Worrying too much about derivatives?

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clip1989

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I’m starting to think its only 10% and is light years harder than any other topic, so wtf am I doing spending valuable crunch time studying focussing on derivatives? Econ was 10% on level 1 and it just DIdnt click with me so I DIdnt focus ok it a ton, and got strong everywhere else and got a very good level 1 score, I’m thinking the same can be said for derivatives at level 2
 
Don’t fret about it.
(However, it’s probably not nearly as hard as you’ve been led to believe.)
 
The problem with derivatives problems (especially swaps) is that they can take a long time to get through. So for example, I am decent at derivatives but even though I have done well on the mocks overall I usually run out of time. Now I do derivatives last b/c I spend too much time on those problems at the expense of other subjects.
 
I agree. Derivatives are actually not that difficult. It certainly looks like the most complicated section at first, but after doing a couple problems with swaps, calls, and puts, it started to click for me.
 
I should clarify by saying swaps, the difficulty of swaps combined with how long they take to do on te test, to me it’s a no brainer to put them on the back burner at the expense of FRA and equity
 
im spending 4 hours tomorrow on them, I hope it will finally click…got close but shifted to FRA and Equity. now that I feel strong there, i think deriv is a weak area and hope to pick up a few points there
 
thegeneral101 wrote:
im spending 4 hours tomorrow on them, I hope it will finally click…got close but shifted to FRA and Equity. now that I feel strong there, i think deriv is a weak area and hope to pick up a few points there
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I am doing the same thing. Watching the Schweser vids and hoping to pick up a few questions come exam day.
 
The biggest hurdle, at least for me, seems to be careless mistakes.
One careless mistake (i.e. calculating a Z wrong) and you’re pretty much done for.
 
Once I get done with this exam I want to rip out the derivatives section from my CFAI books, pour lighter fluid on it, and set it ablaze. Alas it appears this monster will be back to haunt on level III :(
It was certainly my weakest point in the mock exams, so I started putting some more time into them but I wish I hadn’t gotten too obsessed. So long as I get them in the 50 to 70 band I’ll be happy.
 
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