eoin

I passed both L1 and L2 on first attempt w/ the same process. if you methodically do this approach, I can almost guarantee you will pass:

1. Watch Schweser Video on a study session
2. Read Schweser Notes on same study session
3. Do Schweser questions on the study session - mark what you didn't get right for later review
4. Do CFAI EOC questions on the study session - mark what you didn't get right for review
5. Writedown all relevant notes to this study session for yourself (create your own separate set of condensed notes). This was an ongoing process for me, where I would be watching Schweser Video in 1 screen and on a second monitor typing out my own notes.
6. Writedown a running list of all key formulas in a separate notes section (key formulas for this study session).
7. Create some flash cards (not too many) covering key concepts.

repeat this process for every study session. review your notes, do CFAI EOC a 2nd, 3rd time (especially the ones you got wrong). keep creating more flash cards when you screw up problems or cannot remember concepts. Do mock exams / review. create more flash cards and review all problems you got wrong.

I had a condensed set of personal notes, flash cards (whittled down from ~300 to 50-100 most important that I had trouble remembering), a set of formulas organized by study session, and a separate section of notes just for derivatives (exactly how to do each derivatives problem step by step).

I walked out knowing for sure I passed and I did.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at Thursday, July 28, 2011 at 02:54PM by prophets.

eoin

Passed in 1st attempt.

I used schweser's notes and CFAI books. I used the CFAI books only when I wasn't able to understand something from notes.. and I also did all CFAI EoCs.
Schweser is fine. Although, in the exam, there were some questions in which some terms were completely new to me. Maybe its just me or maybe Schweser does leave things out, i'm not sure. But I think I had gone through the Schweser notes thoroughly.
So if you get a really good grip on the topics in Schweser, i think the chances of passing are pretty high.

Because of time constraint, I wasn't able to do any mock.. But I still passed.
Just make sure that you understand a particular topic 'completely' and then move on to the next. Imo, unlike in case of Level 1, I don't think anyone can pass level 2 without clearing the concepts. I found CFA Level 2 paper to be quite tricky.