CFA CFA Level 1 How many hour do you study per week?

How many hour do you study per week?

  • Author
    Posts
    • Up
      72
      ::

      I know this seems like an easy questions to calculate given that 300 hours is the target but I want to know how many hours people are putting in each week.
       
      I’m managing 12 hours, 9 throughout the week and 3 on the weekends. This is enough to reach 300 hours given how much study I’ve done but want to know if I really should be pushing harder. I’m also learning to program and keen to keep that up but want to ensure I’ll pass Lvl1 first time.

      Thanks in advance! 

    • Avatar of junepass93junepass93
      Participant
        • CFA Level 1
        Up
        8
        ::

        @Tez4715 Thanks! How many hours are you in so far & whats your progress? Im trying to take 60-70 hours to finish skimming all 5 books… then start digging in. Ill be in commercial banking at a BB

      • Avatar of preetujainpreetujain
        Participant
          • Undecided
          Up
          6
          ::

          Hi All, I am planning to take Level 1 exam in December…….hopefully. I am in real need of motivation as I am full time working and have kids at home. But I really want to give a shot in December. Is there anyone like me who have succeed in first attempt? Any good motivational stories please 🙂

        • Avatar of taratara
          Participant
            • Undecided
            Up
            6
            ::

            12 hours a week

          • Avatar of mincemeat23mincemeat23
            Participant
              • CFA Level 1
              Up
              5
              ::

              I’m started off L1 with weekends only, but 6 hours each day so 12 hours per week. Last two weeks I took off and studied full time, so about 6-8 hours every day.

            • Up
              5
              ::

              @edg94 haha was far from motivating at the begining but now I feel like I’m making good progress, momentum seems to be picking up, managed to smash out 24 hours last week. Needed to catch up from a week abroad on holiday and thought I was being overly ambition but nailed it  B) 
              I reward myself with a good TV show and CoD  😀

            • Avatar of tolly66tolly66
              Participant
                • CFA Level 3
                Up
                4
                ::

                Six-hour sessions will melt your brain, but they are good for building your endurance on Exam Day. For Level 1, I managed to get just under 21.5 hrs/wk (I was going to school last year, which gave me enough free time). Overall, my study time totaled 410 hours. Thankfully, I passed, however, I sacrificed time that I could have used for job hunting. 

              • Avatar of genetempgenetemp
                Participant
                  • CFA Level 1
                  Up
                  4
                  ::
                  tolly66 said:
                  Six-hour sessions will melt your brain, but they are good for building your endurance on Exam Day. For Level 1, I managed to get just under 21.5 hrs/wk (I was going to school last year, which gave me enough free time). Overall, my study time totaled 410 hours. Thankfully, I passed, however, I sacrificed time that I could have used for job hunting. 

                  I think the 6-hour session thing really varies from person to person. My roommate and I are both taking the CFA exam, and I can’t go for any longer than 2-3 hours, but he basically grinds it out from morning till evening during weekends, stopping only to eat some pizza. It’s unnerving.

                • Up
                  3
                  ::

                  @genetemp I’m the same as you, 2-3 hrs and then concentration seems to go out the window. I’ve done a few 6 hour sessions but best part always seems to be finishing the session  😀

                • Avatar of excelmonkeyexcelmonkey
                  Participant
                    • CFA Level 2
                    Up
                    3
                    ::
                    Tez4715 said:
                    Thank you encouraging words………I hope for the best :-). Wish you good luck for your exams.


                    Hey Preetujain, hope the studying is going well! Just thought I would let you know that I passed the level 1 exam in June and wanted to make sure you are still motivated!

                    Nice one – see you in L2! @@Tez4715! Also passed ::smile:

                  • Up
                    3
                    ::
                    Tez4715 said:
                    Thank you encouraging words………I hope for the best :-). Wish you good luck for your exams.


                    Hey Preetujain, hope the studying is going well! Just thought I would let you know that I passed the level 1 exam in June and wanted to make sure you are still motivated!

                    Nice one – see you in L2! @@Tez4715! Also passed ::smile:

                    Yeah you did! Congratulations!!! 

