Hey you IT and engineering people, maybe sciences and math people too. How did you manage to cram all that info down and remember for the exam? It seems quite overwhelming the amount of material one must master, especially given our non-finance background while working in a non-finance job (say doing IT at AT&T). How do you find the material? Easy but just so easily forgettable?? That’s how I feel. Can’t remember it all. Frustrated.
What level are you attempting?
Level 2. Failed. Band 8.
anytwocanwin Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Level 2. Failed. Band 8. I also came from a non-finance background (medical to be precise) and I may be a little harsh on you here. If you made it through Level 1, then there is virtually no excuse (regardless of background) for you not to pass Level 2. You just need to study harder and put 3x effort you placed on Level 1 on Level 2. I have an edge though, since I work as portfolio manager/equity-fixed income analyst.
> I have an edge though, since I work as portfolio manager/equity-fixed income analyst. I have an edge too…Failed band 6, second time, computer-related job, and I have tons of investing experience working on the side (20+ years!), also studied darn hard. I know the material quite well, but there is no escaping the random factor, where a twist of fate can line up some questions against you and you fail. Some have passed because twist of fate lined up questions to their advantage. A good book to read while you are free these days is “Fooled by Randomness”. Of course, on top of all of this random fate you have to work hard…no escaping that either.
i work in the operations side for a hedge fund and have no experience in investment coming from a sports science degree and playing golf. Just passed level 2 with >70% in all but alternatives and eco. Did a course with 7 city and didnt finish the material but went straight to doing mock exams and started these mid to late april. You always get some luck with the questions that come up but i can honestly say i have never worked harder for an exam and reckon i easily cleared the 350hrs they say to put in. There is a site called finquiz which i used a lot and found that v helpful.
i have a liberal arts degree and 2yrs work exp in back/middle office at a bank where i didnt get any exposure to any of the material covered on the CFA and I passed L2 on first attempt with 9/10 sections >70%. Just study and you should be fine – this isnt rocket science.
I agree with everyone here. Study hard, don’t memorize but learn the stuff. You will notice the difference when doing questions. You will begin to pick up how CFAI and test providers are trying to trip you on questions. I don’t have any formal knowledge in finance or commerce and actually killed L2 this year. I logged in a lot of hours and made sure I learned the material. I know so many MBAs from great schools, chartered accountants, and CPAs who got shell shocked thinking they were going to cruz through this program. I work in commercial real estate finance with a degree in the Arts (Urban Studies and planning)
bayofpigs Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I agree with everyone here. Study hard, don’t > memorize but learn the stuff. You will notice the > difference when doing questions. You will begin > to pick up how CFAI and test providers are trying > to trip you on questions. I don’t have any formal > knowledge in finance or commerce and actually > killed L2 this year. I logged in a lot of hours > and made sure I learned the material… Very correct. Learn the stuff, don’t memorize. I have a friend who failed Level 1 band 8 who was fixated on cramming the formulae. I warned him that it is much better to conceptualize the stuff and work out the formulae your own way, especially in the derivatives section.
