CFA CFA Level I exam June 2013

[Hend Abuenein]

Hi,

Does any one still visit this forum?

I sat for the exam last Saturday, and am glad I went through this experience. It was a good one.

Would love to hear from other candidates.

Regards

 

[Jsmith887]

Hi Hend, hope all is well! I sat for the L3 exam - the AM experience was tough (a lot to write). PM was OK. I can offer you tips on how to study for L2 and L3 (hoping that I passed - fingers crossed!).

 

[Hend Abuenein]

Hiiiii James

I'm glad to hear from you. I thought this forum was dead

Of course I'd be very thankful to get any advice on the preparation for Level II (fingers crossed here too )
I plan on buying the 2014 curriculum as soon as it's available, late July. Shcweser Notes won't be out until late October, by then I will have covered at least Ethics, Quants, & Economics from CFAI books. Or so I plan.

So please tell me:
1- I was told that Schweser notes alone are not sufficient for LII. Do you agree?
2- If the curriculum arrives 2 months before the Notes, what should I start with from the CFAI books that is not so well covered by Notes? Is it a good plan if I invest these 2 months in Ethics and FRA from CFAI books?
3- Can you tell me a little about how different the LII exam-questions are from LI, and how should I account for this in the methodology of my studies?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks a lot for sharing

 

[Hend Abuenein]

By the way, I'm also considering CAIA I for next year. Still early, but nevertheless, I would appreciate your two cents on that too.

 

[Jsmith887]

Hiiiii James

I'm glad to hear from you. I thought this forum was dead

Of course I'd be very thankful to get any advice on the preparation for Level II (fingers crossed here too )
I plan on buying the 2014 curriculum as soon as it's available, late July. Shcweser Notes won't be out until late October, by then I will have covered at least Ethics, Quants, & Economics from CFAI books. Or so I plan.

So please tell me:
1- I was told that Schweser notes alone are not sufficient for LII. Do you agree?
2- If the curriculum arrives 2 months before the Notes, what should I start with from the CFAI books that is not so well covered by Notes? Is it a good plan if I invest these 2 months in Ethics and FRA from CFAI books?
3- Can you tell me a little about how different the LII exam-questions are from LI, and how should I account for this in the methodology of my studies?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks a lot for sharing

You are starting way too early for Level II! You will be burned out - honestly if I were you I would do the following:
- CAIA L1 - Sep 2013 (plenty of time to study)
- CFA L2 - Jun 2014

1. Schweser notes are sufficient - you could opt to do some of the blue box or EOC problems from the CFAI text to supplement your studies (note I only used Schweser and still passed); I would highly advise to go to the website now and download past L2 exams from the website (they will take old ones off – but you may be able to use the search function to find older exams)
2. Too early to start studying - I would start in November/December – January/February latest if you want
3. Question prep is the same – you are just referencing a passage instead; best advice would be to read the questions first (to know what to look for) and then read the passage

Other tips:
- Marc Lebvre is the best instructor (Schweser & Creighton University) – if you can get video lectures or live in person classes – take them (check with Schweser to make sure he is teaching them or email him directly)
- Make sure you know FRA (15-25% of the exam), Equities (20-30% of exam) and ethics 10% of the exam) really well – I got >70% in all these sections, which allowed me to pass
- Take mocks (CFAI and Schweser) and use Schweser Qbank to reinforce your weak areas)
- I would leave Ethics until the last month of prep – so that everything is fresh (make sure you reference the CFAI text and examples)

CAIA:
- Used Schweser/UpperMark (UpperMark seems to be a better provider - but there videos are worthless)
- Much easier exam
- More expensive
- More interesting (if you are interested in alternative investments)
- Some overlap with the CFA curriculum (which can help

 

[Hend Abuenein]

Thanks James.
I'll copy this for reference.

 

[Jas]

Good to hear from you, Hend after a long long time - seems like you studied real hard for L1