When did you start studying for Level 1?

This was a while ago – I started studying in Nov/Dec I think. Like you, I wasn’t finance-educated, and I just started in my job so I didn’t even have much financial knowledge. I started early mainly because I was interested to get started.

The burnout came later.

Hi Everyone, not really new here but finally registered. Taking L1 the 2nd time. 😅

First time around underestimated the volume of work and nearly died beneath that pile of books. Definately gonna make it this time around. Looking for 2 to 3 or more accountability study partners either on whatsapp or telegram or email. Excited to be part of the team.

All depends on lifestyle really. If your a full-time, with family, etc. you might need to start 5-6 months out. Anything less than that – 3-4. It also depends whether your going to learn on a DIY basis, or classroom basis. Last, I am just not a big risk taker when i comes to my time and money – so I will tend to start studying early on exams.

@lucygao Registered for June as well and have already started studying with the CFAI books and Mark Meldrum. However I have a blended family of three girls ranging from 7-16 so I know that time will be scarce. Just depends a lot on your personal life and other time commitments.

It all depends on your prior knowledge and you availability during your preparation for the exam. For example, I started studying about a month before the exam since I’m a grad student in Quantitative Business & Finance and had basically nothing to do so could devote the whole day to studying. Evidently, if you working or from a different background this won’t be possible.

Rule of thumb: 250-450 hours for CFA1

The range starting from 250 if you have prior knowledge (I’m talking more about educational knowledge and not work experience) in quants AND accounting. Towards 450 when you have zero prior knowledge about both these topics.

This is a general guideline. I recommend calculating you required study time by setting you deadline at least some days/weeks before the actual exam to not have such stressful days as I had the days before the exam.

Good luck!

Depending on your personal life, I think the earlier you start studying, the better prepared you will be.

Many of the concepts covered on Level 1 are rather complex and without an educational background in finance, it may take a bit more time to develop a thorough understanding of the content covered on the exam. I spent about 20 hours per week for six months to prepare, and having sufficient time will help you retain the information and understand the reasoning behind the more advanced topics.

Best of luck in your preparation!

Really depends on your experience. I think staring in Jan for the June exam is fairly good rule of thumb. People who start later than that usually succeed if they already have some industry experience.

4-6 months is a good guideline. A lot of people think just because you work in finance you have a huge edge, not true. CFA curriculum is very academic and a lot of the things you learn in the finance work world are different.