Any Crazy CFA® Success Stories?

The institute is great at taking a bunch of luck out of the equation. I hit band 10 my first go-around on level 3, and hated but totally understood it. The more interesting stories are from the people who assume there is luck involved. I think there's one lying around about somebody who failed level 2 ten (!) times disputing his score with CFAi

got band 10 on my first go at level 1, studied for about 50 hours over 1.5 weeks

My roommate got his CFA 2 paid for by his bank and he already has a pretty solid banking gig so he didnt really care about passing. He started studying 1month in advance and studied for only 4 weekends. He failed every single practice exams with about 40-50%.

Yet, somehow he passed the CFA 2... no idea how this happened.

They had a system glitch with results this summer. Normally they send emails out around 9am, and that's when most of my friends got their results (most of whom passed). My result however, didn't come until around 5pm. I thought they sent out the passes early on, and saved the rejects for later. I must have hit refresh on my inbox 5,000+ times, and didn't get a thing done all day.

Passed tho, and I'm not looking forward to starting level 3

I took CFA level 1 and 2 ACA professional exams together (UK equivalent of CPA. There are 15 exams in total). Did everything in less than 2 months while working till 8pm pretty much every workday and went away for holiday for about 4 days. Some of my peers studied their ass off for those 2 ACA exams for more than 2 months. Everyone thought I was crazy.

This summer my level 3 email result came roughly 30 minutes before the window even opens. It sounds dumb, but I almost lost it when I went to check my email and saw the results email before mentally preparing myself. What can I say... level 3 is stressful. Passed at least.

The fucking email was in my junk folder - I had created a "junk" folder in my inbox on top of the default junk folder. Took me more than 12 hours post results announcement to figure it out. The CFA doesn't make you any brighter as attested by my personal example

I know a guy who studied for a week for level 1 and passed. Then studied for a week for level 2 and passed.

Then he failed level 3 three times.

I know another guy who literally put in 1000 hours for level 2 and failed (he passed the next year). If you're wondering how he studied for 1000 hours - he had a gov't job - would study at his desk all day lol.

I passed all three on my first attempt without sleeping the night before.

No matter what I did, I could never fall asleep due to the anticipation.

Friend of mine studied sporadically for a month or two for the Level 1. Probably adds up 30-40 hrs max there. Took the 2 weeks before the test date off of work. Went on a massive substance-fueled vacation for a week and then crammed for the next week. Easily passed.

That's Level 1 though and my friend readily admits that that would not work for Levels 2 and 3.

L1 is not technically difficult whatsoever. It is just memorization.

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Uh... L1 is basically a review of what you studied in your freshman and sophomore year. You shouldn’t need to study for hundreds of hours. If you study L1 for 300 hrs and fail, I’d say just give up CFA.

It's perhaps the most comprehensive and rigorous course on finance studies out there, and a very well respected and reputable name, particularly in the fields of fixed income and asset/portfolio management. Many do tend to underestimate the rigour and sometimes go in gung ho, but it is certainly no joke :)

I will be sitting for LIII this summer, but opted to go for the once a year path rather than the back to back that allows you to jump one year in advance. I can say that Level 1 is one where you can comfortably pass if you have an accounting/finance background at the undergraduate level (going through the accounting EOC questions and really memorizing the ethics principles should get you largely home). I think I studied 150 hours over the course of the latter 3-4 months in advance of the exam. I felt good about passing when hitting supra 70% on all sections of the mock exams. In terms of funny stories, a friend of mine passed by cramming 150 hours in 4 weeks and miraculously passing :P. When I sat for the exam, someone was throwing a tirade because their cell phone went off (you have to hand it in or risk getting caught), and wouldn't leave the premises. Interesting stuff.

Level II was entirely different beast altogether, and was significantly more challenging. I found that the vignette structure of the questions made it difficult at first blush because you really had to parse out the relevant details from the readings and integrate multiple concepts to form the response. I spent a cumulative 300 hours in total I believe, though I think I stopped counting towards the end. I passed comfortably on my mock exams (I took 6 in total) and passed the exam, but it required doing multiple iterations rehashing the concepts and completing each end of chapter question.

