@marek
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Isn’t that a bit like http://seekingalpha.com/ ? Also, the quality and independence of IB research has come a long way since the dot com bubble. And writing a report without having a model backing up your Price Target wouldn’t be wise, no serious investor is interested in just a narrative. Lastly in relation to the dryness of the reports, yes they can be sometimes, but if it is your job to know that much detail about a company, the reports are very good at helping with that. And some analysts write very well. Granted, some don’t.
I agree with most of what is written here, but I do happen to think that studying long hours and cramming will be of more help than it will detract from your exam day performance. You are unlikely to sleep more than a few hours pre exam due to nervousness anyway, and the exam day adrenalin (and caffeine dosing) will carry you through almost regardless of how much you slept. You may commit a handful of mindless errors, but I think you stand to benefit a lot more from really hitting the material hard in the last few days (and nights). Especially if you have left studying late and still have a lot of ‘low hanging fruits’ to pick, every additional hour spent studying will likely translate into additional marks. Until you walk in the exam room you can always be learning more and improving your performance.
@Sophie No probs
@SidMenon Sure, but 2 things:
1) Making the flash cards yourself, for the bits you know you will need to remember and in a format/wording that you wrote, shortly after you have learnt a concept makes them considerably more useful than generic ones – or ones you did not make yourself. (i.e. the memory tied to the flash card is not just what it says, but it makes you remember when you created it, your thought process around it, the moment you understood the concept etc.) So, my flash cards are at times worded in bizarre ways that help me remember things, but might just confuse you. And I have not made flash cards for things I know anyway, and my preceding knowledge likely won’t overlap yours.
2) As I mentioned, I started my prep late, so I only have about half the syllabus covered at the moment. Hence crazy 2 weeks coming up, but a relatively limited deck for someone else.Having said all that, perfectly happy to share my deck as it is right now. Email me marektheduda at gmail.com
Sure @Sophie, the idea is exactly the same as making regular flash cards – but the added advantage is that there is an algo which determines the spacing of how often you should see each card based on how easily/not easily you remember each fact. So things you are just starting to learn you will see several times the first day, then maybe once the next day then 3 days after and so on. It is basically automating the memorisation process.
Like I say, best for formula memorisation. Or for lists etc. My method is to go through a topic, immediately make flash cards for most LOSs or whatever is most appropriate, and then spend an hr a day or so going through the flashcard bank I have. Less if I am up to date, more if I neglect it for a few days and have more cards waiting for review.
Have started my prep rather late so will see if it is enough of a silver bullet though!
@SidMenon Hmm, I would say the investment/return payoff is pretty worth while, & you wouldn’t need to make a deck for the entire syllabus, just parts which you might find particularly difficult to memorise. (e.g. it is really good for formulas).
@Zee That’s because it is awesome 🙂 It is like the industrial revolution has come, … for memorising things@MattJuniper From reading the MPS setting methodology, it would seem that what they aim for is to have the same difficulty to pass each year, rather than have the same % of candidates pass. The perceived difficulty of the exam based on cumulative results do play a role in the decision process, but are only a part of it. Furthemore I doubt you are able to affect a sufficient number of takers to have a statistically significant effect (no offence). So help everyone you can! 🙂
@Sophie: Absolutely, another very important factor to consider is how quickly you can get through the pages in each topic, which could definitely change prioritisations, and will depend on your background. (You wouldn’t analyse a company by only looking at one ratio, and so similarly you shouldn’t choose topic priorities just based on pages per percentage point 🙂 )
I am very much in a similar situation and have looked at % weighting of topics per Schweser study guide page for each topic. (pages per topic/% weighting) and as a result Economics seems to be the topic with the least bang for your buck at a whopping 25 pages of material for each percentage point. Ethics at just under 6 is a clear winner. So I will leave Econ to last, if there is time left over. The other ‘bad’ topic by this measure is Quants, thankfully I did that one first so have it mostly covered. Ignoring both would probably be a very bad idea, but if you are deciding which topic is the least worth the precious time you have left at this stage, I would suggest Econ.
Here is the full list anyway, my strategy is to keep working through the most efficient topics as a priority, so that the ones that get the least time at the end will cost me the least on the exam:
Ethical and Professional Standards 15% 5.7 pppp (pages per percentage point)
Quantitative Methods 12% 22.4 pppp
Economics 10% 10.00 24.5 pppp
Financial Reporting and Analysis 20% 15.6 pppp
Corporate Finance 8% 14.3 pppp
Portfolio Management 5% 14.6 pppp
Equity Investments 10% 12.6 pppp
Fixed Income Investments 12% 15.0 pppp
Derivatives 5% 17.4 pppp
Alternative Investments 3% 10.3 pppp
