CFA Level 1 June 2017

Question

Hey Guys,

I'm registered for CFA level 1 June 2017, I have an engineering background, and currently I'm working in finance to build some knowledge and experience.

FYI I have seen that there was a couple of changes in 2016&2017 CFA edition.

-In Ethics there is one knew reading (Reading 1:Ethics and Trust in the Investment Profession) that I found interesting though, the rest is all the same,
-In Economics there is a lot of changes,
-Corporate Finance same a lot of changes,
And that's it, the rest is exactly the same.

Anyways, first I wanted to have some advice, since I'm working the whole week till late at night I really don't have time to study for CFA. Only on weekends is possible for me, this is why I'm starting "early" !

So I wanted to study from the CFA curriculum but I keep reading on forums that there is a lot of information to incorporate and that it would be better to focus on another prep course that summarizes a bit more. So I see that people suggest doing that while also going back to the CFA curriculum to check the informations/explanations when necessary.

What do you think about that, is it really better to focus on another prep course? If yes, which one is the best one to work from? Shweser...?

Also I saw that for ethics it is better to read it from CFA curriculum since it is very well explained and very important subject for CFA exam, since we can gain points easily in it.
I finished the knew 2017's Reading 1 (Ethics and Trust in the Investment Profession) , and was starting Reading 2 which is "Code of Ethics and Standards of Professional Conduct". 
About this reading I wanted to know, for you who remember this part, how much is important the Preface, do we need to learn the 
-Summary of changes in the 11th edition
-CFA Institute Professional Conduct Program
-Adoption of the Code and Standards
-Acknowledgments

Or do we just have to read it and go directly to "ETHICS AND THE INVESTMENT INDUSTRY" part, where we will find the 6&7 code of ethics&standards to memorize ?

Thanks for your answers !

tacheman · Answer

Well I'm not sure what you mean by 'basic stuff'. There's definitely more than the basic arithmetic - time value of money, cashflows, stats etc. There's some tips here: https://300hours.com/ba-ii-plus-guide/#.V_ID95MrLOQ

rsparks · Answer

I studied straight from the curriculum and used Qbank. The biggest factor was actually QBank. CFAI can waffle on at times. I enjoyed the readings a lot more from CFAI except for economics. So it will depend on your preference and time constraints.  If you had 4-5 months, use 3rd party and get to questions. I feel the main emphasis to passing level 1 is questions. You will need to learn how to use a calculator but it isn't too bad. You can use TI to calculate variance and SD....i didn't know how to that so watched a video on youtube. If you come across problems and it takes longer than two mins to calculate, then see if there is a more efficient way to use your calculator.