CFA Institute Materials problem sets

@Pranav‌ so I did say I would tell you if I came across something. There is question 7 in Reading 40 Pg 185 Book 4 of CFAI. Maybe I missed it or something, but I have only seen theory about short term borrowings like commercial paper. This question actually has formulas to calculate the cost of credit. It might not be important but just look it at once in any case.

@CFAcharterwannabe‌ @ralu14‌
thanks a ton mate, will check it out when i reach there…jotting down notes now for revision during the last two weeks…if you haven’t yet tried the mocks, first do 2 cfa mocks instead of the schweser mocks…there are 4 mocks from cfa, so those 2 should give a decent estimate about the exam instead of the schweser mocks…
i was checking the cfai material earlier when i faced doubts, but time constraints prevented me from doing that for some of the other topics…maybe i can cover that during this revision round…24hours is too short a time in a day! earth is too small a planet, should have been on jupiter for cfa exams! 😛

@ralu14‌ @Pranav‌ yeah they are. Schweser relies way too much on calculations which makes you lose your mind and you end up forgetting way too much of the theory which frankly is equally a part of the exam. The only thing left to do now is to try and do as many of the exams on the CFAI site. Maybe doing another set of questions is what could make us pass (fingers crossed).

@ralu14‌ yeah I didn’t manage to go through the CFAI books. I have been using Kaplan as my primary study material. I just didn’t have time to study with the CFAI books. So I am doing the questions and reading through the material if I come across anything new. Same as you.

@Pranav‌ i don’t know if there are things that have been left out in Schweser. Honestly I am struggling to juggle so many things. Trying to remember the theory, the formulas and then trying to do the questions. Well I am sure you know what I am talking about. But what I can say is I found certain areas like probability and options challenging. And I attempted the CFAI questions after that. And I have to say the questions were really thorough and helped me understand the concept much better compared to the Schweser questions. So if you have any issues with any area, I highly recommend going for the CFAI questions.

I am trying to get to the mocks honestly. I know just reading the theory is not enough. Doing the questions is at least 70% of the work I believe. And thanks for the tip. Good luck with your prep and if I come across anything will let you know.

@ralu14‌ forgotten quite a lot of material mate…dont remember formulas and some nitty-gritty concepts here and there…so my tests didnt go well either…scores dropped with each test 😛
so i moved to revision again, will take tests again from 24th may onwards…by then, hopefully, i’ll be able to memorize the formulas and complete a quick scan of the entire material again…

@Pranav‌ yeah I am doing exactly that. I did a couple of individual mocks and I was getting kid of confused so I am spending the day today doing some revision and will get back to mocks after this. @ralu14‌ I know it seems we all have a similar plan of practise, revision, practise. And yes it really really helps knowing you are not the only one seriously messed up lol

@ralu14‌ @CFAcharterwannabe‌
yup, noticed the same…those cfa mocks are a level apart…should not have relied on kaplan so much…well, lesson learnt(a tad too late though)

@ralu14‌ @Pranav‌ year all the very best and lots of Good Luck to you guys. Hopefully it will be OK as we can make it to the other side! :)>-

@Pranav‌ yeah I am done with ACCA already. It helped that I was familiar with accounting concepts and had some help with TVM in Quants and the concepts in FRA. But I didn’t have to deal with the IFRS vs GAAP issue there and its more about applying the reporting standard, as in you solve a big sum based on an amalgamation of standards. And I am shit at memorising stuff. So it was back to square one for me.

@ralu14‌ yeah I am thinking the same. They are way more challenging and thoroughly depress me out by the time I am done with even 1 reading. But hopefully, it will pay off…

@ralu14‌ @CFAcharterwannabe‌ i read somewhere that the schweser questions were a decent estimate of the actual exam questions…though i confess the cfai questions were tougher, didn’t have time to try them beyond the first few readings…
so stuck to kaplan…doubt i’ll find time now to do those…have all those kaplan mocks to give and review the mistakes and so on 🙁

i went and did 2 kaplan mocks, but i feel it’s better to do cfa mocks first…just saying…kaplan mocks can be used for practice questions once the cfa mocks are done with i guess…

@Pranav‌ @ralu14‌ I basically suck at remembering stuff and I hate doing MCq’s. They are so black and white. Either you are right or you are simply wrong. I don’t know I prefer writing stuff. You can ramble on and manage to chuck out a few decent points in the process.

