Hank Moody it is funny. I wrote this text in my Word at 2am. Very close indeed: Sixty percent of people did not put enough hours of studying. They gain some knowledge but they lost between 200 and 600 hours and failed. If you have sufficient time it is better to study too much than not enough. It is like buying insurance on your investment – cost versus loss. Perhaps I am naive idealist who believes that studying is about getting knowledge not only passing exams. I disagree with many writers on this forum on subject of CFA Program Curriculum books - I found them not perfect, but readable, comfortable to study. Reading take longer, but otherwise is enjoyable. Knowledge wise Schweser Notes are useless; they are just about passing big E. Spending more than enough time on this exam is smart thing to do, knowledge is useful – have no doubts. What you are not going to learn this time, you probably never going to learn. Don’t lie to yourself - you are not. I am planning to study between 600 and 700 hours – perhaps 400 hours would be enough, perhaps not. Time is relative, make your choices.
I 100% agree about actually learning the material, not just passing the exam. I want to understand the knowledge and be able to use it (where applicable), not just milk the three letters.
@Wiedermag I don’t agree that SchweserNotes are ‘useless’ for understanding material. if you really understand what you’ve read in Schweser, you understand the material and have a solid chance of passing the exam.
@lemian I didn’t know that anybody may take Schweser Notes personally. I am not questioning Notes usefulness for passing exam. Secret Sauce and Schweser’s QuickSheet can be very useful also, but you are not going to study concept of assets valuation from QuickSheet – are you?
‘personally’? lol that’s funny. no, quick sheet and secret sauce are definitely not enough. that was just a ridiculous statement. someone else once said: using schwesernotes won’t make studying quicker, but you’ll enjoy studying a lot more! schweser is generally denigrated as an easy way out. if you are serious, you’ll still need to put in the time.
“Patriotic” arguments are not my tunes. I surround myself to all citations about Schweser, especially if “someone” said something. Someone must be right.
1100 hour is my triger
I calculated I’ll be able to put in 1,200 hours. 10 hours a day for 4 months 
Should be enough.
hey wiedermag, love your use of google translator. haven’t figured out what language you’re translating from though… is it german?
Lemiman , are you 14 years old? You sound like.
Huh what? Are you guys serious? The CFAI estimated hours estimate is 250 hours, but everyone here is claiming 500-1000 hours. What’s up with this? Btw, “I studied for knowledge, not to pass the exam” is somewhat of an oxymoron. If you pass the exam, this implies that you have the knowledge of the curriculum. If you claim to have gained knowledge but still fail the exam, you didn’t actually have the knowledge.
Obviously it’s all relative to the individual. I spent right around 300 hours on L2.
I think CFAI is calling it 300 now. It’s all personal/relative - truth is you’ll only know if you put enough hours in on results day. L2 is quite a bit harder than L1 from a material standpoint, but you’re more experienced in the exam/prep setting - so at least the same amount I would think (I spent a like 50 hours more on 2 than 1).
I think the recurring CFA estimates of 250 hours are too low. Assuming you start Jan that’s like 1.7 hours a day. Imagine the extra time on the weekends and especially the last couple weeks or so, and I’d say it easily exceeds 250 hours for L2. L1 I can totally understand 250 hours though. L2 is so brutal. I feel sorry for you guys having to endure it.
Are you still a student or currently unemployed? The tough part about CFA is studying all these junk while working 60-80 hour weeks. Some of the materials are useful but majority of them will be quickly forgotten as they have no practical use in your job functions.