When should I start studying?

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storlab

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When should I start studying? I worry that if I start studying now I’m going to forget much of what I read. But I want to finsh very early with reading the CFAI. I want to have a lot of time left so my time can be devoted to previous exams, practice questions and then doing the AM sections multiple times.
Can you start studying too early? What is too early?
 
it still August.. ofcourse you won’t remember anything by May 2016..
I would say Early November is the earliest.. Some people start in Sept/October but i won’t recommend it.. Give yourself at least the last two months for review/practice exams with practice at least six weeks.. So devote 18-20 weeks for studying and 6-8 weeks for review and practice. Use supplements with CFAI book, you will be crammed by middle of your studies. (Schweser notes, Videos,..etc)
 
I would say January is the perfect time to start. Anything before is too early. That way, you can enjoy Christmas, spend some time with your family and friends.. Then January hits, get your head down, focus on CFA…. Aim to finish going through material by the end of March… Then. April and May, focus on doing exams and reviewing material!
 
My advice would be . . it depends on how much you can study once you’ve started:
- if you can study most evenings and most weekends (or about 25 hours a week) then I’d say start at the beginning of March like I did each level, this will easily be enough,
- if can you only study for half of evenings after work and only one day on the weekend, then I’d say late January should be sufficient.
All the best!
 
If you read something once today you will probably forget it by June 2016 but isn’t that what revision and practice is for? I tend to try to finish reading all the material once through by April so that I can focus on practice questions - I personally cannot memorise or learn just by reading.
It also depends on your work/life commitments. I plan to start now (as soon as I get my books!) because I work full time and have a baby to take care of. With less time available to cover the material this year I will have to start early and go at a slower pace than I would have done for the previous levels.
 
Now for sure.
You won’t forget. You will practice more.
Keep making flashcards
 
I’m not very smart so I starting November 1st. It will take 3-4 months to read through the material and practice EOC/BB. And then March, April, May to do practice exams.
 
I started levels 1 and 2 in January. Planning on doing the same for level 3.
 
Start early without any stress, don’t overdo it to make sure you don’t get burned later… Best of luck!
 
I didn’t want to write L3 twice so I started in December and went hard. Even though I passed, I would have still started earlier, just to be sure. As early as sept or oct even.
 
Just a general breakdown of how to figure out your study plan.
6 CFAI Books
5 Schw. Books
If you look at each book as an entire course similar to your undergraduate degree.
You usually had 13 weeks of 3 hour classes telling you to spend an additional 3 hours per in class lecture time.
So assuming you either use the videos which are about 3hrs per week to get through them all in 13 weeks. You would be spending 9 hours a week times 5 books to get through all the material. Which is about 780 hours total to get through the material in a similar fashion. or 585 of additional out of class time.
Now start planning that out assuming you are dedicating maybe 15-20 hours per week. Work backwards leaving yourself a month for review and you can figure out when you should start.
 
It depends on the individual. I passed 3/3 and had no background in finance (either in college or as part of work experience), but it helped that I had a strong math background. Other people with strong finance backgrounds and 3/3 record could start as late as February and make it. Below is how I did it:
I started in August, reading through the CFAI books (I skipped volume 1) and highlighting. I finished about a book every four weeks at a fairly relaxed pace, making sure I understood everything. I did blue-box questions to fortify concepts. This brought me to about January.
In January, I started reviewing and making notes. This process went a lot quicker because I had already highlighted everything. I also made flashcards I could study on the train to work. After making notes on a chapter I woud do EOC questions, which further solidified the concepts. I finished this process in about April.
From end of April to the exam, I did as many exams questions, and revisted EOC question and blue-box questions of concepts that I got wrong in answering questions. Also, studied flashcards on way to work.
Don’t underestimate the power of home-made flashcards. I once had a lady stare at me on the train platform, and when I noticed her staring she said that she didn’t know people still use flashcards.
 
Never used flash cards for any level, found them to be a hassle you end up retaining stuff by practice anyway.
 
Another factor is that I’m a retaker…and I don’t want the material to get stale or forgotten from the test I just failed(band 7). Last time through I only had enough time to read CFAI thru book 3 and realized my life didn’t afford me enough time to read all of the CFAI so I had to switch to Schw.
I have a child I care for so I have about half the time of many test takers so I feel I need to start extra early. After finishing the CFAI, should I also do Schweser? Or just stick with CFAI material?
At the very least I need to Schweser Practice exams..right?
 
For level 1 and 2 i started in september , finished by mid march . then 10 week for review and exams . It worked for me and i went in ready .
 
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