标题: How many hours did you need to pass level 1? [打印本页] 作者: brk1yn 时间: 2013-8-9 09:24 标题: How many hours did you need to pass level 1?
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作者: rohitdoshi 时间: 2013-8-9 09:24
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.作者: mp3bu 时间: 2013-8-9 09:24
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作者: dvilayphet 时间: 2013-8-9 09:24
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.作者: cv4cfa 时间: 2013-8-9 09:25
Right around 150 for me.作者: cfa10yrplan 时间: 2013-8-9 09:25
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.作者: ASSet_MANagemen 时间: 2013-8-9 09:25
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.作者: LBriscoe 时间: 2013-8-9 09:25
which method did you use? impressive low time作者: IAmNeil 时间: 2013-8-9 09:25
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作者: meghanjackson 时间: 2013-8-9 09:25
Live with no regrets. Overstudy to reduce the odds of doing it again.作者: SpyAli 时间: 2013-8-9 09:25
Don’t pay attention to what other people used. Focus on getting the material in your head.作者: CFA4Techie 时间: 2013-8-9 09:26
I spent around 125-150 if I remember correctly. I was still in school at the time so relatively little of the material was brand new. As for how I kept track, I just jotted down the hours I spent every day just as a way to keep me accountable and when I started to see 2-3 days in a row with 0s next to them I needed to get back in gear.
I started to keep track of hours for L2 but it turned into a mess because I studied erratic hours at work, at night, etc. so I stopped trying.
To echo what other people said though, #s spent is not a good thing to benchmark yourself with. People read faster than others, different levels of pre-existing knowledge, etc. I think I was toward the lower end since I do read pretty quickly and had a high level of existing knowledge.作者: parott 时间: 2013-8-9 09:26
Just under 200 hours (somewhere between 190 and 199) for level 1.
I just write down my starting time on a piece of paper and when i stop studying to go pee or do something else I write the stopping time. Main reason to monitor it, as someone else also remarked, to keep myself accountable. Instead of thinking “I did a lot this week” I had the actual numbers and in many cases I always thought i had done more than I actually did.
Study method: read schweser and make notes. Then go to QBank and do problems. Right before the exam I just went over the notes and formulas till i couldnt see them anymore.
Btw, level 2 took me about 240 hours and level 3 about 300 hours (level 3 took so much time because I had the schweser videos which take forever to watch).作者: bdavi77962 时间: 2013-8-9 09:26
350hrs. Maybe too much. But I wanted to make sure I passed.作者: IAmNeil 时间: 2013-8-9 09:27
i would be giving cfa l1 in december 2013,as i have cleared 2 levels of frm i would just read through uncomman portions like fra/equity/economics and it should take approx 50 hours ….then i will practice scheweser question bank pro daily giving mock exams……and i think this should be enough!!!!!
how much to study is a very subjective question but some one with no exposure to finance should atleast study for 200 hrs and then practice mock exams/question bank as much as they can……作者: random_walker47 时间: 2013-8-9 09:27
Overstudy as much as you can.作者: thommo77 时间: 2013-8-9 09:27
I probably put in 200-250 hours in 8 or so weeks before the exam. I studied way too much and the exam way much easier than I thought it would be. Level II is a different story, and doing them back to back is starting to kill me.作者: jcole21 时间: 2013-8-9 09:27
Level 1 is a walk in the park. L2 is different.作者: bulosehi 时间: 2013-8-9 09:27
I didn’t really track hours studied, I gave myself 8 months as I don’t like to cram, just done as many questions as I could … I recommend overstudying, too expensive and time consuming to fail.
I opted out from doing it back to back as I again want to give myself the 8 months.
Good luck.作者: bigredhockey55 时间: 2013-8-9 09:28
Itera posted this a while back. I thought it was relevant here. 作者: Rasec 时间: 2013-8-9 09:28
Guide to Passing Level 1 in 3 Weeks:
Read Schweser
Do Practice Tests
Do More Practice Tests
Go Back and Do the First Practice Tests Again
Don’t Sleep In作者: wizofoz 时间: 2013-8-9 09:28
It might have worked for you, but not for most. To the OP, do at least 400 hours for every level. Don’t spend 10 years on this program when you can do it in 18 months.作者: dandman 时间: 2013-8-9 09:28
^ Word. When the exam is only given once a year, overstudying is not a bad thing.
When you’re getting a promotion at work (longer hours, more headaches) and your wife is pregnant with your second, that increases to motivation to study as long and hard as you can (because you know this is your last chance–possibly forever).
