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- Topic: I studied exclusively from CFAI readings
Author | Topic: I studied exclusively from CFAI readings |
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jabbarali1 @2019-07-24 18:04:33 |
Background - I am an engineer with minimal knowledge of economics, some exposure to quant and FI, and other topics equally unknown. I have worked for one year in Fixed Income operations department for one year. That is it. Study Material - I studied exclusively from CFAI material. Yes, I tried to read all those 3000+ pages on my own, without any third party help. I read all that material, solved EOCs at least twice and all blue boxes, also mostly twice. How was exam for me - I felt it was easy. The exam mostly touched basic concepts, when their was scope to really dig in and have some trick questions. AM was mostly straightforward, PM had some little tricks. With the kind of material we have to study and concepts we need to know and blue boxes we need to understand, questions were OK. Will I pass - NO. I may score more than 70 even may be 100 for 3-4 topics, between 50-70 for others, but I am not sure about ethics and economics. I really do not think after putting so many many hours I will pass. Why? I spent so much time reading the material. I had less time to practice because reading text and revising used to tire me down. I tried to understand everything that was written. Economics took so much of my time, it was so difficult to understand, and in the end I am not sure whether I will even score in the range of 40-50. Revising that voluminious material in the end (even after taking notes was very time consuming). I regret solely studying from CFAI material. Depth of questions was OK, I would have been better off, studying third party material. Extra enthusiasm brought me down. What's next. I think I have studied hard enough, but I need to practice more. Any third party material should be sufficient , even those who will be studying for the first time. Don't waste time reading the verbose material. Third party material will help you devote time equally to all topics, without getting stressed. (This I am writing after reviewing AnalystNotes vis-a vis CFAI material, this in case I fail and I have to re-appear.) |
rajl1981 @2019-07-25 02:18:30 |
I used the same sort of approach where I studied majorly from CFAI books and solved EOC problems and the problems from AnalystNotes Pro and some from Schwesser. I felt once you read the topic from CFAI book it really prepare you well for exam and one can solve the problem easily compared to reading solely from a third party. But as mentioned by others as well that studying these books is a huge task and will take lots of time. I am not sure about myself clearing level I this time and have to appear once again in December. I guess AnalystNotes, Schwesser and other third party material prepares you better for exam compared to CFAI books which are primarily for gaining the knowledge. I felt that best approach for this exam is to have focus on passing the exam by learning and practicing the all major topics and try to score above 70%, rather trying to master the CFAI material. Would like to know what others feel about it. |
alex543 @2019-07-25 19:50:23 |
I also used CFAI material. I got half way through Econ and was not making good progress, I decided to can it as it is such a small portion of the exam. I had been shooting about 50% on Econ in the mocks but made up for it in FRA/Eq/FI/Eth. Skipping the latter half of econ was the best decision I ever made. By doing mocks and practice tests you can learn enough to get 50% on that section. For my exam the AM section was significantly tougher and seemed like they picked random topics. PM was more familiar and similar to other Mocks and practice tests. |

CFA Discussion Topic: I studied exclusively from CFAI readings
I just wanted to share the good news that I passed CFA Level I!!! Thank you for your help - I think the online question bank helped cut the clutter and made a positive difference.
