study style

Used elan and will probably do so again, especially with the forum discount!

I did a rough pass through the notes then used the questions to help me identify the key areas. Approach was taken based on advice from colleagues and this blog 🙂

@maldon In respect of prep providers, whilst they won’t reveal their own candidate pass rates, 7city have indicated that their own candidate pass rate is much higher than the CFAI average pass rate. BPP also told someone I know that they were in a similar position.

@MattyJ Pretty much every provider will find an “informal” way to say that their pass rate is higher than the average — which will probably be true, but… — so I’m not sure if these pieces of information can be relied on necessarily.

Something else to watch out for (related to study style), which I am going through right now in my L1 preparation, is putting the appropriate time to learn the material. Gotta resist the temptation to rush through things just to cover more material over a given time period (for the sake of sticking to a schedule), and run the risk of not grasping the essence of what’s being taught. The schedule needs to be somewhat flexible; but again, given the volume of material, lots of hours are needed to do this thing properly.

By the way, I’m not using any provider yet, just going through CFAI materials (twice each chapter: first time highlighting and second time writing up my summary) and EOC problems for retention. Will probably buy a Qbank about a month before the exam and practice the heck out of it. So far it feels like a solid strategy, and one where I am actually learning a lot.

I second Sophie’s comments. Trying to get through 2 providers’ worth of material 100% wouldn’t be proportionately helpful.

I third @sophie’s comments. At level 1 it might be worth signing up with a prep provider such as Fitch (aka 7city). They have a great online question bank and monitoring process which is perfect for level 1.

Hi @Maldon, welcome to 300HC.

Studying both Elan AND Schweser notes may be an overkill and you may not have enough time to cover grounds. I’d suggest choosing a preferred provider, read the materials, do the end of chapter (EOC) questions, and repeat until finish.

Make sure you leave the full month before exams to do (tons of) practice papers under timed conditions. There’s not particular ideal order of materials per se, chronological is fine.

@maldon – in general using pure CFA curriculum materials as your main source takes up a lot of your time as their material is super extensive.

What helps save (precious time) is using a prep provider’s more concise (but no less effective) materials as your main study source. We have a huge reviews & offers section that has discounts with these main prep providers such as: Schweser, Elan, 7City, BPP. Have a look and see what suits you best for your studies, let us know if you’ve any questions. Hope this helps!