CFA Time management

I'm taking it in December. I'm really having a hard time getting a plan together. I planned to do a couple hours per night but once I get home I'm so dead it's hard to stare at a book. I think I'm just going to have to go extra hard on weekends.

Truthfully? Sack up and invest the time in it.

The CFA passage rate is a function of two things: the amount of time invested and the quality of the time invested.

When I passed level 1, I had a full time job, a fiance, and a reasonable social schedule.

Average week (168 hours in total). - 60 hours work in office - 10 hours work at home - 50-55 hours a week for sleep - 5-10 hours a week in gym - 15 hours of studying a week. - 5 hours commuting - ~20 hours a week for everything else (cooking, cleaning, errands, social time, etc.)

On weekdays: 12 hours of work a day 1 hour commuting 8 hours of sleep 1 hour of study each evening. roughly 1 hour at the gym (often with a study book) 1 hour for relaxing.

On weekends: 5 hours of work a day 5 hours of study 8 hours of sleep 1-2 hours at the gym 4 hours for relaxing

I think I started studying roughly 8 months prior to my exam and basically took the week prior off before heading in. But that meant building in buffer room for vacations, committing to a ton of reading, doing repeated problem sets and basically getting so comfortable with the material that you could do it in your sleep (as it happens I pulled a work related all nighter the day before and did go in and nearly had to do it in my sleep).

Get comfortable with the idea that you will miss things. You will be the guy who drags his books to road trips and parties and works during vacations. If you care too much about those other things, don't bother taking it. You'll be much happier if you don't give yourself the added stress.

But if you spend 300 solid study hours on it, you will most likely pass. You just can't bullshit around too much with it.

Passed L1 first time in June. Simple answer is 11 hours a week and start early.

I would find it nigh on impossible to study 20-25 hours a week whilst working but I know many people try and compress things and go this route. To me its foolish as anything can come up and your screwed...if you start in March or whatever (for June exam) and you have a few weeks where things come up and you miss your 20 hours it could seriously damage you...If you start in November and consistently put in 11 even if you have a few weeks where you only squeeze in 6 hours (always doable) you'll still be in ok shape.

I was lucky in a way in that Im working 40 hours a week so the way I did it was 1 hour a day at lunch and three hours after work two days a week. No weekends.

The trick to doing it after work is to not go home first...do it in the office as soon as you finish (preferably not at your desk / on another floor). I had my little set up on 7th floor and as soon as I finished at 6 I would grab my books and a coffee and head up and get cracking.

I realise most people are not working a 9 to 6 job but I think there is always time to fit in 11 hours. If I was working 60 hours a week I would prob come in early and do 1-2 hours before work every day and then 3 hours on Sat and Sunday...def not an easy task when your working big hours and I have big respect for anybody that does it.

I passed level 1 and 2 using the following strategy:

1) Start in January right after Christmas....its better to over prepare and pass then have to resit a year later.

2) Aim to finish the entire course by April, this gives you May to review everything and do loads of questions and past papers. I cannot stress this enough, you need a solid month to get your exam timing down and get comfortable reviewing your weak spots.

3) Get into work 1 hour earlier and do 1 hour of study in the morning. Try to avoid sitting at your desk as the temptation will be to surf on the net for that hour, go to a quiet room if possible.

4) STAY FIT....go to the gym and keep active. After work I would always go to the gym to relax before sitting down to do my evening study session.

5) EAT WELL....don't gorge on McDonald's every night, try to eat well and drink plenty of water throughout.

6) Do 1/2 hours in the evening, ideally 2 45 minute sessions in the evening. This will give you 3 hours per day and will reduce the number of hours you have to do on the weekend.

7) Don't kill your social life completely. I always took Friday evenings off and went out. I think you should have 1 day in the week where you relax.

Good luck guys/gals!

THANK YOU GUYS!!

The above posts sum it up pretty well but I'll add a few other things.

1. Study at a place outside your apartment and try not to go home until you are done. This may seem strange but I struggled with focusing in my apartment even if I was there alone. Far too many distractions. I would go too a quiet section of a hotel lobby with a Starbucks but a library works as well. It's also a lot harder to motivate yourself to study once you get back to your apartment from work. Head straight to a study area and work for a couple hours, you will save time too.

2. Have a loose schedule. Set targets for finishing the material but don't force yourself to do a certain amount of material each day. Another strange one, but in the beginning I forced myself to study every night, even if I worked late or was dead tired. You'll eventually learn that you aren't effective this way and won't retain the information. Take a night off every once in a while and do an extra hour or two another night when your brain is sharp.

These may be strictly based on my personality but they were helpful for me. I second the Friday night thing as well. Either went out and enjoyed myself or got some extra rest. You will burn out after a couple of months if you don't have any social life.

Use QBank and a practice test at first to find your strengths/weaknesses first. Then work on your weaknesses so you don't waste time. It also helps if you can pick up some of the material from simply doing the questions.

Take a day occasionally; don't burn out.

I passed L1 this past June. As mentioned above, I would strongly recommend studying in the morning. I used to get in the office an hour or two before work and go through material. I studied in a different cube or empty conference room away from my work desk which helped me focus. After work I would hit the gym, grab some dinner, and then go back to my study space to practice problems for another hour or so (depending on how tired I was). IMO, It's harder to concentrate in the evenings so it made more sense to crank problems at night instead of trying to understand/read dense material. Try to take practice exams as early as possible. Also, take a day off once in awhile to keep you sane. Best of luck to you.

15 hours/week for roughly 5 months, and of course full time study during the last week before the exam.

Lvl 1 is the easiest, I passed it without touching one page of the textbooks. The most challenging one is Lvl 2, and Lvl 3 is all about BS and not going crazy with ambiguity.

I just passed level 2. My biggest tip for both levels 1 and 2 is to get through the entire curriculum as early as possible. For level 1, I started studying in September, very nearly passed it in December, but then nailed it in June. For level 2, I started studying it properly in October last year and finished the curriculum in early or mid-April.

If you are like me, there will be a few topics which you don't enjoy and which are consistently causing problems. After you get through the curriculum for the first time and start taking mock exams, you will see which topics you can't handle without the help of the books or your notes. Those areas then deserve special attention and should get a disproportionately large amount of your time until exam day.

It's a huge commitment. You will probably not have much of a social life. I had more than one girlfriend break up with me over it. But I needed level 1 to have a chance of getting my current job, and attempting level 2 was a condition of accepting. If your employer is on board it makes a huge difference. But even if your employer helps, you are still going to feel like you aren't really living for a while.