Eat, Sleep, Breathe CFA Curr.

CFA Level II
#1

Ha, Schweser ad for the 3-day live sessions caught my attention - so now that we’re in the final push (almost - assume that’ll be May for most ppl):

1.) where is everyone in their studies in terms of what’s remaining before hitting mocks?

2.) When is your first scheduled mock?

3.) If you could only focus on three “to-do” items before d-day, the absolute must before walking into the testing center, what would those be?

P.S. silly thing, but I’ve been so caught up in the world of CFA, I completely missed April fool’s (not that it’s a big deal, but just shows whether productive studying or just staring at the books, it’s all about the test these days!)

#2

I wanted to know that those who finished their first pass, when did u start/?

#3

Assuming you’re still on your first pass? I wouldn’t worry much about 1st pass vs. 2nd pass, b/c in the end its all about how much you undestand and retain.

I seriously could use another few months to get ready before the mocks/eocs :frowning:

#4

Revise Equity, FRA and Ethics. Smash out every Qbank question and Elan quesition on these 3 topics. That’s what I would suggest before D-Day.

I read on 300hrs that the CFA had just announced they were giving a L2 December exam. I was so supprised and really quite excited (given my level of confidence at this PiT). It took me 5mins to read the article and then at the end it said…‘happy April fools’…How cruel and sadistic are 300hrs!!!

#5

  1. I haven’t even started with Quants,Economics and Alternatives so still well behind the curve. I spent too much time trying to understand the tiniest detail of Equities, FSA, derivatives, Fixed Income and Corp finance. I am hoping this will be my best sections of the exam.

  2. I hope to start my mocks sometime in mid may. I am currently studying from he CFAI texts and i spend a bit much time on EOCs and blue boxes, so I am hoping this may compensate for the shortage of time i’d have for mocks.

  3. Three to do items: The absolute must:

i) Review Ethics & FSA

ii) Get enough sleep

iii) Have a threesome!

#6

  1. Done with my second pass( not done ethics), working on weak areas, doing EOCs ( still half to go)

  2. I have done one mock which was not so great ( it is good to take mocks even if you dont feel 100% confident, give a good idea where you are in your preps and direction you need)

  3. Review formulas and review my notes on heavy weights.

#7

Kuljeet how much ar eu retaining

#8

Retaining is an issue which I am working on and it is showing some good sign already. Actually my first pass was only to understand the material (not to master it ) and to make notes. Second was for deeper understanding.

#9

Nice progress everyone - I’m still chugging along - hoping to complete the material by late April and then practice ?s/mocks until test day.

@bloodline - “get enough sleep” - nope, now starting to even have a few random dreams/nightmares about this test. Sigh.

#10

My girlfriend told me the other morning that I distinctly said, “current ratio”, in my sleep. Yep.

#11

I don’t know how many others are facing this issue- but the way I attemped it, I did a first pass on the readings ( trying to master it on first pass) and now I am starting practice questions/ EOCs, which I hope to finish by the end of the month.

I CANNOT REMEMEBER ANYTHING.

Does anyone have a method on how to retain? Working 55-60 hours a week also is not helping and soem weekends I am so burnt out I can’t make any real/ significant progress.

help please!

P.S. - these nightmares are getting wierder lol.

#12

I can tell you only what worked for me: writing.

I wrote out 3 × 5 notecards as I was reading the curriculum.

Then I threw them away. (If I forgot, my wife threw them away for me.)

Then I wrote them out again. And threw them away.

After doing this three or four times, I found that I remembered almost everything. Writing it helped solidify it in my memory.

This may not work for everyone, but, for what it’s worth, I passed each exam the first time I took it, so it certainly worked well enough for me.

#13

  1. On Book 5, which I’m targeting to finish within a week. This is my “first pass” but I write detailed notes and do all EOC’s as I go through so I tend to retain most of what I read first.

  2. First mock will be beginning of May.

  3. For me it’s watch all ~40 hours of the Schweser videos after finishing the readings (planning to take off a day from work and do this in a 3-day weekend), do 4-5 mocks on the weekends for the 4-5 weeks leading up to the exam, and spend the weekdays and time in between mocks brushing up on problem spots via reading/Q-bank/videos.

#14

Actually in the same boat - read everything from Schweser, but decided to skip BB/EOCs b/c it was taking too long…went back after my first read and couldn’t recall anything - seriously was just guessing on the multiple choice ?s. I guess the only thing that we can do is to revise + tackle ?s simultaneously (q-bank/eocs/bb’s), except I fear that I’m going to run out of time as those BB/EOCs take forever, and I def want to have enough time for mocks! Seriously starting to consider changing initial strategy to just focusing on the heavy weights as time is just running out…

#15

cfa is tough crying

#16

I just took the 2012 CFAI mock, but only half of it…it was baaaad. That’s all I’ll say about that.

#17

yea that’s right kiddies

#18

Great - something to look forward to. Haven’t even completed the material yet - then review/?'s - then mocks - it’s going to be a partay. Trying to get up early these days (after sleeping like 5-6 hrs) and brain just refuses to take this info in…Either I need to start studying at work (how w/o making it obvious?) or request some serious time off!

#19

hey, do you (or someone who sees this) mind sending me the 2012 mock? much appreciated. I too want to get destroyed by the mock haha. m1man05@yahoo.com

#20

I would appreciate them as well!

mpearc4@yahoo.com