Aggressive study timeline outside, journey, material, everyone, activity

water2012

Hello everyone,

Started this journey about a week ago and thought I share my plan of study summary into the Dec '09 exam:

- CFAI (All examinable material and questions from the 6 volumes)
Begin July 20th
End Oct 18th

-Schweser (All material from the 5 volumes and Secret Sauce)
Begin Oct 18th
End Nov 12th

- Schweser (Videos, Q bank, 11 sample exams)
Begin Nov 12th
End Nov 29th

As you can see, CFA will own me for the next 4 months as I will be giving up any activity outside of work. This means 2 hours of study each weeknight and continuous study all weekend long. I will also be on annual leave from work at the latter part of Oct until the exam.

Would appreciate if you guys can share some wisdoms and pitfalls that I should be on look out for, as well as how realistic do you think the above timeline is.

I will be visiting the forum a lot and hope to be involved in some deep discussions along the way.


Cheers.

Daniel1985

Start with Scheweser. You dont need to go through all the materials of CFAI. Only if confusion arise, you can consult CFAI materials. After completing schweser, You can solve the problems of of CFAI books.

dcfox83

Very frankly....I don't think it's possible...and I know that it's not at all required to study the CFAI books for L1. Just concentrate on any ONE set of books (preferably Schweser)....and KILL IT! You will pass - hands down!

sdada

It can be done. I read the entire CFAI curriculum in two months or so, then read Schweser a few times. However, taking an entire month off of work seems excessive. It may be a tough exam, but it's just a exam.

manasib

Schweser should be used along with the CFAI material. I don't think its realistic that you'll "complete" the 6 volumes of CFAI material in 3 months (if you work), but depends on your background I suppose. Also, do NOT by any means wait until the end to start using Qbank! Worse mistake in your plan.

I remember when I started this journey for the June exam I had a very detailed schedule that took me quite some time to create. A friend of mine advised me not to get too bogged down on the schedule and just to use general time periods for when I wanted to be done with major topics. And definitely to use Qbank along the way. Schedule weeks in between major topics and don't move from something without having a good grasp on the subject, unless you're feeling frustrated then its best to take a break...

Your target end date is good. You will need the review and especially the sample/mock exams. But agree with sbmarti2 that its not necessary to take the whole month off work - but if you can do it, then do it!

Tuesday will reveal if my planned worked : )

Good Luck!

dotamasta

Thank you all for your input - much appreciated.

I think glancing over the more condensed Schweser first makes sense. And it should not make any difference given that I initially intended to make the time to go over the CFAI material anyway (albeit the 'Schweser first' approach is probably more cautious given the timeframe). I will post my revised timeline in a couple of days.

My background is in consulting (management and technology as the underpinning foundation). I am currently working for a major financial services client. A bit of advantage I do have is that my undergrad major was in finance, however it was obtained several years back.

Good luck to everyone who is waiting for tomorrow's results ...hope you visit this forum now and then even if you move onto L2, and if you did not do well I hope you register for the Dec exam and start cracking asap!

Cheers.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at Monday, July 27, 2009 at 08:56AM by Sujan.

Ionutzakis

Geez, I have fallen behind in my schedule ...need some motivation guys...

I have taken up CFA1 Buster and slorte's advice and begun with the Schweser Notes...deep into quants at the moment...

I am going to be posting some really silly quant questions over the weekend...so you experts get ready

cheers!

Jolyn

One way to stay on course is to set short term goals, i.e. be done Quant by next weekend. They worked well for me, but you have to make sure you're not studying ineffectively simply to meet your goals.

dece2011

Absolutely agree sbmarti2.

Quant to be completed by this weekend!

golf....golf...golf.....oh man am I going to miss it for the next 4 months....

soddy1979

I have all day and night to study hours, I'm going to read through all the CFAI with hopes of getting it all through by mid October and then cram through Schweser. My suggestion, take mock exams early on.