Hey I was just wondering how much time do I really need to get through level 2? I know level 2 is pretty hard compared to level 1 and I would at least need twice the time I took for level 1. Here is my study style. I have complete faith on Schweser notes, Qbank and mocks. I did the same for level 1 and feel pretty confident after the exam. As far as level 2 is concerned, I plan on following the same strategy. Can someone recommend how much they took for the preparation for level 2 who followed similar strategy?
forget about Qbank for L2 IMO
Just my opinion… I was a retaker this year. First time around, I did all Schweser, Q-Bank, mocks etc. Failed band 9, and I walked out of there feeling totally unprepared. This year I did it 100% on the EOC questions, read the text completely, did only CFA Institute material. I have no idea if I passed or failed, but I walked out feeling much better about it than last year. Half the battle is knowing how THEY ask questions. Schweser’s questions are asked in a different style, they prepare you for a different test. I did Schweser to pass level one, thought I would do the same thing in Level 2. I walked out shaking my head, knowing for sure I had just wasted 5-6 months. Everyone studies differently so I don’t mean to dismiss going that route, but I would advise against it.
I don’t know anyone who walked out of L2 very confident. It’s an absolutely brutal exam. And I’d say 80% of my friends walk out of L1 knowing they aced it.
I ended up at 485 hours. Honestly, i didnt really feel like i knew the material until i got past the 350 hour mark. I had to keep reviewing and go back until it finally started clicking and sticking. That said, i am awaiting my results from June, im hoping i passed but this post might be meaningless until i get my results.
Use Qbank early in your preparation to help retain and do not get wrong idea if you start scoring high. Questions in qbank are not representative but usefull to drill study material. If you start early(November) read CFAI text first, solve EOCs. CFAI text is very interesting read IMO. Later you can switch to Schweser only, but keep reviewing EOCs and CFAI text for topics not covered well in Schweser. Actually some material is better presented in Schweser, why not have an option. Good study plan with contingencies is the key for successful preparation.
Personally I think your two best options are the end of chapter questions and the Schweser practice exams (not Qbank). The practice exams are definitely still a little easier than the actual exam but they’re much more representative than Qbank. I’m pretty sure a person could hit 80% on Qbank exams and still stand little chance of passing the actual exam. With respect to the Schweser vs. CFA materials if you’re only going to do one I would do the following: 1. Use CFA materials for Ethics/Quantitative Methods/Economics/Equity; 2. Use Schweser for the rest. Obviously your mileage may vary but in my experience the Schweser materials on the Ethics/Economics/Equity sections don’t cover the full extent of the material that’s on the exam while the other books do a pretty good job.
Guille_GE Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > forget about Qbank for L2 IMO When you say forget about Qbank, do you suggest any other provider’s Qbank for practice? I mean, I can’t learn everything simply by ingesting the material as it is. I have this problem inherent in my brain – my brain learns more by practice and I think I need as much as practice I can get, even for level 2. Unlike the point on Qbank, I can understand the fact that Schweser notes may not be sufficient and I should be better off going with CFAI material and doing EOC questions, but, seriously I doubt your point about Schweser Qbank, as none other materials have as many questions as Qbank does as far as I know. Even if I go for Schweser notes, I am definitely going to do EOC questions(Just FYI – I did that for level 1 as well) and probably mocks from all providers, including CFAI, ELAN and Schweser, excluding not-so-popular mocks. Now questions is whether notes are sufficient or I should definitely go for CFAI text without any doubt. I know, Schweser notes doesn’t cover everything and they do overlook some areas which they think are not that important for the exam, probably 90% of the curriculum. I also know that Schweser’s notes’ assumption doesn’t cut the importance of other 10% which may very will be represented in the exam, and it does at times. But the problem is even if I go by CFAI text route, I might end up taking more time and I am not even confident that I will be able to retain more than 80% due to the style in which the material is presented, so Schweser is still a better choice if out of 90% of the curriculum, I am able to retain 95%. I am still close to 85% of the entire curriculum in case of Schweser notes than 80% with CFAI text. But this is just my opinion, I am expecting a big chuck of people disagreeing with this. Going by any strategy, I am trying to estimate the time I would need for level 2, I am still not sure even after reading 5 posts on this thread. Any help is very much appreciated.
dwangoman Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Personally I think your two best options are the > end of chapter questions and the Schweser practice > exams (not Qbank). The practice exams are > definitely still a little easier than the actual > exam but they’re much more representative than > Qbank. I’m pretty sure a person could hit 80% on > Qbank exams and still stand little chance of > passing the actual exam. > > With respect to the Schweser vs. CFA materials if > you’re only going to do one I would do the > following: > > 1. Use CFA materials for Ethics/Quantitative > Methods/Economics/Equity; > 2. Use Schweser for the rest. > > Obviously your mileage may vary but in my > experience the Schweser materials on the > Ethics/Economics/Equity sections don’t cover the > full extent of the material that’s on the exam > while the other books do a pretty good job. Yes I agree, I use Qbank for retaining the material rather than thinking that the score I get on Qbank is the one I am going to get in the real exam.
