The problem of retaining the material material, studying, problem, reading, decided

Gypsy

During May I was studying Economics with Curriculum, made all EOC and was sure that Eco would be my strong point. However, it did not prove to be the case. Not long time ago I decided to test myself with Elan Practice Questions and found that I was nowhere. Average score was from 50 to 70% depending on topic. I really spent so much time on Economics from Curriculum and did not expect such results.
Is it worth reading iy for the second time for example? However, it is impossible to go through Curriculum twice I suppose. So how to fight with this “material retention” problem?

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.

zbird2134

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

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!

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?

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.

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 ^^

hw0799

Do practice problems and mock exams and whatever you can find until you can’t breathe!!!!!!!!!!! And do some more!!!!!!!! It’s funny only because it’s true =D
Good luck!

Swanand

I have just adjusted a little bit my “studying strategy” ( well, for me it’s called strategy). My finance background is not sufficient so I am advised to put much more time and efforts than on average. Recently instead of going directly to new reading sessions as usual, I spend about an hour listening to online lectures which are easily found on youtube or the likes. I find it really useful because those help me to retain readings contents much better.
Like many people here, I only have about 2.5 hours to study in evenings during weekdays. Sometimes I feel extrememly exhausted after long work hours, so video lectures seem to be more effective prior jumping in texts. In weekdays, I try to cover 3 readings in the CFAI curriculum and in weekends, I revise those 3 readings with Schweser notes and do EOC , Concept checkers, and sometimes even Q-bank if I have enough time or if I am in a good mood ). By the way, I have a small study group that meet up every Sunday evening. Each of us is assigned to present one reading to other members of the group. When you have the obligation of explaining something to people, you will be pushed to understand it  better , I think. We rent a classroom with a white board so that we can draw graphs, write equations, etc…. to explain stuffs and help one others understand materials better. That’s how our group works and personally, I find it quite effective for material retaintion. This way of studying might sound a little crazy for some …but regarding my background and my fear of failing the exam, I think I need to follow it

Muddahudda

If you can’t afford 3rd party study materials, per the attached link you’ll find a great study program using on the CFA material.
http://www.qc4blog.com/?p=905
Warren