CFA: TEST OVER. Results in...

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Taking level I. I've read everything and am now reviewing. Hope to be done reviewing in two weeks also and just hammer questions til the cows come home

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My advise is do as many problems as soon as possible as you can. If you cant figure out a problem because you dont know a definition its a good way to learn it then. Overall I learned more doing practice problems that reading for lvl I. Good luck!

Trudging along through attempt 2 at L2. I feel behind but as I review its almost remarkable to me how much of it I remember. As long as I don't bomb derivatives and PM, I will be fine. Equity (and to a less extent fixed income and option valuation) is my job, so I'm not trying to retain a bunch of stuff I never use in practice anymore. I got the middle ground on equity last time, if I would have aced it I would have passed. So that's a long way of saying I'm behind where I'd like to be but not particularly worried about it. Oh and if I had to do it all over again, I probably wouldn't.

This year sucks for me with tests. Had the Series 7, CFA I in June, Series 66 in July, CMT III in October.

Thankfully the Series are pretty easy, but sandwiching in the CFA in there makes me want to set a baby seal on fire.

I'm curious what you're more concerned about, the number of tests or the seal's fate?

I was trying to knock out as much as possible while my only real responsibility is work. Since all paychecks and bills are on direct deposit/transfer, as long as I make it to work everything works out. Thank god, because if I don't have a task list, Excel, and a Bloomberg terminal I'm a pretty useless human being.

I finally brought some material today to work so I can hit it during down times. Hoping I can get through a ton of practice problems, and Im going over secret sauce at work. Hopefully can pull it out. I know most of the theory its just the damn problems Im worried about.

Good luck fellas

Is the "secret sauce" = "key concepts?"

That's actually another good way to study. Memorize the key concepts and then branch out from there once you've got all that down. Gives you a firm base of knowledge across all subjects and a lot of really good context to at least give you a good guess on some of the problems you don't know.

In my experience so far, this is definitely one of those tests where being a masterful test taker can make up a lot of room where you may be short on knowledge.

I've been surprised at the amount of stuff I am able to recall from last year. Even with the derivatives stuff. 90% of the time derivatives valuation is just doing present value or future value, it can be deceptive in its difficulty though since doing it from an equity futures standpoint is different than doing it from an FRA standpoint or even an equity forward standpoint. I know this intrinsically, whether or not I can remember it enough in precisely one month is a different story. I remember pounding that into my skull last year.

The key to these tests is simply knowing that you have to ace 3 sections (equity, fsa, ethics) and get in the middle on two others. But if you don't ace equity, fsa, and ethics, your chances of passing either L1 or L2 (different on L3 obviously given the change in material) go down drastically. Back at it for another half hour or so.

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The key to these tests is simply knowing that you have to ace 3 sections (equity, fsa, ethics) and get in the middle on two others. But if you don't ace equity, fsa, and ethics, your chances of passing either L1 or L2 (different on L3 obviously given the change in material) go down drastically. Back at it for another half hour or so.

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That's exactly what I did on lvl 1. This time I am a bit behind, but I do have solid test taking experience and Im hoping alot of basic knowledge helps me out.

Ill be getting into tons of practice problems once I finally finish the damn curriculum (hopefully next week). I know Im late to get started but I just havent felt as motivated as I was for lvl 1. Maybe if I was in equity I would feel more of a need. Still think I have a good chance.