QBank is no good as you approach June… You need to practice vignette style problems! I would say : Read the CFAI or Schweser (I personally am content with Schweser). Watch Schweser Videos and then do both Schweser EOC and CFAI EOC to confirm you’ve learned it. The hard part is keeping that info inside your head until the exam. If you do FRA before Christmas, you will have forgotten a lot of it by April-May when you are going through them again. Keep refreshing however you feel comfortable, it will save a lot of time over re-learning it.
time required is a function of your existing domain knowledge. i spent ~250 hours, but i have an undergrad in finance and masters in accounting. plus i’ve worked at a couple of hedge funds since graduating college. i walked out w/ confidence that i passed with a high 70’s, low 80’s score. i don’t think qbank is all that bad for highlighting weak areas. if you have the extra time to spend, it’s not a terrible way to spend it. i did about 4-500 qbank questions. what i wish i had spent more time on was doing mocks. i only did about 3 mocks. if i had done 6-8 mocks, i would have been even more confident going in. that is the best time spent – doing mocks.
First time taker level 2. I used only Schweser texts, QBank, Schweser Mocks vols. 1 and 2, and took CFAI mocks 2010 and 2011. Probably put in 400 hours round about. I have a degree in Finance. Overall I felt very prepared, but there were a few WTF moments on the exam with stuff I hadn’t seen before in Schweser texts…probably 2-3 questions at most. If I don’t pass, I will follow the same method, but use CFAI EOC questions instead of QBank. Might review CFAI equity. Qbank helped me review after I finished each book, but I was still forgetting a lot of it, and the questions are just a lot wordier and more calculation based rather than conceptual like CFAI. Schweser Mocks were great though, and finishing up with CFAI mocks was icing on the cake. Will be surprised if I don’t pass, but still not 100% confident. For Level 3, I will again use Schweser Texts and CFAI EOC questions.
Mocks are grossly overvalued. CFAI mocks are in limited supply and vary in quality, difficulty and tested material from year to year. Schweser mocks might give you wrong impression that you are ready, but in fact they just test your knowledge of Schweser material. You are not gonna see tricky, obscure topics presented in all CFAI glory. Nethertheless, mocks will teach you how to establish a solid base level on the exam by covering the core material. The lack of good practice test proxies is what makes L2 so difficult to master IMO. Samples are good for reality checks midpoint in your review after one or two mocks, kind of help you to fight overconfidence.
CFAI EOC questions are vital.
I just took Level II and made the mistake of relying too much on Stalla and the Passmaster questions. For Level I, I relied only on Stalla and used the CFAI texts for Ethics. I took pretty much the same route for Level II and only used the CFAI texts to reinforce a couple sections. If I have to retake Level II, I will use CFAI much more and a lot less Stalla.
Thanks for the contribution guys! Response on preparatory material is always going to be mixed, so you have to try what works best for you. Let me ask a very straight question here. My background is not solid with respect to this test and don’t have any experience in working finance. However, if I clear level 1, which month should I start for level 2 if I follow the following two strategies, assuming I should be able to cram up big time during few months from test, like on an avg 8 hrs a day (believe I can do it for the exam) Schweser text/Qbank/Review twice/All mocks: December(Is it too late? too early? should this rather be November) CFAI text/Qbank/Review twice/All mocks: October (Is it too late? too early? should this rather be November) Remember I am a slow reviewer and I found myself taking on an average 9 hrs to review each mock during level 1 so last month was completely occupied in reviewing the mocks. I think I need at least 2 months for Qbank. Now how many months do I need for initial study? 3 months? so starting in December is good target if I take the Schweser notes target? and October for CFAI text?
Semiconservative estimate is the double time and effort needed to clear Level 1 for person of average capability.
jpsi1 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Mocks are grossly overvalued. > CFAI mocks are in limited supply and vary in > quality, difficulty and tested material from year > to year. > Schweser mocks might give you wrong impression > that you are ready, > but in fact they just test your knowledge of > Schweser material. You are not gonna see tricky, > obscure topics presented in all CFAI glory. > Nethertheless, mocks will teach you how to > establish a solid base level on the exam by > covering the core material. > The lack of good practice test proxies is what > makes L2 so difficult to master IMO. > Samples are good for reality checks midpoint in > your review after one or two mocks, > kind of help you to fight overconfidence. +10
I gave my level 1 exam in June last year, so I had one whole year to study for level 2…I used both schweser and stalla, which I think prepared me really well for the exam as it didn’t seem that difficult to me.
Wouldn’t be surprised if I failed or passed. All I know is that I didn’t study as much as I should’ve, but I wasn’t totally lost on the exam. I used Schweser and I think it did pretty damn good job. I used Schweser EOC, the questions provided in the notes (blue boxes), Qbank, and all of the Schweser’s mocks and the CFAI mock. I’ll admit the Qbank ain’t as useful as it was in Level I, but as somebody mentioned, it can be useful to drill in some concepts. I’d say stick to the intermediate to advanced questions. However, some of the advanced questions take stupidly long to solve and are unlikely to appear on the exam. I think one of the keys is to do problems from as many different angles as possible, so that’s why I used the Qbank, too. However, if I had more time, I would’ve done the CFAI EOC, as well. You’ll definitely need more time for Level II; probably double the amount (at least) as somebody else mentioned. If I fail, I will study earlier and do CFAI EOC. Do CFAI questions (blue boxes and EOC), Schweser questions (blue boxes and EOC), all mocks. Do Qbank if you think you need extra practice for certain areas.