CFA® L1

Hello, I am thinking of taking the CFA®1 exam in June 2016 and I have some questions. I'll make them short and straight to the point.

1) If I fail the June 2016 exam, can I study for Dec. 2016 using the June material?

2) Are Schweser notes necessary? What about the study documents the CFA® provides when you enroll?

3) I am in my senior year, studying BBA Finance at a non-target Canadian university and I think I have a good foundation for finance. Will 4 to 5 months of study time (3 hours per day, 6 or 7 days a week) be sufficient? I am a part-time student and currently not working.

5) How long will it take me to receive Schweser notes and CFA® documents?

4) Should I bring lube?

 

1) yes, the syllabus will be identical. It usually only changes between the dec exam and the jun exam, (even those changes are usually very minor)

2) schweser notes not necessary, but the CFA notes are very dense. Schweser really makes it much less time consuming.

3) should be enough, particularly if you have a background in Finance. Would recommend starting with the material with which you're least familiar, and leaving about 3-4 weeks for revision and practice exams.

5) my CFA books for each of the three rounds came within a week. Not sure about Schweser, probably around the same timeline..

4) no

 

A few tips that may come across as bleeding obvious:

  1. Study Ethics last. It's probably the most important section because of the so-called Ethics 'adjustment' (that is, if you're a borderline pass/fail, a good result in ethics may be the swing factor to a pass). Definitely use the CFAI materials for ethics.

  2. Do the end of chapter (EOC) questions. Many use Schweser but neglect to do the EOC - doing both reinforces the material plus the EOC questions give you an idea of the style of the exam questions before doing mocks.

  3. Go through the worked examples in the CFAI books. They were blue boxes, not sure if the formatting is the same.

Otherwise it sounds like you've got a solid plan.

 

I'm sitting for LVL1 in Dec and regarding third-party notes I would be very careful about relying on them too much. CFA writers have a certain way of phrasing questions and for certain subjects (like ethics) you really need to get inside the exam writers head for a lot of the q's. Plenty of free prac material available at mycfaspace etc... as well

Your looking in the wrong place for a witty comment.
 
Best Response
Captain_Sassypants:

I'm sitting for LVL1 in Dec and regarding third-party notes I would be very careful about relying on them too much. CFA writers have a certain way of phrasing questions and for certain subjects (like ethics) you really need to get inside the exam writers head for a lot of the q's. Plenty of free prac material available at mycfaspace etc... as well

What is your basis for saying this? You haven't even taken L1. Schweser and other providers haven't even released their material for the December 2016 exam. Stop giving out shitty, baseless advice.

I have never even once glanced at the CFAI material, and I've gotten >70% on virtually every section of the first two levels of the exam (since you haven't taken L1 yet, just to make you aware, that's the highest score you can get on section). Anyone who tells you that Schweser is not sufficient to pass a certain level most likely failed and is searching for an excuse to avoid admitting that either: 1) he/she did not prepare enough, or 2) he/she lacks the intelligence required to pass. I can count on one hand the number of questions that appeared on the first two levels of the exam and had a concept in the answer choices or in the body of the prompt and said concept was not covered in Schweser.

 

I believe Captain_Sassypants is saying not to get too familiar with the question style of a particular provider because they are most likely different from how the CFA will word the questions. I have done two Schweser mocks, and compared to the topic test provided by the CFA (and I assume the mock exam will be styled similarly to their topic tests), Schweser definitely words their questions in a more easier and understandable way. The CFA (practice) questions are definitely tricky and longer.

 
ifailedfinance:

I believe Captain_Sassypants is saying not to get too familiar with the question style of a particular provider because they are most likely different from how the CFA will word the questions. I have done two Schweser mocks, and compared to the topic test provided by the CFA (and I assume the mock exam will be styled similarly to their topic tests), Schweser definitely words their questions in a more easier and understandable way. The CFA (practice) questions are definitely tricky and longer.

I got that. I'm capable of reading three sentences and determining their meaning. But thanks for clarifying.

As to the rest of your post, in regards to the actual exam, I disagree. In fact, I find the Schweser practice questions to often be vague and unclear.

 

Nisi esse autem ad magnam soluta dolores. Occaecati officiis aliquam nihil. Velit aut qui earum natus amet laudantium. Quas molestiae sint sunt voluptatem. Molestiae sed dolorem qui fuga et rerum.

Ullam assumenda et saepe ducimus. Expedita voluptas veritatis et omnis expedita. Rerum voluptatem dolores voluptatem mollitia quidem voluptatem vero hic. Ipsam ut ducimus asperiores expedita.

Voluptas cum et sed. Omnis id vero aut delectus rerum quos. Praesentium nobis et tempora eum id impedit aut. Sequi est asperiores et ea rem sequi id. Iure dolorem ipsam dolor occaecati omnis itaque est.

Voluptatibus nihil ea officiis soluta. Deleniti repellat necessitatibus inventore voluptas voluptate.

Career Advancement Opportunities

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Jefferies & Company 02 99.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 19 98.8%
  • Harris Williams & Co. (++) 98.3%
  • Lazard Freres 02 97.7%
  • JPMorgan Chase 03 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Harris Williams & Co. 18 99.4%
  • JPMorgan Chase 10 98.8%
  • Lazard Freres 05 98.3%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.7%
  • William Blair 03 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Lazard Freres 01 99.4%
  • Jefferies & Company 02 98.8%
  • Goldman Sachs 17 98.3%
  • Moelis & Company 07 97.7%
  • JPMorgan Chase 05 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Director/MD (5) $648
  • Vice President (19) $385
  • Associates (86) $261
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (13) $181
  • Intern/Summer Associate (33) $170
  • 2nd Year Analyst (66) $168
  • 1st Year Analyst (202) $159
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (144) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
3
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
4
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
99.0
5
kanon's picture
kanon
98.9
6
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
7
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
8
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
9
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
10
Jamoldo's picture
Jamoldo
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”