Relative difficulty of Quant vs. other topics

CFA Level I
#1

How difficult is Quant vs. other topics?

Ethical and Professional Standards was a relatively easy for me. In taking practice exams on this subject I’m very confident in this area. Quant, I’ve had to plow my way to the end and I don’t assume I’m confident in the are, and test indicate that as well. I know we all have our areas of strength and weakness. Years ago…I was a finance major, have been an advisor for 14 years, a CFP for 10 (not expecting any oohs or ahhs here), and math was always easy for me. But Quant,…kicking my butt.

Going forward, I’m hoping to run into a few other topics that are not such a grind on me. I’ve spent more time on Quant than Ethics by a large margin. Hope that is somewhat normal.

Oh, and Merry Christmas.

#2

It definitely takes multiple reads to digest if you don’t have a background in it. Therefore, I don’t think you should consider yourself a straggler. However, don’t try to master the topic on your first pass. You’ll forget most of it after you read the rest of the curriculum. If you do a non-intensive first read of the entire curriculum, you’ll get a better grasp of your strengths and weaknesses.

#3

Before I ran into the CFA, I was a mathematics iliterate, but after a lot of effort I managed to make Quant one of my best areas. The secret here is patience, when you run into an equation, make sure why every element of the equation is there and not anywhere else. Once you understand that, you can keep reading. P.S.: A little trick for Hypothesis Testing: Ho is always the one including “=” (or “equal or greater” or “equal or lower”)

#4

You have to do practice questions - just like any other math. Reading the material 100x is useless unless you do practice questions.

#5

^ this

#6

Agreed on practice questions. You’ll also see some of the material in later sections. The more you see the material, the more you’ll retain.

#7

So the question was…How difficult is Quant vs. other topics? I should have asked for quantitative answers…haha… After reading the technical analysis (reading 12) I feel much better about the material I read. Hypothesis testing, Sampling, probabilities are just a pain in the butt. AND, so far much more difficult than other topics.

#8

I would think of the quant section like the derivatives section.

#9

Honestly for me, in context Quants was relatively easy compared to Financial Reporting. I hate Financial Reporting but I know I have to learn it. The income taxes (Tax Rate Changes) and Diluted EPS is what I’m having the hardest time on. But I figure the more you work and study it, the easier it will get.