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@simply_complex2‌ In short, yes you are allowed to study; so do carry your book!

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@Farooq: From what I’ve read, it seems that all the questions – EOC, Schweser are slightly easier than the real exam. I came across a similar discussion on this community. 

Here’s the link:
forum.300hours.com/discussion/926/eoc-questions-are-harder-easier-than-the-actual-exam

Check it out!  Hope it helps! 

Jessica

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@archer90‌ 
You’re welcome! 

And thank you for pasting the quizlet link! Those flash cards are amazing! 

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@ec_cfatest‌ Hey. I think @Maroon5‌ , has given a fantastic idea. That’s how I study too and it’s pretty effective.   

From my experience,  Schweser Videos are good for revision but they cannot substitute reading from Schweser Notes.

Are you working somewhere? Do you have a finance background? How many hours per day can you dedicate to studying? If I know that then I can give you some more tips.

Here are a few links to blog posts on this community that will help:-

http://www.300hours.com/blog/do-you-realistically-still-have-time-to-start-studying-for-the-cfa-exam-heres-how-to-check

http://www.300hours.com/blog/10-crucial-study-schedule-tips-for-dec-level-i

http://www.300hours.com/blog/the-last-minute-guide-how-to-cram-for-the-cfa-exams

Hope this helps! 

Jessica

PS – I am appearing for Level 1 in December too!
Also, I love your profile pic! What a cute cartoon! 

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@‌examwhiz

I think I’m facing loss of concentration due to the deadly combination of stress and fatigue. I need to deal with that.

The phone is always going to be a distraction for me. I’ve taken care of this though. I just switch it off and put it in the drawer of my wardrobe.

Thanks for the tip! I’ll definitely check out your blog!

Jessica

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Fifteen minutes up. Not that I’m obsessing  or anything  either  😉

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@MM12 – hey! I’ve always been a passive reader/learner. I guess I’ve been lucky enough to get through school and college without much effort. 😉 :stuck_out_tongue:   But for CFA, my old lazy techniques aren’t going to work, it seems. As you rightly said, active learning seems to be more useful. I’m going to try making summaries for a chapter and see if that works for me, on comparison with flash cards! I just need to study as much as possible,  in the least amount of time,  since I can just about put in 2 -3 hours per day on an average and I am kinda freaking out!

 Thank you so much for the tips!!

@BeanCounter – Hey! I’ve completed my Masters in Commerce. My background is mostly Accounts,  but I do have some Finance, Quant and Econ knowledge, not very detailed though. I’ve touched upon these subjects over the past,  during my college years. Only Ethics is entirely new. I need to revamp my study techniques, because till now I’ve done well with just reading the materials. Never really thought about or needed to make notes and stuff for college you know…and for CFA I feel, some amount of summarizing is going to be required. Ok, kinda tensed now…Thank you so much for your advice!!

Any more tips you guys would like to share? Or anyone else? 

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@Zee Yay!! Thank you so much! :smiley: 

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*Now that being said, I’ve realized that the CFAI books are the best. So if you have enough time, depending on your college/office schedule, consider studying from CFAI books.  You’ll have to make notes while studying from these.

You could check out FinQuiz notes too. They’ve put up sample notes on their website. However, I am not sure of how popular these notes are. But I have found them to be pretty good. 

There are other cheaper options like Analyst Notes. They provide with a sample on their website. So do check it out and see it you like them. 

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@archer90‌
Instead of managing time,  you’re gonna have to “make” time for Level 1. Here’s what I have been doing for the past 2 months: 

On weekdays, I wake up at 5 am, do a quick 10 min workout, have a bath, have some breakfast and try to be at my desk by 5.45-6. Then I study for 2 hours till around 8.15, with a 15 min break in between.  

While I’m travelling to work, I just try to revise whatever I’ve studied in the week or try solving practice questions, instead of going over new stuff, though sometimes I ditch the books and take a quick nap in the train! 

For the weekends,  I have a minimum 10 hour target. That means, irrespective of other plans (hanging out with friends, other activities,  running personal errands etc), I must put in 5 hours each on Saturday and Sunday. If I don’t have any plans,  then I end up putting in a total of 16 hours over the weekend. Now, considering that the dreaded December date is fast approaching,  I need to cut down on my socializing!! So that’s the way I’m going about it.

Make a plan. During your day, have specific time blocks just for CFA, and commit to the plan and commit to getting things done. From my experience, scheduling CFA studies as the “First thing to do in the morning” and actually putting in those two hours,  will help you get through a lot of the material in the least possible time. Study in blocks if 30-50 mins with a break of 5-10 mins at the end of each 30 or 50 min session. This is probably one of the most popular study tips for studying efficiently, that I have read online and  have found it to be extremely useful. 

By the way, you have about a month to get through the balance 20 readings after portfolio! That’s more than enough. I think you will be able to meet your 17th October deadline,  after which you’ll have slightly more than 1.5 months for practice questions and mocks. And that is awesome!  So don’t stress!  🙂

Hope this helps! 

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@wm247‌ 

Hey! Look at it this way – the fact that you’ve gone through the entire material once, is better than people like me, who are still struggling to wade through the LOS pool and reach the destination Mock Tests. The fact that you’ve given one mock, is muuuuccchhh better! You have 2 months; you’re gonna do just fine! 

Don’t stress too much about that 31%. Just like weight and age, 31 is also just a number :smiley: 

Consider this mock as your benchmark. Now analyse it thoroughly and identify not only your weak subjects, but if possible, also specific readings within those subjects. So you’ll have a clear idea about what you know, and what you don’t and that will help you plan the next couple of weeks. 

