Tuesday, February 15, 2005
CFA
I got a question via e-mail about the CFA Level 1 exam, and how I went about preparation, so I thought I would share my thoughts here. I took the Level 1 exam in June 2003. I studied intensely for about 2 months or so, as I got married 4 months before the test and therefore couldn't go about a leisurely 4-6 month study plan as recommended. Of course, I can rarely dig into something until a deadline looms, so it wasn't really surprising. I studied a lot, much more than most, because I had no background in Finance and I wanted to actually learn the material, rather than learning to pass the exam. Here are the pillars of my approach:
- AnalystForum was a great site to find study plans and recommendations from students who recently passed the exam. Posts by RobRob are particularly useful, such as this thread
- I started by going through all the textbook assignments, as given by the CFA materials. After I finished that, I used study notes.
- I used Schweser Study Notes and PassPro online questions. I found Schweser very helpful, and PassPro less so, although still probably worth the $.
- I took a ton of practice tests, mostly the PassPro questions and Schweser sample tests that were included with the notes.