I posted the reply below on another thread (in response to question about whether someone should start by re-reading level 1). But I’m also a non-finance person in a non-finance job, so thought I would stick it here as well in case you hadn’t seen it. *********** Going back to the initial question: absolutely do NOT spend any time going back over level 1 before you go over level 2. You have more than enough level 2 stuff to get through: you do not have time to go back to level 1. Plunge right in, get into the new stuff. If nothing else you will lose your enthusiasm by going back over stuff you have done before. What you may need to do occasionally is cross check back to your old books if you come across something you feel you need to know but can’t remember, so keep them on the bookshelf. But frankly I think I might have gone back to them twice. In case you are interested I have few other thoughts. Ignore or discount these at your pleasure. By way of background I don’t have an investment or quant background, I studied politics at university. I passed Level 1 first time in 2009 (with every element >70%) and passed level 2 this year (half elements>70%, half 50-70%). 1. Use Schweser: the CFA books are just too damn long, and you need to get the essential concepts in your head. Schweser is good for this and will cut down the hours it takes to cover the basic material. Yes, you may miss out on a few minor points of detail, but Schweser is pretty damn comprehensive and not to be underestimated. The time you save here getting the basic reading done is time you can then invest in extra review and question practice. In my mind, you may give up 1-2% to detailed questions, but you can make up 5-10% by really good practice in the two months before exam. 2. Use CFAI books: I know I said use Schweser, but use CFA books for the end of chapter questions. They are much more comprehensive. Just go through them, and score yourself. Mark off the ones that you either got wrong, or weren’t too sure on and maybe guessed. A few days later just do the subset of wrongs and guesses. Keep repeating until you get this down to zero. 3. Active reading: you have to take notes as you go, don’t just passively read. 4. Build your own tests in the last 2 months. I created sheets with prompts down left side of paper and answers on right. Everything from basic formulas, key facts to remember, reasons why XYZ is good / bad. Really useful for drumming in the details. 5. Don’t get hung up: I’m not great at quant or derivatives. But it doesn’t matter because I’m not trying to get 100%, I’m trying to get a pass. Know what the weightings are and focus. You must know FRA, Equities, Ethics in detail. For the rest, if you have a section you don’t get easily, don’t get hung up. Accept that you may lose a mark or two, but spend the time making sure you pick up 5 extra ones in the core topics. 6. Random facts: in every CFA exam there are ‘gimmes’ for basic fact questions. You either know it or you don’t, you kick yourself that you can’t remember. In a time pressured exam these are a great relief to get right: at level 2 the time pressure can be intense and you have 3 mins per question. If you get a basic fact question right that’s taken 30 seconds, and you now have an extra 2.5 mins to solve that complex Equity free cashflow calculation. How to learn these: just be aware they are out there, and you get a feel for the kinds of things that might come up. And as you see them build a separate set of notes of key facts. I built one with about 200 facts on for level 2, and I must have banked an easy 5-6 marks that came straight off the page. 7. Practice: you must leave time for review of your notes, end of chapter questions, and practice exams. My advice would be 6-8 weeks, even if this means you feel you are blasting through the readings and sometimes not quite getting it all. It will come together in the end, trust me. 8. Be ready for the nasties: the actual CFA examiners are way nastier than the nice folks at Schweser. Take a look at these boards for candidates views on the days after this years exams, but there were a lot of ‘WTF???’ feelings about. A lot of traps: you have to really read the question, very very carefully. There were quite a few ‘gotcha’s’ (or at least it felt that way to me and others). 9. It’s definitely harder than level 1, but not that much harder. What you need is a really disciplined and focused approach. Make every hour count as a real hour of progress, not an hour spent looking at the page but achieving little. I’m sure others have different views but all I can say is that this has worked both times for me. I feel people obsess about hours: I reckon I put in 300 or so. Started Jan 1st both times, and for level 2 only worked first thing in the morning (1.5 hours Mon-Fri), and an hour at lunch. (I can’t do evenings / weekends as I’m married with a young family). Plus did a real focused push in the last month so probably 100 of the 300 hours were in last month alone doing really focused revision & exams.
I have a bachelor’s and master’s in communications…did well in math in highschool, but hadn’t taken any math since high school (25 years ago). Prior to becoming a CFA candidate, I had completed the CFP required coursework and regularly read a lot of financial magazines, so I had some exposure to investment/market topics. I passed Level I and Level II on the first try by reading all the CFAI texts, taking my own notes, doing most EOCs (felt like I should have done more while I was in the Level II exam) and then using Schweser notes/flash cards for Level II. Memorizing the formulas is really important for Level II. I liked how Schweser had most of the important formulas at the end of each book. They did leave out the Ibbotson Chen and adjusting for failure on private equity though! I also liked the note cards for Schweser. For me, it really came down to a lot of formula drilling, problem working and intense studying for the last two months before Level II. I think I probably studied 300+ hours from January to June, and while I was in the test I didn’t think I had studied enough. Completing all the CFAI EOC questions is really, really important. Plus doing several CFAI mock tests to make sure you can get through those problems fast enough.