how can one within the short span of time for CFA level 1

@christine this question I have asked for Dec. 2013 exam…………

@CFAAspirant, If you are starting now, I dont think you have much time. Starting now I think Schweser is the best way to go. Have a solid Plan. understand concepts thoroughly. My understanding is level-1 is tested more on concepts than on calculations. In the last month. Solve all the mock papers from Schweser including the CFAI one. Solving helps only after you correct your mistakes after doing each paper. Otherwise it is waste of time. Better write a one liners of all mistakes of mock and revise it before a day or two. Keep last week for revision alone.

I’d say if your’e gearing up for June 2014, it is pretty early to be starting. Mock exams will be better than question banks for practice. The only difference in Level 1 between mock and question bank is a possible difference in difficulty and simplicity. Question banks can have ‘simple’ to ‘hard’ level questions, whereas mocks are meant to simulate the ‘real’ level of difficulty in the exam. However a high volume of mocks can be hard to obtain, so supplementing your studies with question banks are always a good idea.

@CFAAspirant: DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE ETHICS!!!

@sankrutimehta very true. The content remains same for all 3 levels, yet difficulty of questions in exam keep increasing.

@RaviVooda: By the time u reach Lv3 u would almost know the wordings by heart and yet might fumble on the questions..plus people tend to take it lightly thinking its “just ethics”

In Level 1, there is not that much difference between question banks and actual mock exam questions (compared to L2 and L3). If I had to choose I would say do the mock exams, as you will also get the benefit of experiencing what the structure of the paper will be like on the day.

In all honesty, it is only September (well, it will be tomorrow!), so you have plenty of time to blast through question bank questions, EOC’S, and mock exams. Most candidates who have passed L1 would probably suggest something along the following:
1) read the chapters in the book in their entirety (either CFAI or Schweser)
2) complete the ‘blue box’ questions in CFAI to consolidate the learnings
3) complete the end of chapter questions in CFAI
4) complete the end of chapter questions in Schweser
5) complete as many practice exams as you can, reverting back to the text if there are areas you are struggling on (this last bit should be in the last 3 or 4 weeks before the exam).

Obviously how much you can do depends on the time you have available. If you are pushed for time, I would personally focus on point 1 (using Schweser will be quicker here, point 3 or 4, and point 5.

Hope that helps!

@RaviVooda: I know..but trust me you would not want to!!

@sankrutimehta very true, people start taking ethics lightly in level2 and 3.