When is the right time to start studying for L2?

Most candidates tend to start in Dec/January. Too early and you may have burnout, too late and well…

A good rule is to make sure your efforts in L1 are increased, rather than maintained or decreased. Good luck!

I started in mid-September. Taking it slow for now. Will hit it hard in November and December.

@Ch.Ministry A lot of people I know, have been stressing the usage of the CFA curriculum for Level 2 as well. So I’ll be doing the same. Have you started your prep yet? Today is my first day. 

I think you can start casually in October/November, reviewing your Ethics material. I’d advise you finish the curriculum by april so you can spend a full month doing mocks and and bringing all the knowledge together. All the best!

I have decided to do an ‘early start’ level II course with Kaplan in London which begins in late October. I used BPP for level 1 and started in January but I just felt the whole thing was quite rushed and I needed to do too many hours during the week after working full time and looking after my two children.  Level II is supposed to be harder so I don’t want to risk running out of time to prepare.  I didn’t use Schweser for level I but scored 8 out of 10 subjects >70%, FRA middle band and economics lower band. If anything I felt like I had ‘over-prepared’ by using the official books and the exam was a pleasant surprise. People who had only used Schweser at the exam centre said they found it much tougher than they thought it would be.  I think a mixture of both is probably a good option, but at the very least make sure you have done all the questions in the official CFA books.

I used Schwesser exclusively for level 1 and did fine. I tried the same strategy for level 2 and failed.  I didn’t spend a lot of time studying, so that was the main problem. But I also felt the concepts in level 2 were too complex and new to be covered adequetly by the notes. So this time, its all curriculum and hopefully use the notes for review if I have time.  

Should get the curriculum books today. So I will start soon instead of waiting for the Schweser notes.

@Ch.Ministry would depend on how much material you are willing to wade through. I used Schweser mainly, and occassionally reviewed the CFA material for topics that were not clear to me from Schweser.

I am waiting for my Schweser notes. Hoping to start by Nov 1.

Hey there! I’v already started.. Though ive been on Derivatives for more than a month now.. taking things slowing.. building the momentum.. December onwards gonna run like a mad horse