How are the June 14 Level 2 studies coming along?

I’m on Study Session 8 (Corporate Finance), but I skipped Study Session 4 (Econ) as I’m leaving it for the end. For each reading, I’m reading & highlighting CFAI, then reviewing on Schweser (making my notes there), then back to CFAI to do EOC problems. Leaving concept checkers to the last month along with Q-banks and mocks.

@Maroon5, I actually think the last month is where the “fun” begins, not the pain. To me it’s a bit more painful to cover all the ground for the first time: it’s long and a bit stressful in that you need to understand everything, try to lodge it somewhere in your long-term memory, and at the same time move as fast as possible since you need to leave a full month for reviews & practice (can’t really afford to lose a week). My final review of Level 1 a few months ago was the time when I had the most fun, as I was putting all pieces together from the previous readings… lots of “aha” moments.

@peekabooitsme‌ nice one, that’s really ahead of schedule! It’s alright, you’ll learn and absorb the most in these last 2 months. Keep going!

Thanks guys, really appreciate the advice. I did this on Saturday and yesterday – sat half the paper in the morning and then reviewed it in the afternoon. Today is a Bank Hol in the UK so I am doing lots of question practice on my weak areas. It was a bit if a shock getting those results though.

@hobojoe, not yet, leaving practice questions till last month where the pain begins. Now I’m just covering materials and doing end-of-chapter questions.

I’m not that much further ahead either @peekaboitsme and @policedog. Gotta push hard starting yesterday.

@policedog good to see you again! Glad you made it 🙂

@peekabooitsme @policedog @tacheman I’m right on pace with you guys. I’m just getting settled in, planning out my steps, and getting ready to really dive into the studying.

@christine Thanks a lot for the advice.

Sorry for late reply.. i digged myself in practice exams last 3-4 days and found out what topics need attention. I remember almost all subjects, fine tuning is needed. though i have completely forgot Alternative Investments and Economics :-S will have to hit these books again

Will put in all the pointers you have mentioned. Thank you again 🙂

Thank you for the advice @Sophie‌ and @edulima‌. @curlylocks88‌ so glad that someone else is in the same boat. Massive few weeks ahead.

I’ve read through the material, then took notes on my highlights, then read all the secret sauces and noted my highlights there. Have taken at least one 20 question exam on each study section and now going backwards from lowest to highest scores. Intend on souley doing questions for the next 5 weeks. As an FYI who read this and think you’re behind, you’re not, all I do is work and study for 17 hours a day.

Hello @Dr_Pain28, same here actually, going for Session 7 this weekend!

Just found I passed L1 – starting studying for level 2 today! Eeeekk feel like I have alot of catching up to do.

Finally approaching Alt Inv. closing in…

@christine Excited to hear what it is you guys have in the works!

@sethneha Good luck on the exam. I am writing level 2 as well. The main trouble I have is that even if I know something well after just having gone through it, if I go back to it a few weeks later I have forgotten most of the detail. Flashcards really help in this respect but they take absolutely forever.

> @peekabooitsme said:
> I just wrote my 1st practice exam – the morning part of exam 1 of Scheswer practice exam … and whoa. It’s so much harder/ different than I thought it would be. Did terrible – only got 48%! I am going to review everything I got wrong. But the one exam doesn’t have breathe of the entire curriculum is it worth writing the second half as well before stepping back and reviewing?

Hi, I also just took my first mock from schweser book 1 and got 48% in am and 58% pm. Shockingly bad.. not sure what to do either… have been through all of the material twice over and done eoc questions from cfa and schweser books.

I agree with @Sophie, but I’d say it’s too early to take a full day and do morning and then afternoon in exam-like conditions. Leave this for 1 week to 10 days before the exam and do it two times. Between now and then, just do what @Sophie is suggesting: do a practice exam (or Qbank practice), check your results and identify where you lack, then review those sections making sure you understand what you should have done (maybe even do a few more questions on that topic only), and then repeat this over and over…

@Dr_pain28 I was googling “Apirl” thinking it was a new study app, and decided that you probably meant April.

Wow, congrats @mattyc! And good job with keeping pace while the world goes round.

I just wrote my 1st practice exam – the morning part of exam 1 of Scheswer practice exam … and whoa. It’s so much harder/ different than I thought it would be. Did terrible – only got 48%! I am going to review everything I got wrong. But the one exam doesn’t have breathe of the entire curriculum is it worth writing the second half as well before stepping back and reviewing?