And the mocks! I haven’t attempted any under timed conditions yet. I have done a couple and all I have realised so far is how much I suck and how much more time I need. But with each mock i do realise that though it might seem pointless at first, you will notice your speed and accuracy increasing. That’s how i encourage myself. Just remember that each question you attempt whether you realise it or not increases your stamina and interpretation powers 😀

Agree with @Pranav‌ about needing more time.

@ralu14‌ I don’t understand where all the stuff that I studied went cos i cant seem to recall any of it. Anyhow there is no point in moaning about it. Lets just keep going through the questions cos honestly what are we going to lose by doing that? Only our minds potentially lol yeah I want to do the CFAI mock under times conditions. But I am not confident enough that I can do it right now. A few more days maybe.

@CFAcharterwannabe‌ @ralu14‌
hiya fellas! hate all this revision but was my only option…my way is the ugly way, trust me…going through all the books, jotting down the formulas and essential notes, noting down what should be read on a daily basis, that kinda stuff…this is the wrong time to be doing it but i have to do it for the last week before exam…
i am now on the 4th book, portfolio management part…if all goes as per plan, might finish book 5 by thursday…
starting friday, do the mocks as per exam timings, review after 4pm…revise all notes next day then mock again…so on and so forth…
if that doesnt work, then i’m screwed 😛
really approached this exam wrong, i figured out how to prepare for these exams 2 weeks before the exam 😀 will share my thoughts after exam day…

that’s the thing with mocks, can get good score on one session because those particular questions are our strong topics…it’s possible that the actual exam may have more questions on our weak topic areas…hence cant revise only the errors from the mock exams…forced to revise everything…

give 2 full mocks and you wont worry much about time…exam is well structured and you’d know the pattern and time management once you give a few…nothing for the stamina bro, struggling same as you are, hate doing these reviews, so boring reading and forgetting the same stuff repeatedly 🙁

oh ya, i saw those 80% scores too on forums…dont pay too much attention, everyone has different circumstances…with no background relating to cfa and horrible work timings, i was in a bind for a long time on my preparations (still am!)…so you don’t know what sort of background the one getting 80% has…

@ralu14‌ @Pranav‌ yeah not listening but I cant ignore my scores. For some reason I am stuck in the 60’s. And I am seriously messed up about the time limit. I can’t believe I am being defeated by a bunch of mcq’s. That’s really horrifying! lol.

@ralu14‌ @Pranav‌ yeah i saw AF but i was so busy studying i checked it only once i think. There is no time for regrets left now. Honestly, i think we all did the best we could under our own circumstances and playing the blame game right before the exams is not going to help guys. I think it is best to relax and just think about doing your best in the time we have left because that’s all we can do really yeah. So just study hard as best as we can right now.

😀
good luck fellas!

@CFAcharterwannabe‌ @ralu14‌

@ralu14‌ @Pranav‌ so guys updates. How did it go? Personally I am still recuperating which is why it took me so long to build up the courage to ask you this :-&

@CFAcharterwannabe‌ L1? i am skeptical about clearing it, and feel it would be a wise idea to browse through the material regularly till results arrive to keep the information stored in the brain…
how was the turnout at your center mate? i was in kuwait and there were 300 odd people for all three levels…80 for L1…not everyone showed up either, so numbers would be lower…

@ralu14‌

@CFAcharterwannabe‌ yo! since you are on the CFAI EOC, anything fancy there that you found is not covered in Schweser?
i definitely wont have time for CFAI questions…done with 2 schweser mocks, first one was about 60%(both morning and afternoon)…and i am sure i can score more if i remember stuff…gotta really memorize those formulas! havent scored the 2nd mock yet, but it went worse than the 1st one, i estimate about 55% or so…

one thing i can say is, do a few mocks right away…only 1 month to go…those mocks really help you to assess what you wanna do in the last month…i know i have forgotten quite a few things and will plan accordingly…strengthen concepts, memorize formulas etc. (all those points that you considered unimportant from exam perspective while reading the books, do get asked in the mocks)

i understand everyone has a plan, but i just feel a mock or two would really help in the preparation…my personal opinion…

@ralu14‌ yep, i agree…unfortunately for me, i have an extremely hectic week at work…unable to put in the bare minimum either…nothing much to do but to put in your best and hope 🙂

@ralu14‌ @CFAcharterwannabe‌ if you have done a mock or two (complete, Morning and afternoon), then go for a quick revision and return to mocks…i feel that is better…just getting wrong questions in mocks without spending time on revision wont help i believe…

