Level I Prep Progress Update

Question

Good morning from beautiful Arkansas, USA,Between work, studying (or as I prefer to call it, prep. Sounds a bit less dreary, don't you think?), and personal life there hasn't been a great opportunity to update you all on my CFA journey. Today is day 72 of my 187 day schedule. Day 188 is test day. Let's cut right to the numbers of topics and study sessions covered, practice questions completed (excluding "Concept Checkers"), and my scoring on those questions. I have studied for just shy of 100 hours so far.Topic (Session#) #'s completed, % scoreEthics (1) 50, 72%Quant (2) 50, 76%FRA (7) 28, 71%FRA (8) 37, 65%FRA (9) 50, 78%FRA (10) 25, 80%Fixed Income (15) 129, 78%Fixed Income (16) 41, 80%Equity Investments (14, only readings 48 and 49) 30, 93%TOTAL: 440 questions, 77%As you can see, I have worked more practice questions into my routine as I progressed. I now do 15 questions after each reading, then one or two sets of 25 practice questions over the study session as a whole depending on how many Q-bank questions there are. I feel good about my progress so far, the second prep period I have scheduled (the 55 days leading up to the test) will be crucial with completing practice exams, covering areas again, and giving added attention to areas where scores need improvement. Share your thoughts below.Thanks,John

LeChiffre · Answer

@Lollypolly, I'm using Schweser questions. I haven't done any repeat questions. I do review them after the quiz so I see what I need to do differently. If you've covered all those you seem to be on a good pace.Honestly, I feel like I've covered a lot in the 100 hours or so I've studied, but my estimate may be a bit on the low side. Knock on wood, but this isn't as stressful as I was anticipating. But when practice exam rolls around I may change my opinion there.The average score on Schweser (peer comparison) is around where I'm at, higher in some areas and lower in others. I'm trying to gauge if some people are doing them open book. Judging by time per question and scores it seems that is the case, or their retention is way above me. Time will tell.- John

Lollypolly · Answer

@LeChiffre sounds like you're doing really well. Do you use the CFA question bank? or another provider? or both?I find on first try I get around the 55-60% and then once I retry the same questions again the numbers get up to the high 70's/80's so I guess the first round of questions helps me figure out what I didn't fully grasp after the first reading. I also find I get better results on the weekend mornings then after work during weekdays which goes to show how tiredness really affects your ability to consume more information. I've only covered Ethics, Quants, Econ and FRA for now so I'm starting to feel under pressure to get everything read in the next month-6 weeks to give myself plenty of time for practice exams and revision.