How Far Is Everyone On Their CFAI Reading? - Dec 2011 L1 schedule, 2011, posting, following, concerned

RobertA

Hey All,

First time posting, long time forum troll...

I'm a bit concerned that my reading pace is a bit too slow... I'm on reading 9 right now and looking at my reading schedule, I'm about 2 weeks behind in order to give myself about a whole month for review. This is following the general schedule outlined by Study Sessions on the inside cover of Book 1. I'm trying to finish at least one study session a week to stay on pace for review...

Can anyone offer any study tips? I heard that just reading straight through and then doing the practice questions once finished with the book works well for some people... Others religiously do the readings and then do the practice questions right afterwards...

Any study suggestions on getting through this without cramming at the last minute would be really helpful...

Here is my general schedule:
6:30am - 9:15am -- Study/Read
9:15am - 7pm -- Work
7pm - 11pm -- Family Time

Weekends:
Saturday: Day off to spend time with family.
Sunday: Study ~3 Hours

No 3rd Party Study Materials Used (Budget Constraints)

Cheers~

CPATrader

Let me rephrase... First REAL post about the exam... long time forum troll...

kingstongal

Just starting reading 12. I think the first book takes the longest as its all statistics - the practice problems are all long answer too. Econ should take 2 weeks, FRA should take 3 etc

My Study method is reading/ taking notes using the CFAI method, then doing the EOC questions.

Once I have done all the readings, I will use Schweser/Elan to review the LOS and do their practice questions and mock exams

Im a bit ahead of schedule and should have about a month to review and do practice questions.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at Sunday, July 24, 2011 at 08:10PM by clearlycanadian.

bolligerallstar

For me the FRA book is taking forever. I've gone through the first 2, and Econ was a breeze. I think I did it in like a few days. It probably depends on your background and experience, but just do the best you can. 3 hours a day consistently is a good pace in my opinion.

giorgio10

hedgemyfund Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hey All,
>
> First time posting, long time forum troll...
>
> I'm a bit concerned that my reading pace is a bit
> too slow... I'm on reading 9 right now and looking
> at my reading schedule, I'm about 2 weeks behind
> in order to give myself about a whole month for
> review. This is following the general schedule
> outlined by Study Sessions on the inside cover of
> Book 1. I'm trying to finish at least one study
> session a week to stay on pace for review...
>
> Can anyone offer any study tips? I heard that just
> reading straight through and then doing the
> practice questions once finished with the book
> works well for some people... Others religiously
> do the readings and then do the practice questions
> right afterwards...
>
> Any study suggestions on getting through this
> without cramming at the last minute would be
> really helpful...
>
> Here is my general schedule:
> 6:30am - 9:15am -- Study/Read
> 9:15am - 7pm -- Work
> 7pm - 11pm -- Family Time
>
> Weekends:
> Saturday: Day off to spend time with family.
> Sunday: Study ~3 Hours
>
> No 3rd Party Study Materials Used (Budget
> Constraints)
>
> Cheers~

Getting behind in preparing for the CFA exams is a real/valid problem. Most students are not prepared for this amount of material in such a short duration. I highly recommend getting the following book "Remember Everything you Read" by Frank Stanley. Learn this book inside and out, it's custom made to help one deal with the volume of material you will face per all three CFA exams. Get the two week rule, the Layered Reading Technique, the slash recall patterns and the vertical visual reading techniques under your belt. The effort will be worth it.

Additional books to help you get through the CFA material

-Super Reading Secrets by Howard Berg
-Break-through Rapid Reading by Author name?

W



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at Monday, July 25, 2011 at 09:59AM by WarrenB1.

strikethree

...
>
> Can anyone offer any study tips? I heard that just
> reading straight through and then doing the
> practice questions once finished with the book
> works well for some people... Others religiously
> do the readings and then do the practice questions
> right afterwards...
>
>

Readings followed by practice questions IMMEDIATELY. I strongly recommend this approach. Try to get your hands on more questions for review and practice in the last month, or you could just do the CFA EOCs again

thommo77

I would try to read a bit on Saturdays and a bit more on Sundays. I was always so burnt out from work on the work days so I got most of my studying done in the morning and during the day on Saturday and Sundays but I also didn't have a family.

hoangvu90

JP_RL_CFA Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I would try to read a bit on Saturdays and a bit
> more on Sundays. I was always so burnt out from
> work on the work days so I got most of my studying
> done in the morning and during the day on Saturday
> and Sundays but I also didn't have a family.


word?

tarunajwani

WarrenB1 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> hedgemyfund Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Hey All,
> >
> > First time posting, long time forum troll...
> >
> > I'm a bit concerned that my reading pace is a
> bit
> > too slow... I'm on reading 9 right now and
> looking
> > at my reading schedule, I'm about 2 weeks
> behind
> > in order to give myself about a whole month for
> > review. This is following the general schedule
> > outlined by Study Sessions on the inside cover
> of
> > Book 1. I'm trying to finish at least one study
> > session a week to stay on pace for review...
> >
> > Can anyone offer any study tips? I heard that
> just
> > reading straight through and then doing the
> > practice questions once finished with the book
> > works well for some people... Others
> religiously
> > do the readings and then do the practice
> questions
> > right afterwards...
> >
> > Any study suggestions on getting through this
> > without cramming at the last minute would be
> > really helpful...
> >
> > Here is my general schedule:
> > 6:30am - 9:15am -- Study/Read
> > 9:15am - 7pm -- Work
> > 7pm - 11pm -- Family Time
> >
> > Weekends:
> > Saturday: Day off to spend time with family.
> > Sunday: Study ~3 Hours
> >
> > No 3rd Party Study Materials Used (Budget
> > Constraints)
> >
> > Cheers~
>
> Getting behind in preparing for the CFA exams is a
> real/valid problem. Most students are not
> prepared for this amount of material in such a
> short duration. I highly recommend getting the
> following book "Remember Everything you Read" by
> Frank Stanley. Learn this book inside and out,
> it's custom made to help one deal with the volume
> of material you will face per all three CFA exams.
> Get the two week rule, the Layered Reading
> Technique, the slash recall patterns and the
> vertical visual reading techniques under your
> belt. The effort will be worth it.
>
> Additional books to help you get through the CFA
> material
>
> -Super Reading Secrets by Howard Berg
> -Break-through Rapid Reading by Author name?
>
> W

Are you for real? There is no silver bullet for "remembering all the @#$%& you read." If there were, my guess is that the entire Wall Street would have had the CFA by now.

OP: You need to make those Sundays count. At least one reading on that day. There will be times when you can squeeze in a couple. I realize that it gets harder with family and work, but that's what the CFA is all about - short term pain long term gain.

Someone else posted that Volume 1 takes the longest. This entirely depends on the person. Accounting will take some time, so will fixed income and econ.

dvilayphet

Also forgot to mention - make sure you work on the EOC problems. You can't claim you have finished a reading until you have done all the problems. A month at the end won't be enough to address all the problems.

The best thing that works for me: do all the problem immediately after I have read the chapter and grade myself. The ones I got wrong (including guesses), get highlighted.