CFA CFA General Why do the first levels seems more like a memory dump

Why do the first levels seems more like a memory dump

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    • Avatar of surangasasurangasa
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        I joined the CFA program because I wanted to become a good investor and thought it would be a good starting point at the least. Now that I have passed the Level 1 exam and so on it seems to me that the CFA program is more like an memory dump. A lot of disjointed concepts. There are no other issues. Its just that it seems to me that it all is disjointed. I don’t have a really good clue on how to practically apply the knowledge in my local markets. However that could be because of the fact that I live in a country with a primitive set of markets. 

        I have asked this question from many people related to the CFA program already and they almost unanimously give one answer. That is, it will all be clear when you do Level 3. I would like to ask the 300hours community why would doing Level 3 make everything clear?

      • Avatar of hairyfairyhairyfairy
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          Hi  @surangasa!

          After reading the first part of your post, I was also thinking the same thing – that Level 3 will bring it all together (or start to anyway). Level 3 focuses on the practical applications of investment management, going through case studies and examples, and you’ll start to see how learning the concepts in L1, practicing them in L2 combine in L3 to create an investment management skillset.

          Just like learning how to create a car starts with learning math, thermodynamics, material science etc, it can all seem disjointed and unrelated until you start bringing them together. In L2 they start interconnecting, and in L3 they all combine.

        • Avatar of surangasasurangasa
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            I guess its more of a full set of power tools than a simple screwdriver.

          • Avatar of surangasasurangasa
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              Let me elaborate a bit more on this. When I said disjointed I meant that the overall framework for applying what I learnt to investing isn’t still there before Level 3. 

            • Avatar of daharmattan1daharmattan1
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                Think of each level as a layer of knowledge they want to ensure people have. L1 is like the rite of passage–90 seconds, lots of plug and play across a wide swath of material. L2 is similar but you go deeper into concepts and you now need to stare at vignettes of material and be able to figure out which pieces of information are relevant. Then L3 you need to move past multiple choice and calculations and apply it all into a framework.

                At least in theory I think that’s what’s going on

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