Study plan for 6 months

CFA Level I
#1

Hello,

Can you please help me out in preparing a study plan for 6 months?

Hoping you would do the needful.

Thank you :slight_smile:

#2

I would say 2 weeks per book. So, you should finish all 5 books by mid February. This include doing all blue box questions and end of chapter questions. Then, you focus on mock papers. In May, you go over end of chapter questions and mock papers again. Don’t forget to watch lecture videos from schweser. They are really helpful.

#3

@thanhnguyen

I first tried the method you suggested and I ended up forgetting everything I read. For me, the best strategy is once you start a new reading you need to simultaneously review the previous one. Do both blue boxes in the CFA books and the Schwesser books and EOC questions from the CFA books. If you happen to have previous CFA mock exams, try to do as many as possible questions related to the chapter that you read.

#4

Hi Namita,

I can’t prescribe a granular plan that is a perfect fit for you, but I can provide some general guidelines that will make you “exam ready” come June 3, 2017.

  1. Start preparing as early as you can. Level 1 is a massive volume game and a systematic approach to learning and practice will save you a lot of stress.

  2. Focus on the fundamental topics and heavy weights first. I personally find Quantitative Methods a good starting point (master your financial calculator) after which you can dive into say Financial Reporting and Analysis (20%) and then the rest of the curriculum as you see fit - focus your time approximately according to exam weight.

  3. As you learn the material (likely from Study notes and/or Videos) reinforce/test that understanding by doing all the CFA EOC questions and blue box examples. Once you finish topic areas do the CFAI topic tests.

  4. In the last 6-weeks or so do your prep provider’s mock exams and review solutions, review previously worked questions, and closer to the end take the CFA mock exam and review solutions.

Whatever strategy you choose, you will find that the common theme is to internalize the material - at every stage your are actively engaging with the material, drawing links between topics, thinking how the question you did could be modified, clearing doubts etc. All the best !!

#5

Thank you :slight_smile: I’ll surely check and prepare

#6

Hi Namita,

I just wrote the exam in december and I think I did fairly well. The way I did it was i read the schweser notes and did the eoc schweser questions. Then I took notes on the schweser notes( this was a huge waste of time aside from drawing the graphs for econ and understanding them). After all that I redid all the schweser questions again to reinforce what i learned. Then i moved on to mock exams. I did 2 of them and scored fairly similarly on both. Finally i looked at the questions that I did wrong and referred back to the CFA books for the sections I was foggy on. I drafted some really short notes on my weak areas and memorized them. I think if i were to do it again this is what i would do:

1 )read schweser notes - do eoc questions from CFA books as i found them to be more similar to the exam questions and straight to the point -> for any weak points go read the section from the CFA book as they are more clear and better explained and write down notes any questions/concepts you think are important to know or are having trouble with (also make a formula sheet as you are going through the material and memorize the shit out of it)

  1. Do 1 or 2 mocks. See what you got wrong and go back to the CFA books to clarify the concepts. Do short notes on the stuff you are struggling with and memorize them

  2. Just repeat #2 until you run out of time or feel like you are sufficiently prepared

  3. The last week i didn’t stress myself out and just reviewed notes and the formulas and ethics.

PS sorry if this was too detailed but honestly when i was looking for a good study strategy all i found was very vague advice like start really ahead of time and not a lot of detail on how to do it.

Hope this helps !

#7

Make your own schedule / plan and track it on a daily basis. I plan using Google Sheets on docs.google.com and track it on a daily basis to check my progress.

Finish FRA first. However it can get monotonous when you study only one subject for long, so I prefer to study 2 or may be 3 subjects in parallel to avoid monotony. Watch FREE Videos of Mark Meldrum for CFA Level 1 on You Tube, they are unbelievably awesome!!

Do EOC / Blue Box Questions from Curriculum straight after you finish each Reading. Then Take up Online topic tests on CFA Institute website. Don’t wait till the very end to take the MOCK Exams on cfa institute website. Every time you take the mock exam on CFA Institute website, some questions will change, so do them as many times as you like.

Good Luck.

#8

I am using the Kaplan Schweser notes and it seems like the calendar gets you through all the material by mid April with a lot of review in between. I’d say it should be much like any other exam preparation. From what I hear from my CFA peers, if you put in the time, you will pass. With that said, if you’re on track for say 200-300 hours, you’ll likely have finished the books by end of February.