@Pranav‌ dude I think you sort of misunderstood my meaning. I meant review some material not all. Lol you have some serious misconceptions about me :p I really don’t have the stamina to do the books all over again. Tell me your secret about what you take to build your stamina cos I am seriously needing some lol yeah I am going to just get on to those papers myself after this review. Gotta time my exams cos I suffer from serious time mgmt issues. @ralu14‌ can give us secret tips about passing the exam 😀

lol, you guys are hilarious 😀 i am in the same boat as you guys, in the 60s as well, gonna check out cfa mocks now…then two days of revision…thank your aunt for that quote 😉 pretty much the only thing that keeps us going currently

@Pranav‌ what’s funny? 😛

@CFAcharterwannabe‌ dont even wanna talk about it…it was as bad as my mocks were, so that statement should speak volumes considering you guys know how the mocks went 😛

@ralu14‌
yeah, me in rest and recuperation phase too…will start studying from Monday again…1 week rest is enough i guess…

@Pranav studying for what?

@Pranav‌ OK good luck dude. I don’t know about starting so soon. I am just going to go for the waiting route. Just don’t have the stomach to face the books again so soon :-&

Yeah the turnout was massive. I have done ACCA exams in the same location before and it was similar to one of the papers I have done. But still it was a bit freaky seeing that many people at 8 am all juiced up and ready to go. The section ahead of me was practically empty. I thought initially that it was just empty seats but later found out people just didn’t show up. And what about those people who got up an left half way through the exams hub? That was kinda scary freaky again!

@CFAcharterwannabe‌ u had prepared for ACCA already? cfa preparation must have been simplified then right?

Do you mean the end of chapter questions from the CFAI texts? Cos sure they are more thorough and way more challenging.

@Pranav‌ yeah I get the whole lots of material to cover thing. I am just going to try to do as many questions as I can. That’s my main goal. Just stick to your study technique cos everyone has a different way of studying. No point in worrying about what another person is doing. Just messes with your head.

lol about being in the same boat 😀
wow, review in a day? i am taking 2 days per book!!! should be done by this thursday…then a mock and a revision day every day till exams…lets see how it goes…

@CFAcharterwannabe‌ @ralu14‌

@ralu14‌ yeah pretty much same exploding and frustration issues. I see posts on the forum and a friend of mine telling me they are getting 80s and I am like how? 70 feels like a unicorn to me you know mythical unreal and all that. Really need to pull it together but the only way I know how is to keep practising and reviewing no matter the crappy score. Is there any other way cos if there is I would like to know! @Pranav‌ how’s the revision going?

😀

@ralu14‌ @Pranav‌ I lost it a long time back. But I am just going to keep doing the questions till the last day in the hope that each question might bring me closer to a pass, same as you. Wise woman your aunt!

all the best guys…

@ralu14‌ yeah I did. Hey wat can we do? Just brace ourselves against the upcoming storm lol

@ralu14‌ @CFAcharterwannabe‌ yep, same…waiting for the inevitable, that’s all…sigh…

@ralu14‌ yes for sure. That’s the whole point of this forum Sharing your ideas and techniques so others can benefit. I personally had planned on using the CFAI books for my studies. But then when I saw the amount of material and the time remaining, I knew I simply couldn’t use it as my primary material. So I am attempting the EOC questions from there because I feel really guilty for not studying from there. It’s extremely time consuming to do the questions from just one reading but I am doing my best to do them because I am a little apprehensive about not studying from there and well like everyone I want to pass.

But then at this point in time I think if something is working for you, you should stick with it. I think the bottom line is that just do as many questions as you can from any and every place that you can. And yes after this long speech, all the very best to you as well!

@Pranav‌ @ralu14‌ well I hope the revision is going well. I am trying to get the really important stuff down and I am going through notes rather than books. I want to get down to doing mocks and I think if I try doing the books completely I just wont have the stamina to attempt the mocks.

I think the screwy feeling is going to last till the exams and results are done and over with. I am having a tough time with the formulas as well. I am scared if I don’t learn a particular one it might show up in the exam and there are so many of them! So I want to focus on the mocks and EOCs and try to memorise as many as I can.

I am just focusing on getting a decent score and not going to worry about others and other things cos everyone has their own pace and style of studying so lets just stick with our eh 🙂

@ralu14‌ yup, seen that site…was subscribed to the rss feeds but never managed to track it…so MANY questions come up there!

@CFAcharterwannabe‌ yeah, cfa mocks focus more on theory questions…so discouraging now…