Effort required to pass Level 1 given my background? next, first, currently, management, background

clearlycanadian

I will complete my MBA in Corporate Finance/Investments/Accounting this Spring (first week of May) from NYU Stern. I am going part-time, and currently work in asset management risk.
I am on the fence about possibly taking the exam in June. I really don’t want to have to deal with my last semester of classes and the CFA at the same time, so I am more leaning towards taking it next December. I figure I graduate in May, will take off the rest of May, June, and July (since I haven’t had a summer the last 2 summers), and then begin studying between August/September.
I just wanted to see if anyone on here followed a similar path to mine, and if so, how hard level 1 was for you after doing a (strong) MBA in Finance/Accounting? I know Levels 2 and 3 are insanely difficult, and after doing almost 3 years of night school (come May), I’m trying to ration out my energy/sanity as best as possible, since I know I will need to basically devote my life to Levels 2 and 3.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated - thank you!

ShooterMcCFA

You shouldn’t have a problem passing L1 in June.  Read the Schweser notes, write down and memorize formulas, and do Qbank / practice tests and you will be good to go. I’m guessing you will need to put in 100 to 150 hours.

ajpheif16

Thank you guys for your feedback.
Wianek, I took a crack at those 20 sample questions. I didn’t do any of the Ethics questions, since I will obviously be starting from scratch there, but was able to get around 75% of the other questions right without looking at formulas/notes or anything.
I am really strongly considering committing to pass the exam in June. It will make Feb-May pretty painful (because I’ll still be in school), but I think it will be better in the long run, as I’ll have more time for Level 2, and will get almost half of 2013 off from any kind of studying (which I desperately need at this point).

gjcxc

How comfortable are you with these?
http://www.cfainstitute.org/cfaprogram/courseofstudy/samples/Pages/index...
Although there are only 20 questions, they are fairly representative of the exam material.

jcfa2011

You should take it in June.  It will not be too hard with your background.

dmar

When do they usually release the next year’s Schweser notes? I will probably buy them, as I will need to at least review everything.
I wouldn’t be able to start studying until early February, but the class i’m taking in January is a hard core accounting/financial statement analysis class, so that should at least add some value as far as FRA is concerned.
Does anyone have a recommended order in which I should review the study sessions (i.e. should I do Ethics early or late in the game)?

Fdez

MCJD4ever wrote:
Hmmm…100 hours over 4-ish months isn’t bad at all.
Do you guys even think it would be worth it to me to buy the complete level 1 Schweser books? Ethics will be entirely new to me, and FRA is huge, so I’ll want to study that in detail as well. I also will need to brush up on Economics and Quant methods, since those were earlier in my MBA.
I’m wondering if I could do it just by doing 6 hours per month for each weekend until June 1. Since I’ll finish classes on May 10, I’ll at least have 3 weeks at the very end to devote to studying/drilling practice problems.
I’d still recommend buying the Schweser notes.  It’ll focus you attention much better than CFAI material.  As someone mentioned before, just because you know the material doesn’t mean you’ll pass, you need to learn to pass the exam.  Schweser does a very good job of doing that.  Since you have a good level of understanding you should hopefully be able to get through the notes fairly quickly (yup I know that, skip, I know that, skip, don’t know that, study, etc)

malbec

I think you just need to practice (buy practice exams or Qbank).  Just refer to CFAI textbook when you need help.  Then you probably will be fine in next June.  Level 1 is not a hard exam if you are willing to study.

joemoran

Hmmm…100 hours over 4-ish months isn’t bad at all.
Do you guys even think it would be worth it to me to buy the complete level 1 Schweser books? Ethics will be entirely new to me, and FRA is huge, so I’ll want to study that in detail as well. I also will need to brush up on Economics and Quant methods, since those were earlier in my MBA.
I’m wondering if I could do it just by doing 6 hours per month for each weekend until June 1. Since I’ll finish classes on May 10, I’ll at least have 3 weeks at the very end to devote to studying/drilling practice problems.

Kapie

Probably 100 hours. Maybe less if you are willing to accept some fail risk.