                  • Up
                    2
                    ::
                    @Tez4715 Thanks! How many hours are you in so far & whats your progress? Im trying to take 60-70 hours to finish skimming all 5 books… then start digging in. Ill be in commercial banking at a BB


                    @junepass93
                      😀 

                    220+ because I started early, tallying it like a prison sentence  😀 It took me 180 hours to read all the material and answer end of chapter Qs but now that I am smashing out questions all the time, the info is sticking much better than after just reading it. Re-reading weak areas is working well for me. 

                  • Avatar of preetujainpreetujain
                    Participant
                      • Undecided
                      Up
                      2
                      ::

                      Thank you encouraging words………I hope for the best :-). Wish you good luck for your exams.

                    • Up
                      1
                      ::

                      @tolly66 wow 21hrs, you beast! I’m going to have to step it up I think, 12 hours p/w just feels like I’m going to come up short for the exam. Thanks for sharing

                    • Avatar of mincemeat23mincemeat23
                      Participant
                        • CFA Level 1
                        Up
                        1
                        ::
                        tolly66 said:
                        Six-hour sessions will melt your brain

                        I completely agree – I forgot to say I’m not doing them all at once. I go to a library, put in about 3 hours in the morning, then have a nice lunch and walk around the area, then another 3 hours in the afternoon. Like you say I’m trying to simulate the exam day!

                      • Avatar of junepass93junepass93
                        Participant
                          • CFA Level 1
                          Up
                          1
                          ::

                          Welp, I just graduated in December & my job doesnt start until July.. Spent first 3 months as a vacation and I just started studying a few days ago. Basically studying full time, putting 6 – 7 hours a day. 😛

                        • Up
                          1
                          ::

                          @junepass93 you Cray Cray  😀 Enjoy the grind and best of luck! Congrats on graduating and what role are you starting come July? 

                        • Up
                          1
                          ::

                          I find that about 20-30 min breaks every 2 hours work well, so a typical full study day could be three sessions:

                          2 hours studying, 30 mins break, 2 hours studying, 30 mins break, 2 hours studying = 7 hours total

                          changing topics in between also helps!

                        • Up
                          1
                          ::
                          Hi All, I am planning to take Level 1 exam in December…….hopefully. I am in real need of motivation as I am full time working and have kids at home. But I really want to give a shot in December. Is there anyone like me who have succeed in first attempt? Any good motivational stories please 🙂

                          Hey Preetujain, Just think about the end game, why are you taking the CFA in the first place? I am sitting the lvl 1 exam in a couple of days and feeling somewhat ready for it I started pondering the thought of lvl 2. From what I have read it is an absolute mammoth when compare to lvl 1 so pretty nervous about it, but going to nail it anyway because I know I need those three little letters behind my name if I want to achieve my career ambitions. It’s all about the ‘why’ and once you have that bit figured out, it’s all about routine and consistency I recon 😉 
                          Best of luck though come December. 

                        • Up
                          1
                          ::
                          Thank you encouraging words………I hope for the best :-). Wish you good luck for your exams.


                          Hey Preetujain, hope the studying is going well! Just thought I would let you know that I passed the level 1 exam in June and wanted to make sure you are still motivated!

                        • Up
                          0
                          ::

                          @mincemeat23 nice one, I’ve done a couple of 6 hour sessions and they are brutal! Thanks for letting me know and best of luck in June! 

                        • Avatar of taratara
                          Participant
                            • Undecided
                            Up
                            0
                            ::

                            20 hours a week is enough for me.
                            I segregated the topic weight wise and create weekly calendar for CFA level 1 preparation.

                          • Avatar of edg94edg94
                            Participant
                              • CFA Level 1
                              Up
                              0
                              ::

                              @Tez4715 wow does that motivate or demotivate? Can’t tell…   :sweat:

                              I ‘reward’ myself by checking off a successful study day on a paper calendar and logging the number of hours on it. Read it somewhere on the blog and it helps me add on just a little bit of study motivation.

                            • Avatar of edg94edg94
                              Participant
                                • CFA Level 1
                                Up
                                0
                                ::
                                Tez4715 said:
                                I reward myself with a good TV show and CoD  😀

                                Trashy Netflix is my reward at the end of the day….

                            Viewing 23 reply threads
                            • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.