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I will be signing up for level 1 shortly. To give you all a background about me. I double majored in accounting and finance in undergrad. Currently, in a masters of accounting program. Passed half of the CPA exam and plan to finish the CPA in early April. So is 2 months doable. I’ve looked through all of the LOSs and roughly 90% of the material I have seen before. I plan on having ethics, quantitative methods done by April. I also will review FRA by April.
So is April and May enough time to knock out the rest of the material given my background? I also will have all of May off from my Masters course.
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Since you have an accounting background the FRA portion might be easier to digest. However, you still have Economics, Portfolio Management, Fixed Income, Equity, Corporate Finance, Ethics, Quant, Derivatives, and Alternative Investments to read, digest, and quickly and efficiently answer questions. The material is a lot more in depth than what you learned in undergrad so you will need to spend a lot of time understanding concepts practice answering questions. You’re talking about over 1,000 pages of material to master in two months. I would not recommend pursuing this exam with two months to spare.
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I would suggest that if money isn’t an issue, then sure why not register for June and make an attempt at level 1…the worst that will happen is you fail but will be well on your way to having digested the material for a December retake’ and cf course you might do well and pass. If you take two tries in the same year, that also means that any prep material you have bought will still be up to date and useable without concern.
If paying 2 x $800 dollars is a bit much and you really need to pass it first go, then perhaps a December attempt would be better. As @jak5189 mentions, there is a LOT of material to get through and while your accounting background will stand you in good stead for the FRA section, I’m willing to bet there are a few things you either haven’t come across before or have only touched on briefly in your undergrad.
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I think its doable, but that being said, it depends how comfortable you are with all of the materials. You need to be familiar with US GAAP and IFRS, and know the key differences in rules (not sure what you covered in your undergrad/masters program). If you were a finance major, its likely you already familiar with the other topics as well (corp finance, equity, FI), but you also need to take into account how much you remember. Its one thing seeing the material before and being familiar with it, but its a completely different thing actually knowing the material to the detail needed to score well on the exam and get those tricky questions correct (something I learned along the way). When I looked through the LOS I also thought I knew most of it, but the level of detail caught me off gaurd; the CFA curriculam is definitely more detailed then what you learned in undergrad. Last thing to keep in mind, its highly encouraged that you save the last month to do practice exams, so do you feel comfortable going over the curriculam in just one month? Its a lot of content to master in a short period of time.
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Thanks for all of the really good advice guys. Let me ask one more follow up question. The finance department at my school is paying for me to take level 1. I can sign up in June or December and it will only cost me $350. I haven’t signed up yet because I’m waiting for my passport to be renewed. So my question is…
I have no doubt that I can pass level 1 in December if I sign up then but how realistic is passing level 2 in 6 months? Also, keep in mind that I will be working full-time at that point. I also will be in busy season from Jan to March because my job is in public accounting. Also, consider my background again for level 2.
If level 2 is just too hard to do in 6 months while working full-time then I might just bite the bullet and do level 1 this June. TIA guys.
Also, I’ve looked through the FRA LOS for level 1 and the only thing I will need to spend significant time on is the IFRS vs. U.S. GAAP differences. Everything else appears to be 300 level accounting concepts that I can do routinely. I did notice the accounting gets much harder for level 2 (pensions, leases, VIEs, equity method, acquision method etc.)
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Level 2 in certainly doable in 6 months, many have done it (the 18 month CFA). There’s some good contributors on this forum who have done it and written blogs on what they had to go through and what it took.
Don’t forget though, you’ll actually have just over 4 months to do level 2 as the CFAI don’t give you the results for 6 to 7 weeks. E.G. Dec 6th exam, 27th Jan result this time around… -
If you have all of May off to dedicate to studying for L1, I would take a run @ the June L1 for sure.
The breadth of L2 is a beast. I come from an accounting background also and I got through L2 last June on 4 months prep but that was only because my work wasn’t super demanding. I would be hesitant to try and balance the busy season in public accounting and L2 prep at the same time.
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Akshay Utkarsh said:Hello Everyone. I am preparing for CFA and need a study Partner. I have put up my schedule and preferences on StudyPal. It would be great if we could study together.
My best wishes.You don’t need to post this in every thread man!! Come on…
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