For the identified weak spots, read through the summaries (your own if you’ve made or the eoc summaries in schweser/cfai). Then revise the formulae. Then work through a Qbank (if you don’t have one, then you can choose from the various third party providers available depending on your needs).

Now depending on the Qbank results,  assess whether you’ve improved or some further work needs to be done. For areas where further work needs to be done, consider reading that part again from your base study material. If you have any doubts, you can always post them here!  I’m sure you’ll get answers. 

After you’ve done this, just quickly revise your strong areas and then give a mock again. After correcting that mock, repeat the above process. 

And definitely read through the blog post link, which @hairyfairy‌ has shared above.  

Hope this helps! 

Jessica.

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@surangasa‌ 

Analyse your mock thoroughly, down to the reading/concept within each subject which is a weak spot for you. Also, classify your mistakes into the following categories: 

1. Silly Mistakes
2. Lack of understanding/conceptual clarity
3. Lack of retention

For category 1 – There’s hardly anything that I can say here which you don’t already know. Pay attention while reading the question and don’t mark off an answer in a hurry. Take a second or two to consider your answer before marking it off.

For category 2 and 3-

Read through the summaries (your own if you’ve made or the eoc summaries in schweser/cfai). Then revise the formulae. Then work through a QBank. 

Now depending on the Qbank results,  assess whether you’ve improved or some further work needs to be done. For areas where further work needs to be done, consider reading that part again from your base study material. If you have any doubts, you can always post them here!  I’m sure you’ll get answers. 

After you’ve done this, just quickly revise your strong areas and then give a mock again. After correcting that mock, repeat the above process.

For improving retention – Repeated revision and practising questions are the two most effective ways. 

Hope this helps,  

Jessica. 

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@ec_cfatest‌ 

I did a small calculation for you. If you’re studying from schweser notes you have to get through 25 pages per day, which may take approx 3 hours. 

Now if you’re not working/working part-time,  studying three hours per day for CFA can be possible. 

If you’re working full time,  depending on the hours and how demanding your job is, it may not be possible to put in 3 hours regularly per day. In that case,  you’ll have to target getting by 175 pages in one week (25 per day × 7 days per week). This could be done by getting through some parts on the weekdays and covering majority of the target over the weekend. 

If you’re studying from the curriculum, as @Maverick‌ rightly suggested,  you’ll have to get through 45 pages a day.

Your first reading has to be from some notes – CFAI/ third party as this lays down the foundation. Qbanks,  EOC, Summaries, videos are excellent revision tools that will help cement what you have already learnt (from the notes that  you’ve read) and  will help to polish some rough ends. But these cannot substitute reading from the notes unless you have a finance background.

Jessica 🙂

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Hi @Sophie‌!! Here goes:

I am sooo far behind my deadlines that I don’t think I can even see them anymore. I try to put in about 3 hours per day… an hour an a half before work, and another hour an a half after work. Over the weekends I’ve been wanting to put in 8 hours a day…but I’m able to put in only 4 hours per day on the weekend 🙁

Plus, this whole last week, I didn’t get anything done. Just couldn’t bring myself to study. 

I’m done with Ethics, Quant and FRA. I’m good at Economics (haven’t started it yet)  so that should go fast I guess. I’ve done Derivatives,  Corporate Finance, Equity,  Fixed Income in college at Graduate Level but I don’t think I remember too much of it… 

So to describe it using Zee’s words, I’m somewhere in between the ” caffeine drenched cliff of urgency ” and the ” near impossible wall of wild hope ” !!

In short, I’m sort of screwed. 

Any tips? Thank you! 🙂

Jessica

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@‌surangasa

Your scores are awesome!  Way to go!  

Jessica

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@hairyfairy Interesting! Scary rhymes with fairy too! 😉 But scaryfairy would be an oxymoron of sorts!

@sophie That’s a great idea! I’ll put up a picture a soon! 🙂 

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@Maverick‌ The caffeine content depends on a lot of factors – decaf/normal, size, brewed/instant, black/with milk etc.

Here’s a detailed report –
http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-living/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/in-depth/caffeine/art-20049372

I’m going to try to switch to green tea. 🙂

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Whoa! Looks like the 20-25 year olds are leading the pack! I honestly didn’t expect this outcome! Thought most of the test takes would be in their late 20s/early 30s! 

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@NickQAnalyst‌ 

You’ve been scoring 85%? You don’t need any motivation! You should motivate us instead!

Also, we have 6 days left… plenty of time to complete the CFAI Mock. Split it over two days,  if you can’t bring yourself to write it at one go. But please do at least 2 mocks as per the timeline – 9 to 12, break, 2 to 5. 

Honestly, since you’re already hitting the 85s, you’ve covered everything. So just keep on revising and ensure that you find a way to distract yourself every time you feel that you’re freaking out or that you’re losing confidence.

You’re going to be fine, seriously! 

Hope this helps, 

Jessica

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@RoyD‌  Can’t believe that we’re 4 days away from the exam!

I’m not going to take a mock in this short period because:
1. I’m tired.
2. In case I don’t score well, it’ll kill my confidence. 
3. Scored about 85% in the last mock.

What I am going to do is quickly brush through all the readings, revise formulae/concepts and solve a few EOC / QBank problems. 

5th is my buffer day too. Just going to use that day to finish of anything that I couldn’t upto 4th and probably read some ethics case studies and most importantly,  just relax :smiley: 

All the best!

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