories!!
Regards,
Swati
 
Lots of studying, a couple of compromises on partying and social events, work all day and then studying ! Now after its done and I look back, no matter what the result might be I am proud of myself to have tried !
Cheers !
 
@manas khanna thanks for sharing.
I had a horrible time prepairing.. Broke my leg in Dec, was out all of physical activity for the best part of the month. Came back to work on crutches, would leave work early to hit CFA books. Would carry books with me to read during commute to office everyday. Then again almost dozing with books, in the night.
In a way, I am glad though, those books kept my sanity through the last 6 months. Now that I have a couple of extra hours everyday, I don’t know what to do with them.
 
@manas khanna..And yes you should be proud of yourself..
I definitely am
Cheers!!
 
It was horrible .. When I first started it felt like i will never be able to finish, but I told myself: take it one page at a time, one reading at a time, one topic at a time .. until you finish one book, and then another book and so on.
over the few months leading up to exam day, my whole life froze.. I did absoluty nothing other than studying .. I gave my social life a BIG pause, and gave up on the things i enjoy doing ..
Between work and study, I never got enough sleep, and I was in constant physical pain all time long.. I was skipping meals cuz of lack of time and appetite and Litterely lived on coffee and tea..
If I pass I will make sure to have an organised schedual for L3 .. but for the mean time, I’m just glad I got my life back
 
Life is Overwhelming wrote:
It was horrible .. When I first started it felt like i will never be able to finish, but I told myself: take it one page at a time, one reading at a time, one topic at a time .. until you finish one book, and then another book and so on.
over the few months leading up to exam day, my whole life froze.. I did absoluty nothing other than studying .. I gave my social life a BIG pause, and gave up on the things i enjoy doing ..
Between work and study, I never got enough sleep, and I was in constant physical pain all time long.. I was skipping meals cuz of lack of time and appetite and Litterely lived on coffee and tea..
If I pass I will make sure to have an organised schedual for L3 .. but for the mean time, I’m just glad I got my life back
Click to expand...
I had the same feeling in L1. L2 I was sure I was under prepared!!
 
Life is Overwhelming wrote:
It was horrible .. When I first started it felt like i will never be able to finish, but I told myself: take it one page at a time, one reading at a time, one topic at a time .. until you finish one book, and then another book and so on.
over the few months leading up to exam day, my whole life froze.. I did absoluty nothing other than studying .. I gave my social life a BIG pause, and gave up on the things i enjoy doing ..
Between work and study, I never got enough sleep, and I was in constant physical pain all time long.. I was skipping meals cuz of lack of time and appetite and Litterely lived on coffee and tea..
If I pass I will make sure to have an organised schedual for L3 .. but for the mean time, I’m just glad I got my life back
Click to expand...

Sorry for the typos.
Thanks for sharing!!!
..I can quite comprehend the pain of it..My overwhelming feeling on friday evening was this amazing sense of relief that this was finally over..and for better or worse I won’t have to pick up the course mat again this year
 
Everything was like Level 1 except for a step-up in the difficulty level. The biggest thing that I hated was the thought of CFA exam was always at the back of my mind no matter what I was doing.
Sometimes, I just wanted to take a day off to give myself some rest but my mind would not let me because it made me feel guilty.
There were no nightmares this time around but I frequently dreamt about cfa concepts, formulas in weird ways. And I lost my appetite for sleep leading up to the exam. I could not sleep for more than 2 hours even when I wanted to. There was just so much tension.
I am quite glad it’s finally over. And like life is overwhelming said, I will definitely try to be much more orgranized this time around.
 
Finkid wrote:
Everything was like Level 1 except for a step-up in the difficulty level. The biggest thing that I hated was the thought of CFA exam was always at the back of my mind no matter what I was doing.
Sometimes, I just wanted to take a day off to give myself some rest but my mind would not let me because it made me feel guilty.
There were no nightmares this time around but I frequently dreamt about cfa concepts, formulas in weird ways. And I lost my appetite for sleep leading up to the exam. I could not sleep for more than 2 hours even when I wanted to. There was just so much tension.
I am quite glad it’s finally over. And like life is overwhelming said, I will definitely try to be much more orgranized this time around.
Click to expand...
Wow just 2 hours of sleep for like 5 months.. U can be termed insomniac for sure..Frankly I thought I studied every minute i could possibly squeeze in between work, husband, house; but finally it’s like in the end it doesn’t really matter (Linkin Park) if I fail!
 
swatiupadhyay wrote:
Finkid wrote:
Everything was like Level 1 except for a step-up in the difficulty level. The biggest thing that I hated was the thought of CFA exam was always at the back of my mind no matter what I was doing.
Sometimes, I just wanted to take a day off to give myself some rest but my mind would not let me because it made me feel guilty.
There were no nightmares this time around but I frequently dreamt about cfa concepts, formulas in weird ways. And I lost my appetite for sleep leading up to the exam. I could not sleep for more than 2 hours even when I wanted to. There was just so much tension.
I am quite glad it’s finally over. And like life is overwhelming said, I will definitely try to be much more orgranized this time around.
Click to expand...
Wow just 2 hours of sleep for like 5 months.. U can be termed insomniac for sure..Frankly I thought I studied every minute i could possibly squeeze in between work, husband, house; but finally it’s like in the end it doesn’t really matter (Linkin Park) if I fail!
Click to expand...
Hahaha, not for 5 months. More like last 2-3 weeks before the exam.
Be optimisitic. Hopefully, we will all pass.
 
For the last 2-3 months, my life revolved around two things work and the L2 exam , nothing else was allowed. Felt guilty if I slept for more than 5 hours. Whatever you want to say, it was a challange and just to go through this experience taught me a lot.
Now that its over, fell like I have so much extra time and energy.
 
a) Wife diagnosed with cancer in 2014
b) In Part time MBA program
c) Full time in demanding job
d) Still took CFA Level 2
For those complaining how hard things were for them, how they barely had time to study, how much fun and sleep they had to forego – you do not know the extent of sacrifices others had to go through. Really makes all those complaints trivial.
 
revexrevex wrote:
a) Wife diagnosed with cancer in 2014
b) In Part time MBA program
c) Full time in demanding job
d) Still took CFA Level 2
For those complaining how hard things were for them, how they barely had time to study, how much fun and sleep they had to forego – you do not know the extent of sacrifices others had to go through. Really makes all those complaints trivial.
Click to expand...
Surely has been a tough year for you. Hope things turn around for you.
 
revexrevex wrote:
a) Wife diagnosed with cancer in 2014
b) In Part time MBA program
c) Full time in demanding job
d) Still took CFA Level 2
For those complaining how hard things were for them, how they barely had time to study, how much fun and sleep they had to forego – you do not know the extent of sacrifices others had to go through. Really makes all those complaints trivial.
Click to expand...
Salute
 
I was much luckier than you.
a) Two young kids but very supportive wife
b) In Part time MBA program
c) Full time in demanding job
d) Still took CFA Level 2 and I am sure I passed it.
 
comparing who had it worse is like comparing casualties in acts of war… there were no winners, we all died.
your wife’s cancer does not make my sacrifice any better than yours
 
To the poster above, no – actually no one died studying for this exam.
Psychological mindset and time constraint are factors for this exam, and it is a testament to human resilience to still do what seems to be very hard on the surface. Putting things in perspective, we are all capable of doing much more than what we think.
 
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