profil

My CFA lv1 experience:
Aug-Feb  Studied hard from the cfa curriculum, i felt really good, confident, and i thought i knew most of the material
Took my first mock exam: i got a 15% grade. Freaked out big time.
Spent the next three months alternating between taking mock exams (analyzing every single mistake, going back to the curriculum, going “AHA” now i get it), and reviewing (own study notes + schweser video reviews). By the end of it i was consistently getting +90% correct answers.
Passed the exam with +70% on every topic.
So my advice: Just get over with the material as fast as you can - the key is reviewing. Don’t freak out if your first practice exam attempts suck hard. Even if you didnt understand stuff, you will definitely get it when you review and take mock exams (be sure to analyze every single one of ur errors). I can almost guarantee that if u spent 2 months reviewing+mockexams you will pass alright ^^

malbec

Yeah, material retention is a bit of a problem - certainly because most of the Candidates have the “basic” study problems as well and don’t know if they’ll make it on time .. I tended to read the materials once and then go through the shortned versions (that you made yourself or from someone else) of those to revise - it worked out fine for me.
But, then again - I had enough time. So, my advice is - if you have enough time - try that, go through the basic study materials once and then go through the shortened versions.

soverby

How’s everyone’s progress so far on studying for the December 2013 exam?
So far I’ve completed reading Schweser Books 1 and 2, and in the middle of Book 3. I’ve only read the material and done the EOC Schweser quizzes - nothing else yet. Hoping to finish reading all 5 books by end of August and then plowing through QBanks/Mocks/Practice Exams.
Material retention rate: about 20% =(
Averaging 2 weeks per book, started June 10.
Anybody else want to share their progress?

zephyranalyst

Well I read through the material, done 3 mocks plus one real exam in June, tons of Qbank, took practically 1 1/2 months off just doing some math problems, and will resume studying on Wednesday next week!

zbird2134

Wow good for you!
Sounds like you’re well on your way!

torontoanalyst

^Yes.  You’ll be surprised by how much you pick up the second time around.  Stuff that you either missed, or that didn’t make a lot of sense will “click” the second time.
If you run out of questions with your CFAI EOC questions, Schweser EOC questions, and Schweser QBank, then start over and do them all again.