Who has started?

Two things:
1.)That kid was obviously suffering from mental retardation
2.) I always started very early, around November (lightly in October even), and it allows me to go at a gradual pace and familiarize myself with the material. I kick it in high-gear around March. Say what you want about starting early, but on LI i only missed one section > 70 and on LII I only missed 2, so apparently it works for me.
Id much rather have more “hours logged” and “questions answered”, both of which do help retention IMO. If you are strictly memorizing this stuff, you won’t retain any of it after the test, and then once your employer figures out that those letters are just letters, they will find someone else who knows wtf they are doing.
 
My wheels came off about 3 days after I started…Stuff this, no CFA for the rest of 2010 for me, I am going to see this year out and begin in 2011.
 
Nitz,
I think it is a bit presumptuous to talk about some perfect amount as though that applies to everyone. Some of us actually can retain things over a period of time. As an example, I still recall my ABCs and I learned those about 28 years ago. Have you really forgotten everything you learned in high school and college? By June every year have you forgotten anything in your life that happened prior to the previous November?
I did the Level 2 turnaround in 4 months because I took L I in December and while I passed, it was very intense, had me constantly on the edge of burnout, and the whole thing generally sucked. For Level 3 I started (lightly) about this time last year and as a result was able to read the CFAI books once and Schweser twice. I went into the exam significantly more prepared than I was for Level 2 and though the Level 3 exam was incredibly difficult I walked out feeling like I smoked that fuggin thing. And I did.
So, your assertion that 3 1/2 months is the perfect amount for everyone is clearly incorrect.
 
There is no set amount of time or hours logged that guarantees success on these exams. Some people can study for 2 to 3 months and pass, others need 8 or 9 months for the material to really stick. Personally, I like to start early so that I can still have a life and cover the material in depth. Starting early allows me to go to weddings in March and reunions in April when those that are “cramming” probably cannot. The CFA is not really a sacrifice when you start early because you can still do all the things you want to do.
 
Nitz25 Wrote:
——————————————————-
> Honestly, I can’t believe there is any benefit to
> starting before 4 months prior to the test. The
> CFA is about retention, not hours logged or Qbank
> questions completed. The absolute perfect amount
> is 3 to 3 and 1/2 months… 2 to 2 1/2 months to
> cover the material and 1 month to do practice
> problems and tests. 4 hours a day minimum on
> weekdays (more on weekends) over that time period
> will get you there.
>
> If you start in November or before you will lose
> all understanding of everything you studied by
> time you pick up a practice test 1 month or so
> before the exam. I know a kid who studied for 2
> years for level 1 and did over 4000 Qbank
> questions over that time period and couldn’t pass.
> Contrary to what you might think he wasn’t dumb,
> he just didn’t have a realistic RETENTION
> strategy.
I have a feeling that I will see you in the level 3 forum around September next year start a thread called “Who has started for 2012?.” Well, if you don’t, good for you.
Your kid, who studied for 2 years for level 1, is clearly a retard. First, why did he study for level 1 for 2 years, and there were no more than 4000 Qbank questions when I used it last year.
Personally, I will start immediately after Thanksgiving.
 
Alright, I’ll concede that > 4 months of prep time allows for a much more leisurely pace that may be the right way for some people to absorb information while allowing them to have some semblance of a life. However, I do think that having an excessive amount of time before the exam can lead to overconfidence. If you’ve read through everything several times over the span of 9 months I feel like not only will you have trouble retaining a great level of detail on material you haven’t touched for a couple of months but you will also feel to comfortable to apply the necessary level of intensity and focus. At least, that’s what I could see happening to me if I was too leisurely about studying.
And the guy I was talking about failed level 1 twice, that’s why he took 2 years of studying for the same exam. He would always tell me about how he was going to pass this time because he started studying 6 or 7 months before the exam but I would never see him at the office late, never see him in the office on weekends because he clearly was too comfortable having so much time in front of him that he never got intense enough about studying and hence never retained enough to pass. Also, he would always refer to the number of Qbank questions he did (I personally feel like the Qbank is not a great representation of what actual test questions will look like– I much prefer the Kaplan mock tests of the CFAI EOC & mock exam/practice tests) and it untimately ended up being over 4000 because each time he took the test he used the new Kaplan Qbank (different and/or enhanced questions from year to year I’m assuming).
Sorry if it seemed as if I was insulting your study habits, I just know I would have trouble passing with your approach.
 
It’s less about retaining everything 8 months down the line and more about that when you go through your final 3 month crunch, since you’ve already been familiarized with all the material, you go lightning fast through the books.
I feel this actually helps retention because you don’t have that whole “i haven’t read that in 3 months” feeling since you are covering the curriculum in such a short time-span… your reviewing, not learning.
I always aim to finish early enough to where I have 2-3 months of just pure review, I generally take one practice test right after I finish the material without reviewing, to see where I stand and get an overall sense of how much I have retained.
 
Agree with Mark. The idea of starting early is not so you can read IPS in November and then decide that’s all you need for the test in June. It’s to give you a solid 8 weeks or so of review. By mid April I had been through CFA as well as Schweser so I was able to take 10 days and re-read all of Schweser again. The fact that this was my 3rd time through the material allowed me to rip through it and really drill concepts into my head so I had everything at my fingertips on test day. Not something I could have done had I started in Feb.
There is no question that some people can do it in 3-4 months, I know I probably could have, but risk of failure was not worth it. YMMV of course.
 
QBank questions on Behavioral finance is very difficult for me. I read Book 2 of CFA once through , but nothing sticks well in my brain. I am guessing most of the answers and getting about half right
 
I am a second timer, started Feb/Mar last time and had short time. Got the books, began reading Book 2 a month back, but not much enthusiasm yet. Forcing myself to pickup again.
 
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