Anyone freaking out about the CFA® Level 1 in June? Haven't started!

It's definitely not necessary for you to use the CFAI text to study for the exam. I would go through all of the Schweser Notes, and supplement with the Meldrum videos where you need additional clarification. With less than 7 weeks until the exam, you do not have much time. You need to spend at a minimum 2 weeks focusing solely on the CFAI mock exams and question bank (formerly 'Topic Tests'). I would recommned spending the majority of your time doing as many practice questions as possible, as that's where the biggest value is. There's a reason most candidates study 300+ hours and the passing rate consistently hovers between 40-45% -- I would put in a minimum of 40 hours a week until exam day to give yourself the best shot. Just my two cents - I am sitting for L2 in June. Best of luck!

Don't sweat it little cubbie. I don’t know very much about the “Chartered Financial Analyst” program. Generally, I’m the one chartering shit, so the concept doesn’t even really make sense. From what I gather, though, it’s a set of exams that you take to get certified to be a money manager out in Alabama or something. They ask you trivial finance questions and tease your brain with provocative ethical scenarios like: “Should you steal your clients’ money? Answer yes or no.”

To be fair, though, there is one redeeming aspect of the CFAs—one characteristic that is actually legit, the calculator. One of the two calculators permitted to be used on the CFAs is the HP 12C, and apart from the fact that its name sounds like some highly involved consulting framework, it is the epitome of Banker technology. The 12C embodies everything about us—elegant, bold, somehow clinging on to life in a world that no longer needs it. One look at its brushed plastic exterior and you think: “Damn, this thing is pro.”

Excel Mobile, it speaks a pure, unambiguous language: Reverse Polish, a postfix notation that eliminates non-commutative issues. So instead of having to enter 7 + (5 * 2) – 5, you’d enter: 7 5 2 * + 5 -. Direct and to the point, crisp even—exactly how Bankers think and speak. I met a model from Kraków once, and although we hit it off physically, her English struggled, blocking us from that real “same plane” level I like to reach. So as a gesture of cultural sensitivity, I decided I’d speak to her in something closer to her native tongue. Over Lil’s Wayne’s Lollipop, I pointed between us aggressively and instructed: “You, friends, 2, TIMES PLUS… panties MINUS“ Boom. “Same plane,” said her eyes.

Potential jackass of the year award nominee...

At this point I wouldn't bother trying to read much of the material, especially the CFAI material.

Do a practice problem, if you can't solve it, read the solution explanation and find the topic in the kaplan material and try to understand the concept. Now do another practice problem and try not to look at the solution/explanation. Do this over and over until you can answer most of the problems on your own. Do this for all of the topics on the test (time permitting).

Oh, and this should go without saying, but don't make any weekend or after-work plans for about 45 days. Good luck!

When I did level 1 I started studying a little less than two weeks earlier than you relative to that year's CFA, and found it pretty easy as I took a lot of finance and accounting courses during my undergrad (a large amount of the concepts and formulas known like the back of my hand).

With two weeks less and only a basic background in finance I'm sure it'd be possible to squeak out a pass, but probably unlikely. Either way if you go for it now it's going to be incredibly stressful trying to optimize your studying, as you'll most likely have to sacrifice a few topics.

EDIT: Didn't realize the exam dates have been pushed. If it's on the 23rd of June you have plenty of time

Focus on ETHICS and Quant (Learn how to use your calculator, it will do most to all of the solving).

Once you do that, I'd recommend nailing down Alts/Equity/Derivs. They are all small weights, but its very low hanging fruit.

Pound ethics/quant questions. You are probably a tad late to really learn FRA, to many sub-topics, you're better off focusing on 47% of the exam and praying on the rest.

If you actually have the time (and more importantly, discipline) to study 8 hours a day until the exam, you'll be fine. That's ~350 study hours which is plenty of time, if not overkill.

I am in similar boat as you, but at least have done 20% of the total MC questions on Kaplan. I am not feeling overly concerned although I am dreading my life until June 23.

Having full time you should have no problem, but I would not like to be in your shoes...studying for 8 hours a day doesnt seem like fun. I am sitting for level III and already on my second review of the notes.

