2024 CFA Level I Exam: CFA Discussion Topic: How does everyone here study for the test?

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Topic: How does everyone here study for the test?

Author	Topic: How does everyone here study for the test?
ngoctran86 @2018-07-11 21:10:13	What I mean by that is, besides using the most popular study guides (i.e. Kaplan and AnalystNotes) what else do you do? From the limited amount of information people could divulge on the June L1 test, there was a great deal of information not covered in the prep guides and found only in the CFAI books. That is a tremendous amount of information to get through, let alone comprehend. My fear is that even though I am doing well on the practice questions, I will be clobered on the test because of the sheer volume of information I have to take away from the 4000 +/- pages of CFAI material. Most people I know who have passed L1 only used the guides as reference and for questions - what can I (and others) do to manage all of the information we need to learn? Thanks!
Seshu @2018-07-27 19:40:57	Here are the materials I used for Level 1 (still awaiting results). AnalystNotes review questions and 10 mock exams. Schweser Books CFAI EOC questions CFAI mock exams and CFAI sample questions (These CFA materials are on their site) That seems like more than enough for me. I didn't feel the need to look at the CFAI books. I felt that a good portion of the material on the exam could be found in the study notes. In terms of managing the information, I found AnalystNotes session review questions worked best for me. I think the big thing is don't get caught in the weeds. As you start to get familiar with all of the material in general, take a step back and understand what is you know and don't know. About 30-45 days from exam day I typed a list of things that I was weak at. You are right there is a lot of material. Take a deep breath and be honest with yourself of what your strengths and weaknesses are. Then spend the majority of your time looking at that stuff. The Q bank was great for keeping things I understood fresh. I would take small quizzes (10-15 questions on multiple sections) in a day. On a weekday with limited study time I could touch on parts of 4-5 topics while on a Saturday or Sunday I could touch on something related to all 10 topics. Plus it helps with some of the basic concepts sorting out things that are touched on in the CFA material (IFRS vs GAAP, Z test vs T-Test, etc..) It definitely is a balance between retaining familiar info and learning new info, and I as much as I studied I couldn't remember everything. Lol, I don???t know if it is possible, but this might help. If I had to do it over, I would have used AN session review questions and CFA EOC questions a little earlier. I waited till about late March (though I started reading the books a few months earlier), and while I wanted to get through all the CFAI EOC questions, I only got through about half.

Author

Topic: How does everyone here study for the test?

ngoctran86
@2018-07-11 21:10:13

What I mean by that is, besides using the most popular study guides (i.e. Kaplan and AnalystNotes) what else do you do?

From the limited amount of information people could divulge on the June L1 test, there was a great deal of information not covered in the prep guides and found only in the CFAI books. That is a tremendous amount of information to get through, let alone comprehend. My fear is that even though I am doing well on the practice questions, I will be clobered on the test because of the sheer volume of information I have to take away from the 4000 +/- pages of CFAI material. Most people I know who have passed L1 only used the guides as reference and for questions - what can I (and others) do to manage all of the information we need to learn?

Thanks!

Seshu
@2018-07-27 19:40:57

Here are the materials I used for Level 1 (still awaiting results).

AnalystNotes review questions and 10 mock exams.
Schweser Books
CFAI EOC questions
CFAI mock exams and CFAI sample questions (These CFA materials are on their site)
That seems like more than enough for me. I didn't feel the need to look at the CFAI books. I felt that a good portion of the material on the exam could be found in the study notes.

In terms of managing the information, I found AnalystNotes session review questions worked best for me.

I think the big thing is don't get caught in the weeds. As you start to get familiar with all of the material in general, take a step back and understand what is you know and don't know. About 30-45 days from exam day I typed a list of things that I was weak at. You are right there is a lot of material. Take a deep breath and be honest with yourself of what your strengths and weaknesses are. Then spend the majority of your time looking at that stuff.

The Q bank was great for keeping things I understood fresh. I would take small quizzes (10-15 questions on multiple sections) in a day. On a weekday with limited study time I could touch on parts of 4-5 topics while on a Saturday or Sunday I could touch on something related to all 10 topics. Plus it helps with some of the basic concepts sorting out things that are touched on in the CFA material (IFRS vs GAAP, Z test vs T-Test, etc..)

It definitely is a balance between retaining familiar info and learning new info, and I as much as I studied I couldn't remember everything. Lol, I don???t know if it is possible, but this might help.

If I had to do it over, I would have used AN session review questions and CFA EOC questions a little earlier. I waited till about late March (though I started reading the books a few months earlier), and while I wanted to get through all the CFAI EOC questions, I only got through about half.

CFA Discussion Topic: How does everyone here study for the test?

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Your review questions and global ranking system were so helpful.

CFA Discussion Topic: How does everyone here study for the test?

Lina