CFA Level 1 – A person who has zero experience in the industry requesting help.

I came from hospitality after 5 years and stumbled upon a job at MassMutual. Heard about CFA and just went for it. I’m not very good at math or anything for that matter lol. BUT I passed level one. Studied a total of 605 hours for it and did very well.  I think literally anyone could do it if you put in the effort.  I’m ONLY speaking from level one experience though.  I’m studying for two now. For level one you should be fine with 2015 material.  Schweser notes are plenty to pass.

@Zoubim , no need to even touch the institutes books for level one. 

@Zoubim hey,
in a similar situation such as yours. Do you mind sharing that file you got off pirate bay? maybe though email.

Did you really mention downloading from pirate bay and you display a pirate profile pic lol!

yep, everything you need are in the study guides. The cfai material may be better if u don’t understand something from the 3rd party material, but you can also use YouTube. The way the cfai explains things are not the clearest and most efficient way to learn sometimes. Personally, I think the institute enjoys trying to mess with you. 

On the flipside, I’ve a degree in economics and I struggled with econ. There were differences in the way econ is taught at uni vs cfai…only slight differences. Sometimes it makes you hold onto your ways. So, don’t let prior experience get in your way of thinking it’s hard. You will find certain topics easier and harder. The best piece of advice is learning how to stay motivated. Explain to your friends and family you will not have time to see them and that you need their support since you have a lot of family commitments. If they are desperate to see u, do stuff during the week and plan around it. Time management is key as well.

Also, think about if I fail in June, ‘how will I feel’. What is my plan? I failed level 1 and it feels horrible reading that email and thinking about, here we go again. However, I’m quite tenacious and never give up that easy (I did a half marathon without training and didn’t stop). I told myself in the next exam, I’m gonna kick the <choice word> out of this exam and <choice word> to the cfai. So it can be more a mental battle and time management path to success as well.