Hey @peekabooitsme‌ @curlylocks88‌ – don’t panic. The first few is practice papers are usually a terrifying experience and a confidence downer. But that’s what it’s for, to let you spot where your knowledge gaps are! It’s up to you on your method, but I’d suggest after 1-2 sets of papers, it’s worth trying out under exam timed condition (i.e. 9am-noon morning paper, 1pm-4pm afternoon paper) just to get used to the exam day.

You could do 1 paper, check and review thoroughly. This usually takes up the whole day though. But gradually you could move to doing 2 sets of paper in a day (like the actual exams), and mark/review it the next day. If you try to check the scores of the first paper it may affect your concentration for the second one.

The reviews of why/where you got wrong is an important step here. If you keep doing, checking, understanding where you went wrong your scores will improve.

Hope this helps!

I did my first practice exam and scored an amazing score of 55%. -.- I feel super behind since my study schedule was derailed with working long hours/weekends. Luckily I have been able to roll back in terms of hours worked and dropped my part-time gig. I just hope I have enough time to remember everything. Any suggestions?

@Dr_Pain28‌ I think I am just going to keep doing questions because I read but I don’t seem to retain anything. I do find the FinQuiz stuff useful to read on my commute.

I’m halfway through 12, using Schweser. I’m just reading through and doing the concept checkers, challenge problems and self tests though. No Q bank yet. Are you guys doing any practice questions beyond the books yet? This L2 material is pretty intense :-/

I just started SS7 tonight so I seem to be on pace with @Dr_pain28 and @Maroon5. I’ve been doing some q bank questions as I go along, 20 question quizzes to keep things fresh. I had my first kid last Wed. So after about 5 days of no studying I’m trying to get back in the groove. Not an easy thing to do with my little girl being all cute.

Thanks @edulima. Everyone’s got their respective lives to balance so Im no different. Thats the beauty of this forum though, we can communitcate with likeminded people that prove that my struggles are not unique. Its very theraputic.

Damn, @Dr_Pain28‌ you’ve just verified how far behind I’ve fallen. Looking at my Feb 5 post I was right in line with you but as of last night I just started Fixed Income. I severely underestimated the difficulty of getting study time with a newborn. Thankfully there is still time and I just need to really kick it into high gear. By June 6th my daughter is going to be calling the women of the cover of the CFA L2 books ‘daddy’ haha.

Wow that is a very generous offer and I’d be crazy to pass that up. Thanks!

Finally through the content! Going back now and reviewing ~ hate the feeling where I know I have read something (back in Feb) but it seems all new and foreign again. 🙁 #sigh

hi,

I would want, Sophie, Zee, Christine to reply to this post.

i have completed the content, practiced from CFA book EOC ques, examples, Elan’s practice ques and the examples in their notes. and last night, i had prepared what subjects needs attention according to the Prioritization of Topics mentioned in this post : http://www.300hours.com/1/post/2014/04/8-results-boosting-tips-for-the-cfa-exams.html#.U00t7_mSx0w

i know practice exams is the key, and i have to give take them in the exam like condition. they would make or break the game.

but still i feel some thing is missing. Level 1 attempt was lot different, i remember taking only one CFAI mock before the week to the exam, all i did was went back to topics and just read them again and again. it is alot different at Level 2.

i think now that i have done the whole curriculum once, i feel i should take all topics with the perspective that ‘what kind of question can be made out of this’ and i should be able to answer or solve them in one go.

is this approach right ? please guide. this is my 3rd attempt to Level 2 and i want this to be the last and final one.
it’s a lot to read, solve and go through the whole syllabus again for third time, i wont have patience after this to do this all over again.

In June 2013 Level 2 my Band was 7 with subject categories as follows –

Less than 50% – Fixed Income, Ethics, Economics, Alternative Investments
50- 70% – Derivatives, Quant
Greater than 70% – Equity, FRA, Portfolio Management, Corporate Finance

the subjects that i think need most attention are: Equity, FRA, Corporate Finance with Derivatives, Quant, Alternative Investment and Portfolio Management too as strength, they should too be mastered to level to get above 70%.
and rest three subjects: Fixed Income, Ethics, Economics, they are such a BIG DRAG. I really dread to go through these. but i can’t discount Ethics. last both attempts i had <50% in Ethics.

This time, i have read all the seven Standards again following Soft Dollars, Prudent etc chapters, did each example from the CFAI Book and EOC. Please Please tell what more should be done to clear Ethics. i feel i can make every subject into a 70% but not Ethics, it feels whatever i do this one is still left. please tell how to handle and make it also into a 70%.

i feel the way i studied in last two attempts esp from April onwards, the approach should be more of questions solving oriented and productive in terms of how i get a question right over how many i got right. does that make sense?