It's not necessarily rocket science, nor is it impossible, but it definitely requires discipline and keeping up with the materials. It's quite easy to shirk off a weekend of 3-4 hours study each day to hang out with your friends, sleep in, or otherwise. It's further exacerbated when you work longer than normal hours. I do think that it's opened doors for me with respect to getting interviews I might not otherwise have, and it lends credibility and credence to your CV in that you are someone who is willing to put a significant amount of time independently to learn a comprehensive finance curriculum. As part of a consortium of tools, it helps you be a well rounded finance professional

Where does the pass mark usually sit?

I've been scoring 78-80 on the last couple of practice exams I've done, but not feeling confident at all. Have no formal background in finance or accounting academically, and only started properly studying a month and a half ago due to some personal reasons. It feels like a chaotic mad rush, and I definitely haven't gone through as many practice questions as I would like.

Not crazy or anything but I was very sick when I was taking it. I didn't go back and double check my work or anything - I just went through all the questions and then slept at my desk until the second section started. Happily passed.

I've got a story about taking level I in December while a senior in college. Had to drive 4 hours from my university to Chicago to sit for the exam and left the night before and was going to stay at a friends house overnight and wake up at 7am to take the exam.

End up leaving at 8pm and my car breaks down on a country road in the middle of Indiana. Also at the time I had no phone so I ended up having to flag down cars until someone towed me off the road and drove me into the nearest town to find a phone and get someone from school to come pick me up. Ended up going back to school (1 hour away) and then borrowing my friends car and staying up all night and driving to the exam.

I was in panic for most of the night thinking it would ruin everything, but ended up taking the exam and found it really easy compared to the rest of the days events. Passed it and used the pass to get my first break!

I passed on first attempt studying 1, 4, and 3 weeks for L1, L2, L3. I can't remember exactly but I concentrated on 3 or 4 sections that make up 70% of exam and just settled for a 33% chance at rest - the math works. For L3 I obv made sure my written responses were on point. Also, I didn't dwell on "studying" too much. I finished reading as fast as possible then took as many practice tests as humanly possible...even taking the same test multiple times until I had (the logic to!) answers memorized. Combine pareto's principle with Parkinson's law. Look it up. Also helps to be finance savvy....some people will just never pass it. If L1 seems really hard and you fail, then just quit.

Best of luck to those taking the "background check" tomorrow. The victory beer and Jack D will be delicious.

Surprised by the number of MS I got thrown at. If you are in a finance or accounting major, take your CFA in your last year of college, study for 300 hours and still fail, there's something deeply wrong with what you're doing.

I didn't know the CFA existed until a month before graduation. My accounting teacher mentioned it briefly and how there was some scholarship for it. I figured the test couldn't hurt and the scholarship was free money, applied and got the scholarship, then signed up for level 1 for really cheap (like $200 or something). I graduated a month later, went on a week-long booze vacation with my buddies, then crammed for level 1 for a week and passed with flying colors.

As a first year BB banking analyst I signed up for level 2, figuring I'd start studying in December and would do OK. Then I got staffed on 5 deals, including a hostile one that was a real time sink. PE recruiting didn't help. Fast forward to eight weeks before the exam and I've barely opened a book. I proceeded to cram hard in any downtime I had between assignments, stay late at work to study more (was staying until Midnight on Saturdays to study), etc. I saw that the book with derivatives was would take a lot of time and wasn't worth that much on the test, so I skipped it completely. Managed to pass by the seat of my pants.

As a second year analyst with a PE job lined up, I figured my last six months would be relatively chill. Well...I ended up being put on a lot of deals anyway because my bosses were too lazy to take a chance on first years. All of a sudden it's two months before the test, and level 3 looks harder than level 2 (to me), and I haven't really studied for more than maybe 15 hours collectively. I proceeded to majorly neglect my day job, pushing back hard on my associates and junior analysts to do stuff, and generally give out "don't bother me" vibes. I crammed hard like the year before, and managed to pass by an OK margin.

Now if only I had enough work experience to actually apply for the Charter...

I remember some stuff, but not nearly as much as if I had studied properly instead of cramming. Oh well, those letters will look good on my business card.

My advice on passing: Do as many practice tests as you can. Nothing beats simulating the real thing.