I have decided that having a robust study plan (and following it) is the key to passing level 2. It seems like NOW is a good time to draft one up. Based on my initial research, the following items seem to make a lot of sense:
Don’t use 300 hours as a guide to how many hours you may need to put in to pass the exam.
KNOW the material cold - this reduces the chances of panic on exam day. In my case this likely means that I will need well over 300 hours. I’m going to start my planning based on 600 hours
Be an active learner, not a passive learner. Don’t just read the material do all the questions as they come, don’t save answering questions for review
Do all BB and EOC at least twice, three times is even better
Make sure you score 90% in the EOC before moving on, to ensure you really understand the lesson
Make flash cards of all your mistakes and review them constantly
Allocate several hours a week to random question practice on topics already studied for better retention of material
During the last six weeks, write at least two practice exams and work your mistakes over and over again
Start early!
Now the tricky part, at least for me is how to make your plan dynamic enough to be able to be flexible enough if it takes you longer than anticipated to complete a study session?
How much study time will be wasted in formulating the dynamic, flexible plan?
My point being, coming up with the best plan is worthless unless you actually follow it and it works. There is no secret formula, short cut, or optimum strategy. Just pick your poison (CFAI, Schweser, etc) and jump in. You will fall into a rhythm soon enough.
I fell into this trap of making a plan… until a week later when I realized all I was doing was procrastinating. No amount of time logging, spreadsheets tracking your progess, and sharpening pencils will subsitute doing problems and reading. If this is your first time attempting level II, then you have no idea the best way for you to tackle the material. This far out from the test, just crack a book and see where it takes you. Maybe doing all the BBs and EOC is overkill for you… Maybe Mocks are what make you really retain knowlege. Who knows till you start.
My plan was this:
Aim for 1 hour a day during the work week. 10 hours a day on the weekends. Bottom Line: Just put the time in.
To date myself, I will quote Spaceballs: “Preparing, Preparing, You’re Always Preparing! JUST GO!”
A manageable schedule for me would be to start the first week of August with a goal of 10 hours a week. This would consist on one hour a week on weekdays, expect for Friday that would be my designated break night. And 3 hours a day on weekends, for a total of 10 hours a week. For March, April and May I can increase my hours to 15-20 depending on where i’m at in my preparations.
Any suggestions on how much time I should designate for review each week? Is 50/50 a good target? One option would be to dedicate the weekends for review questions and the weekdays for advancing through the readings. Or maybe I should designate one day a week for reviewing formulas, Saturday for review questions and the rest of the days for advancing through the material? Just interested in getting a feel for how others were able to implement review into their study schedules. Any thoughts are much appreciated.
Since we do not have scheweset 2014 material as yet, i have got my hands on 2013 material itself. Can anyone tell which topics to start with from these books?
Read Schweser texts (and do all problems and examples in them) writing notecards for all relevent (at least what I thought was relevent) formulas. After finishing each major section (Ethics, FRA, etc) I would do all of the Qbank LoS quizzes, then move onto the next section in the text…repeat till i was finished with all material.
Everyday I would make a quick 30 question exam in Qbank that included questions from all the areas I covered so far. I would allow myself to use my notecards when taking these, but not look back in the text. (That way I could see if I “missed” something, and would make a notecard of the missed material).
After I went through all schweser text and qbank los quizzes (About 4 weeks from test), I started doing a 60 question mock exam (made from Qbank) a day, and a Schweser Mock Exam each Saturday and Sunday. Last weekend before test I did CFAI Mock and watched the FRA and Equity Schweser Videos (my weak areas…I was a lvl 2 retaker).
Last week of study: a 60 question Qbank exam each day, and FRA and Equity CFAI EoC questions. Friday before Exam I took off from work and redid all Qbank Los quizzes. Went through my notecards and filtered them down to what I felt was most likely to be on the test and what i was unsure about (my stack of notecards went from 500 to approx 90).
Saturday of Test: Got to exam 2 hours early and flipped through notecards - short term memory boost. At lunch break, I focused on those notecards that had material I did not see on AM section.
Result: Pass.
For Level III I am going to do similar, starting 16 weeks out with Schweser… but I want to go through full CFAI curriculum first, as I hear Schweser is so-so for Level III. I started Yesterday when I got the books.
I made a very detailed reading schedule in excel (sections, pages to be read, pages left, reading rate, etc) and also tracked my scores on each section/reading of practice exams, EOC’s, and qbank. This allowed me to really know what I should focus on. Also, even if you’re doing very well in a particular section, do not abandon this…always find time to do some practice even on the sections you’re good at. I did only reading (about 4 sections) in January of schweser. Then I didnt start reading again until March 11th after CAIA L2. From March 11th- April 15th I finished all the schweser readings having done the concept checkers at the end after each reading…(and I actually didnt do the Challenge ones thinking i’d save them for later but never got to it, oh well). From April 15th-May 31st it was all mock exams, EOC’s, and qbank. I completed most of the EOC’s, maybe had 4 left and definitely did a number of the FRA EOC’s twice. I think I did about 20% qbank and I took 8 mocks. This worked for me…maybe it will for you.
I wouldn’t limit what you do on the weekdays vs what you do on the weekends, I would finish the readings with reasonable time left (1.5-2 months) and then during this time do your practice focusing hard on the areas your weak on. One way to initially find the areas your weak on is to take a diagnostic exam the day after you finish reading. Use this as a base to start your practice and as you do EOC’s, qbank, and more mocks track your scores on each section/reading and prioritize where you’re focusing your practice effort.
I agree with being “hours agnostic,” as 300 hours of reading in bed is very different than 300 of writing/classes/notes etc. Going to approach it as follows:
September/October - Read entire CFAI curriculum, double back on anything that seems challanging.
November/December - Go through again and attempt all questions. Compile list of topics that need work.
Jan-March - Quiz intensive work, with bouts of reading/outside learning as needed.
April - 2 Mocks early, more checking on unfamiliar concepts.
May - Hopefully I know whats going on by now, mocks, q bank, general review.
(How much I stay on track September-Jan can fluctuate greatly, but no real pressure until then.)