Also, there are few more things that take my attention is-

1. which are the best mock exams to use?
i had in mind to use - 1 CFAI, 2 ELan Guides , and i know i should be taking atleast 5-6 exams but i don't know any other provider whose mock are representative to the real exam. please guide on same.

2. i have solved EOC ques and examples quite a time now that i remember the answers to the questions even before reading them...it's really a toll to re-read the questions as fresh and answer them.
what are other sources that i can use to do practice questions and that would be worth in terms of the quality of ques esp in vignettes

3. How to do i keep track of my progress ? in fact, how do i know if am progressing or digressing ?
should i maintain like a log book - what all exam papers or practice tests i gave, which all questions got right, and which one wrong and tally them when i re do if i could get the wrong ones right again.

and it's not that 24*7 i am into CFA books, there are days when i don't feel like even opening the book but at the same time i know i should be studying something (today was one such day) i kept feeling FRA or Equity some thing i should study but then the day went off. what to do on such days...

I am sorry the post became really big but i don't have any study mates with me to share these thoughts and discuss so i poured them out all here and i look forward to know what kind of approach should be taken.

Thank you so much.
Regards,
Neha

Hi @sethneha‌

A few thoughts:

You’re right in saying Ethics is super-important. It will also be relevant in L3 so it’s definitely worth putting in the effort now.

In my opinion, if you’ve gone through the syllabus, the main thing you should be putting your efforts in is practice exams. i.e. even if you wanted to brush up / focus on Ethics, you should be doing so via Ethics questions, not re-reading the Ethics chapter.

To your additional questions:
1. CFAI is definitely the best representation of how the exam is going to be like. Use it and re-use it if necessary. I think Elan and Schweser are fine for additional practice. We are also working on something exciting in this area so will keep you posted!

2. EOCs: if you’re fully clear with the answers now, that’s a good thing! If you have access to a question bank, now’s the time to use it. Unfortunately most of our CFA offers are for Level I candidates (e.g. Passed Tense’s offer)

3. This is more of a personal thing. I know some candidates like the trackability by topic and so on. Personally I just try and get my hands on as many practice exams as possible, and every now and then I take a ‘clean’ exam (i.e. properly timed without referring to books) to see where I stand in terms of performance. I’d recommend that for you to try, but ultimately do what you feel has worked best for you in the past.

When you have an off day, one of these 3 things work best for me:
1. Change the topic that you’re focusing on
2. Change the place of study (this really helps)
3. Take a proper slot of time off to really relax. Either half a day or a full day. I know it’s really tough and you may feel guilty, but this helps! Do something that will take your mind of CFA rather than sitting around (where you will fidget and end up worrying about the exam anyway).

Whew, hope all this helps! See you on Twitter 😉

I took my 2nd mock from CFAI site under exam conditions and got 70% ! first thing, after checking the score is i am writing this post! Thanks a ton to 300hours blog to keep pushing on why the practice exams are important and just keep doing it.

this score is such a boost to study more! i still can’t believe it cause given the agony it comes while doing those endless case studies during the mock time. it’s a pain to sit for 3 hours doing mocks thinking i-did-this-before-but-right-not-sure how it’s going.

and one most important thing i worked on last week and i think that’s showing its pay off is to Review the mock given in the way it was mentioned in this post by Christine 300hours.com/1/post/2014/04/got-a-really-low-score-on-your-practice-exam-heres-4-reasons-to-not-worry-how-to-improve.html#.U2p2nfmSwSM

@christine‌ wrote in the post “Isolate the questions where you had wrong answers, and answers where you weren’t sure of (but may have gotten right anyway). Categorize them into (1) careless mistakes, (2) misunderstanding the question or (3) not knowing the material enough. Categories 1 and 2 are easy enough to rectify with practice and diligence. But from category 3, make sure you identify the topics you know you’re weak in, and spend the next few days honing in on these topics.”

this sunk to me so much that i went over the last mock that i had already reviewed to re-review by this way. i literally marked on each question in this category wise esp the 3rd category (but got them right anyway) and re- solved the question then i realized dude! there’s so much meat in one mock only!

Thanks a lot @christine‌ for all your tips. from today, no matter what happens, i am not backing away from this beast called Level 2!! will nail it for sure!! 😀

I just started a week ago – so I’ll have lots to catch up on! ~O) ~O) ~O)

Did the second schweser mock today and got 60% in the am and 65% in the pm. Better than last weekend where I got 55%… Will be reviewing the exam and going over weak areas in the evenings this week before it begins all over again next weekend…