CFA Thread

[jzavala]

Hi everyone, I'm curious how many people are going to sit for the CFA examination this year and next year. Anyone for L1 Dec 2011? L1, L2, L3 June 2012? Does anyone currently have the CFA designation. Also, for people who have taken and passed (or not passed) either level, would you like to share your experience; time spent, study packages, was it worth it? etc.

This is meant to be an "anything about CFA" so feel free to post anything related to CFA. Thanks!

 

[darth]

Hi .. I have cleared all three levels of the CFA exam ... Would to be glad to reply any specific question you may have..

 

[AMANE]

hi guys, i am gong for level 1, this dec, please suggest me some good book for exam, as i have engineering background.

 

[darth]

CFAI books are the best..

 

[jzavala]

Hi Darth, you did not use any supplemental material such as Kaplan Schweser or Stalla? you only used the books provided by CFA institute upon registering?

 

[darth]

In levels 1 and 2 , I used schweser Question banks though did not have the time to solve the entire question bank. But from my experience and specially for level 3 , CFAI books are the best.Supplements may help you pass the exam with less efforts but there is
risk to it and moreover the amount of knowledge that you would gain with CFAI books makes it really worthy of delving into.
I never used any other notes and passed all my exams on first attempts. I saw people reading only schweser having trouble with L3.

 

[onthesc]

The CFAI estimated that each candidate spent about 300 hours of studying time for the Level I, and it doesnt get much easier from there either. If you have not looked at the subjects it covers, you better start now. It is supposed to be roughly equivalent to a first year MBA's education.

CFAI books are more informative and interesting to read, but really are not the best bet when you are short on time (which happened to me). I bought the elan guides and they were straight to the point, which is good and bad. Good that you are more efficient with your studying. Bad because you don't get all the background info that CFAI provides.

Other than reading all the books, you gotta do A LOT of practice problems. I've done so many mocks it was not the most fun. But you do see your scores improve if you review your mistakes. Honestly though, it will put a significant strain on your life for a while. Only do this if it is required by your employer or highly beneficial for your career. And I guess also do it if you have a lot of free time on your hands, might as well be productive and snag another professional charter right?

 

[jzavala]

Yea, I have the books and started studying for June 2012 this month. I'm thinking of buying Kaplan Schweser material.

 

[Yike Lu]

I passed Level 1 and I agree with the other sentiments provided so far. The CFAI books are far more complete than 3rd party resources and they provide a lot of context for what is going on. With that context comes valuable intuition as to the financial markets. The trade-off is of course they take longer to go through.

The other thing third party materials can help with is practice exams.

 

[FEnzo]

I am taking L1 in NY this Dec. Been studying CFA everyday....
I tried the CFA books in the beginning and felt like they are too wordy...
The Schweser note IMO is much more efficient

 

[CN Chen]

I just passed all three levels, all on the first try. I would highly recommend getting the Kaplan Schweser books because they save you time and the extra practice exams were probably the single most useful thing to have. Also I took NYSSA classes, but they were useful in L1, less so in L2, and NVA by L3. Classes are great if you need the pressure to help stick to a set schedule. Finally, I found study groups to be pretty helpful and you get to meet other finance professionals and build close connections with them.

 

[jzavala]

All sounds like good advice. I do like the depth of content in the CFAI books. I think I will go ahead and get some Schweser materials...notes, practice exams, question bank. Might be cheaper to get one of the packages I think.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Do any of you guys use analystforum during your study?

 

[JohnnoP]

Hi Andy - I do. Very good, highly recommended.

 

[darth]

Got to know about it after L3 exam..browsed till results.. But its quite popular among cfa candidates i guess...

 

[Sinois]

Hi everyone, Jzavala where did you get the CFAI books? are these the books they review each year? I'm registered for june 2012 level 1 exam
Thanks

 

[jackcoke]

Good luck to all taking Level 1 this weekend.. Kick some ass!

 

[christiana]

Please is it possible to register for level I and II at the same time? Also what do you think about the FRM exam?

 

[senoz]

Please is it possible to register for level I and II at the same time?

It is not possible.

 

[TRobinson]

What is everyone's motivation for taking the CFA here? Are you all still looking to go into quant type roles?

I am currently completing a double major in stat and comp science; would the CFA or CIPM be a good way for me to learn about finance?