cv4cfa

Right around 150 for me.

dvilayphet

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.

mp3bu

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

rohitdoshi

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.