转贴 以下是特邀消息区斑竹alex原创的特别写给中国CFA考生的CFA考试学习经验和指南。谢谢alex的辛勤工作，相信一定会对大家有所帮助。<p>A Suggested Guideline for CFA Exam Preparation <br>– prepared by alexli, all rights reserved<p>All three level CFA exams are held typically at the beginning of June or the end of May each year. A new test date in December will be offered for Level I only for selected location. This guideline intends to provide candidates who do not have much experience with some useful suggestions regarding the time schedule and methods for the test preparation. <p>Time Schedule: AIMR typically assigns 17 to 20 study sessions for a CFA exam preparation. Level II usually has the heaviest reading assignment. Level I typically has 18 sessions, and candidates are expected to read 200 to 300 pages each session. The order of the AIMR assigned sessions does not have to be strictly followed. A typical ti<I>meta</I>ble is as follows.<p><I>&#</I>8226<I>&#</I>59;Late December/Early January - end of April: Go through all AIMR assigned sessions. <br><I>&#</I>8226<I>&#</I>59;First half of May: doing sample questions from <I>var</I>ious materials (such as Schweser’s notes).<br><I>&#</I>8226<I>&#</I>59;Second half of May: review all materials, concentrate on weak areas. <br><I>&#</I>8226<I>&#</I>59;Do not study at the evening before the exam, have a good rest!<p>For people who have better than average or worse than average background in finance/statistics/economics/accounting/English, they may want to start later or earlier accordingly. Also, if you plan to skip a week, for example, for Spring Festival, you may want to consider starting earlier to make it up. <p>This time guideline assumes a candidate can commit at least 15-20 hours each week. If you need more time to finish assigned materials for that week, you need to allocate more study time. <p> Textbooks v.s. Study Notes: <I>var</I>ious commercial notes providers sell CFA study notes every year. The most famous ones are Schweser’s Notes and Stalla’s Notes. AIMR has emphasized that no notes should be used to replace assigned textbooks. While it is true that study notes tend to be relatively shorter to read than textbooks, I feel textbooks provides the most integrated reading. If a candidate really wants to understand and master the materials AIMR assigns and he/she has time to commit to the study, I suggest using textbooks. There are people who passed all three levels of exams by just using notes. It all depends on the background and study habit of each individual candidate. I find it is an effective way to combine textbooks and study notes. Some people use primarily textbooks and use notes for final review. Study notes typically provide extra sources of sample questions for candidates to practice. Some other people depend primarily on some study notes, and go to textbooks for details only for the topics they feel difficult or unclear in the notes. Again, which materials to choose is up to background, time available and study habit of each individual candidate. <p>Self-study v.s. Courses: CFA program is designed for self-study. However, if you do not have enough time to read all materials by yourself and need some experienced professionals to guide you and answer your questions, or you find taking classes is more efficient for you, you may want to consider taking a CFA preparation course. I suggest you choose a weekly review course, typically running from December/January to April/May. If you do, you need to make sure that you follow the classes and do pre-class readings and after-class review each week. <p>Tips for Study Methods: Different people have different study habits and methods. Here are some tips I suggest.<p><I>&#</I>8226<I>&#</I>59;Follow AIMR published study guides. Make sure that you know the answer to each Learning Outcome Statement (LOS) in the guides. Pay attention to “command words” used in the guides and follow the instruction.<br><I>&#</I>8226<I>&#</I>59;Make your own “flash cards” for contents that you are not familiar with and you think important so that you can easily go back to them for review for as many times as you like. As matter of fact, the process of preparing your own flash cards will help you a lot to remember the materials.<br><I>&#</I>8226<I>&#</I>59;Do AIMR assigned after-chapter problems for each session. <p>Study Group: Study groups can be helpful for candidates to communicate with each other and help each other to understand materials, especially for those who take self-study approach. The key point is that a study group must be well organized and operated in order to really achieve its goal, not just get together to waste everyone’s time. The size of each group should be adequate: from 5-6 people to 10-15 people. Do not make too large groups. The rules should be set and all members should follow. Attendance should be seriously observed. A common unsuccessful situation of study group is that it seems to start well, but very soon many members do not feel it is beneficial and stop attending. Group members should have a clear view of things to do in every meeting, and some member should lead each discussion. <p>Final Remarks: In my opinion, CFA program provides you an excellent opportunity to systematically learn modern financial market theories and techniques to prepare you for a security analyst’s or portfolio manager’s position, or any other related position. On the other hand, it is a serious commitment. You need to spend significant amount of time in multiple years to study in order to pass all three level exams. It is also a financial commitment, especially for candidates in China, given the high cost of enrollment fee, material fee and perhaps preparation course fee. Potential candidates are advised to think about their decisions carefully based on their own situations. If you decided to go for it, enjoy!<br> | 
发表于 2005-12-30 11:00
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