CFA Study Hours (that it took you to pass) in relation to alma mater, major, and GPA

I went to a state school and majored in finance with a concentration in real estate. I would say you having a major in accounting and a CPA would put you in an advantageous place. Someone like you could probably get away with 150-200 hours. But I did probably close to 250 for L1 and never really felt comfortable even after taking the test. I think its because in school a 70% grade would be ass and here its satisfactory.

Just do the reading, skim the parts that are familiar to you and then just rip practice questions. Since Financial Reporting/accounting is heavily weighted for L1 you're likely in a good spot.

Good luck

Lib arts / 3.7

~1350/1600

250 for level 1 300+ for level 2 240 for level 3

Top ranking state school Economics major and Statistics minor 3.5 2200/2400

160-170 hours. 1/2 of it was cramming financial reporting 1/8 sucking off ethics 3/8 the others

Equity and fixed income are basically the same concepts with a little extra sauce sprinkled in here and there. Alternatives portion can be skimmed. Just memorize the terminology for the different fee structures and their differences. Statistics/quant can take longer if you haven’t learned them before. Would estimate 30+ hours if you didn’t take any in undergrad. Nuances are a bitch.

Also, don’t forget. Everyone can take the Cfa that applies. So it’s not like what you would expect. Like if only top 30% in your school get B+ or above, the CFA equivalent would be more like a B- or above (even a c if you do well on the parts that are heavily weighted). You’re going to be competing with those people that applied to your school and got rejected. CFA is difficult because it covers many different subjects, not because it goes in depth. I’d bet that the curriculum at most schools (top 50 or so schools) would be harder for each of the subjects. Except ethics. They trying to trick you.

X

non target no name small school in north east. SAT 1820 with no prep.

American CPA and finance and accounting double major, finance and accounting double major and or CPA are very helpful for the CFA.

Put in maybe 150 hours, working FT and signed up the day before registration closed (the fee is absurd if you do that, don't wait). Ended up overstudying and doing quite well, they showed your overall percentile and I was about 90th percentile.

Personally, I think I'm pretty dumb. Haven barely put any effort into lvl 2, not so sure i'm going to pass.

Edit: ^ ironically forgot to add I hit my head a lot playing football for 13 years including through college.

Thanks for the input everyone - it seems to be somewhat of a consensus that I should be able to get away with around 150 hours if I put in a targeted effort.

Good news considering I’m writing in June.

Cornell Engineering College GPA 3.4 SAT 1440/1600 level 1 ~150 hours level 2 ~ 250 hours Taking level 3 2019

i graduated from a top Ivy, and went on to work for a top bank/top group WSO salivates about...

Failed Level 1 on my 1st try because went in with no study - pretty sure correlation between CFA/school is near 0 since the top Wall St bankers/top students don't need CFA to succeed...

Prob spent 200 hrs on CFA Level I (passed btw) - this includes both time speed reviewing the curriculum and taking the topic tests. I prob spent another 10-15 hrs on mocks.

With a CPA background, you should be well off compared to someone like me who didn't have a finance or accounting background.

Being Latam I wont even try to convert grades to US scale. BA Finance major so had a lot of background on most of the material.

Level I: 350 hrs (imo barely) passed 1st try. This one is insane, some things really deep and there is a ton of material.

Level III: Will sit in June, aiming for around 250 hrs.

The key is dominating the material, not the hrs.

Large State School 3.7/4.0 Economics and Finance SAT 2100/2400 (ACT 31/36) Currently studying for level 1, at about 125 hours feeling comfortable... ethics is a bit of a pain in the ass for me right now, I've kind of been putting it off so most of my remaining studying will be going into that.

Didn't need to study much quant (I throw in an hour of review intermittently)

Good luck on your CFA prep!

(Note: I'll probably be closer to 300 hours just because my CFA is so far out that I feel as though I will need to keep reviewing from the time I'm comfortable with it to my exam date which will skew the hours up a little)

Undergrad: Sub-200 US News, decent GPA, business major, very strong standardized test taker (top 1% GMAT, etc)

Level I: 150 Hours Level 2: 300 Hours Level 3: 250 Hours

Passed each on the first try.

Note that Level I is a far cry from 2 and 3. Don't be tricked into understudying next year. But with a strong finance background I agree that it doesn't take 300 hours to check off Level I.

Then again, there's the opportunity cost where an extra 50 just in case hours now can save you from spending another 6 months on the damn test.

As an FYI, the CPA is a joke compared to level 2 and 3 of the CFA. Seriously, don't slack next year. I read somewhere that the average study time of people who fail the tests is ~290 hours.

What uni are you from? I'm from Canada too.

I'm doing CFA L1 this December. Going to start studying June and try to put in 200 hours before October. If I feel ready I'll just review and do mocks, if I don't feel ready then I have another 2 months to get another 100-150 hours.

I did the CSC last month (which was very easy) but I learned a very valuable lesson:

The hours don't matter if you don't understand a topic. If you go to an exam and you don't know the answers, you can't just write "but I put 300 hours!". You know what I mean?

just do what you gotta do to pass the thing.

Level 1 Ivy / Target Mediocre GPA Work in FO Finance 1500 / 1600 (screw writing) Probably 100 hours, took the week before the exam off to study which helped. Note I've probably seen some level 1 material 3-4 times already (school, training, etc), although that doesn't mean I remember any of it lol... passed 90th percentile.

I would recommend focusing on everything but econ - the return is not worth it. Kind of hit or miss even if you do study and its not related to other sections (I got a 70+ no studying but could of easily gotten a 30). Focus on FRA / Ethics and do lots of mocks and practice q's. I do recommend Schweser.

No idea what to do for level 2 given limited time and demanding job, would love some tips on that if anyone has any? I feel like you can't bs that exam and you have to seriously study.

Top five target Don't even remember my SAT score Finance and accounting 3.6 GPA

Studied for prob 60-80 hours total and passed. Level II is a whole 'nother beast; understudied by about 200 hours and got raped.

Level I is a cake-walk compared to II and III.

State School Finance Major

Don't get cucked by overconfidence

Top ~50 state school Math major 3.1 GPA SAT 1430/1600 No ianace experience prior to l1 L1: 150 hours L2/L3: 400+ each Did really well on all levels, I found just reading the curriculum and answering the questions in it was the best study method.

I'm going to bump this in July because I don't like you.