How many hours did you need to pass level 1? multiple, Cheers, method

brk1yn

Just out of curiosity. How many hours did you need to pass level 1? and what method did you use? Any lectures or only self study?
If you did the exam multiple times, sum up the total hours over all attempts.
I used  250 hours  (1 attempt).
Method: Self studies with Schweser Notes and Qbank.
Cheers

rohitdoshi

I have no idea. I dont understand people who are actually counting hours? How do you do that?
Another question that might be interesting is. What is the optimal number of hours to study? I mean, if you study 300 hours and have a 50/50 probabilty to pass. If you fail then you have to study maybe 250 hours next year again. Total 550 hours. If you instead spend 400 hours first year and increase your pass probability to 85/15, will it be worth it? (Easy expected value calculation, but the probabiities are unknown).
If you really want to run through all 3 levels and pass on first try (that′s what Im going for). I would recommend to study as much as possible, not thinking that you might pass on 200 hours cause you are so smart. It depends on how much time you have, and how much you want to pass.
Level I is relatively easy. Level II is something else.

mp3bu

Of course, as much as possible is good. I started late with level 1 (2.5 months before the exam) and since I work full-time, I didnt have time for more then 250 hours.
How I count? I plan my study, and keep track in an excel sheet.
Like you say, I dont think there is a optimal hour of study, study all you can and make sure you get 90% on the “home exams”, to be sure to get ~70% on the real exam.
I also plan to pass all three first attempts…and I agree L2 is much more difficult then L1.
The question I posted was just out of curiosity. To get a feeling for how much efforts people in generally put in for the CFA. Heard something like that the average passer spends 330 hours per exam, the average non-passer around 300.
Cheers and have a good day

dvilayphet

Swedish, but you live in Switzerland? Can you  land me a job in Geneva, that would be nice
Anyway, I dont believe people are sincere when asked how much time they study. Most people think they are smarter than they really are, and most people are trying to act like they are smarter than they really are.
Personally, I guess I studied more than I want to admit. even though I have never counted the hours.
It′s not cool to say that you spent 400 hours and failed.

cv4cfa

Right around 150 for me.

cfa10yrplan

90-100hrs. using only CFAI texts. the time needed to pass is irrelevant. knowing yourself and knowing how you learn is most important. the only way i learn is to read the full texts, make very concise written notes and only look at those notes for the the days leading up to the exam. the mere act of making those notes is what allows me to retain the information and actually understand the concepts. any additional time or effort would have mostly been a waste.
as for probability of passing being correlated to study time, i doubt there would be any major boosts in pass probabilities after 250 hrs or so for the Avg. Joe. for me, anything over 120 hrs would have not increased my odds in the least. that said, at 90-100 hrs per exam, i passed by a low margin each time. i’d say 60-70 hrs would be the absolute bare minimum required to pass.
know thyself.

ASSet_MANagemen

thats impressive, very little time I must say
Maybe the notes thing is affective, personally I prefer problem solving(too lazy to make notes, in fact, I never did any notes in school in my life )…but I guess takes longer time.

LBriscoe

which method did you use? impressive low time

IAmNeil

yep, live here since 8 years…long story..started in Industrial Automation Industry (I am a software/electrical engineering   engineer as base)…then moved onto banking. Have loads of contacts down here if you need a job ;) Would recommend Z

meghanjackson

Live with no regrets.  Overstudy to reduce the odds of doing it again.