If you pass level I beware that you will fail miserably level II if you start studying in may, level I is a joke compared to level II

Same here, actually have exams at the moment so I'll only be starting in a week. Just have to put in the hours, since you've paid for it... you have a finance background so hopefully that'll help.

if you're not working and have all day to study you can do it. but you'll have to be studying full time essentially. 200-300 hours is no joke

If anyone in SF wants $20 for their textbooks shoot me a DM.

If not, you know you will just be sitting on those books for years and eventually just throw them out. Why not give them out when someone can still use them.

Thx.

Freaking out and CFA L1 shouldn't be in the same sentence. If this is the case, either you are dumb or have poor planning.

Oh man...I’ve been a staunch BA-II Plus user for 15 years. Say it ain’t so...the HP-12C really is superior...isn’t it?

Side note: I feel like I’m about to get my first monkey sh*t thrown at me over this post.

If you do 7-8 hours a day of studying from now until the exam you will be more than fine. Others are correct to point out the high weights of equity, FR&A, ethics, but I recommend you make sure to take a look at everything. There are easy points in portfolio management etc. that will probably have a higher marginal return to your study time than overdoing it on the higher weighted sections. Look through the Schweser stuff, but make sure you do all the CFAI topic tests before the exam. They will do the most to prepare you for the style and difficulty of the real thing. The practice test is great too of course, but can give you a false sense of security/hopelessness if the questions it asks match/don't match what you know the best. A final point of encouragement: if you know the answer to 50% of the questions and outright guess on the other 50%, you would probably pass (assuming that you have a 1/3 chance of being correct per question and a 66% passes). You have plenty of time to learn 50% of the material and put yourself in a position to do better than 33% on the material you don't learn as deeply. Good luck.

Depends mate, if you have a finance degree from a reasonable university, you should have most of it covered off. That said, I have friends that didn't bother sitting the second half.

The other reality, while past performance is not indicative of future outcomes, the fact that you haven't started studying yet, doesn't fill me with confidence that you're going to start applying yourself now. If I could bet against you I certainly would.

Monkeys, new business idea, betting on CFA results. People taking the test can call it hedging. I want to short OP by c. $1,000.

Its possible to prepare well till June exam if you put in consistent hours everyday and the employer lets you take a couple of weeks of as a study leave. With that being said you have to finish all of your readings before June and double down on practice questions afterwards. Also don't skip the parts that have less weight in the exam, you don't wanna be stuck in band 10, because you missed 2 stupid questions in PM or Derivatives. Good Luck

Why not wait until December to write level 1? Whether you write level 1 in June or December, you will still have to wait until June 2019 to attempt level 2 (assuming you pass).

If you half-ass your level 1 studying you may pay the price when it comes to level 2 because your fundamental understanding of the material may not be as strong.

Annihilate the Ethics section. It’s more heavily weighted and if you do really well on it the test gives you a bonus of sorts and makes it more likely to pass you with a marginal score. It’s been so long now that I can’t remeber specifics, but I did very mediocre on every subject except derivatives and ethics, and on the ethics section I got an astronomical score—something like a 90 or 95%, resulting in a pass.

Real talk, your best bet is to use this test as experience for the December exam. Whatever slim chance you have for the June exam will only be workable through ALL of your vacation days between now and then assuming you work full time, or if you're a student or something, time to start slamming down Monsters and Red Bulls and pull 12+ hour shifts.

Level 2 is substantially harder than Level 1, so if you do pass, don't go into Level 2 with the same cavalier attitude.

And watch my YouTube video :)

Hey man,

I took CFA level 1 this past December (2017) while backpacking Europe and didn’t start studying until October 20th-ish. Given the exam was on December 3rd or something like that, that’s about 5 weeks of prep. I solidly passed, with my 95% confidence interval saying I would never fail.

I will say that I had just finished the CPA prior to late October, so the FRA was much of a review. However, I really thought the FRA was fair on exam day, and other things like bond convexities, options, DDM, economics, etc were headaches and I was a complete noob at.

Moral of the story is I think you have a great shot if you have 7-8 hours a day. People will say you don’t but fuck what they say; you’ve got this. I used Wiley’s textbook and supplemented it with CFA online questions (formerly called TTs) and did 2 mocks. PM if you want more advice as I do have a ton more.

Quite honestly, I walked out of the exam thinking I failed, and told everyone I did too. Quite amazed that I got above 90th percentile of students for Ethics and FRA, but hey, sometimes you crush it without feeling that way.