CFA + Sample + Mock Enough? starting, weekend, reading, through, should

grharmeyer

Hey guys,
I should wrap up all the readings by this weekend and am starting to plan for review. My plan was to go through all the CFA reading questions for every section and take all the sample and mock exams from CFAI. Do you guys think this is enough or should I try to squeeze Qbank + schweser exams in as well? (My only concern is that these don’t seem to be very representative of the exam from what I’ve heard)

sabaruch

This is a good question. I’m currently following exactly your same strategy but I’m also using Qbank for supplemental materials to help grasp the concept. I’m having my first mock exam from CFAI this Saturday. Any feedback on this approach would be much appreciated?

amqata

That’s pretty much what I was planning on, sans being done with the readings this weekend (I’ll probably be another week or two). But you’ll have to check back with me in January to find out how well it worked for me.

genuinecfa

Same here, just the readings, sample exams, and mock exams.

hanvinh

if you have the qbank, concentrate on that after you finish the readings. i think hammering the qbank is the best way to prepare. i didn’t think cfai gave enough practice questions to hammer the info home.
whether the schweser questions are worded differently or not shouldn’t really be a concern. although their questions are, at times, more computational than the real exam, those questions allow to understand the equations tested on the exam. solving a bunch of quant questions will allow you to understand the equation rather than just memorizing the formula. so when cfai asks you about the p/e ratio using dividend disount, you’ll know the relationship and won’t have to think too long.

YAhmed

Thanks for the replies guys! If you’re going to be using Qbank, are you guys taking tests on Qbank by individual sections or all sections at once? And does everyone check answers after answering each individual question or go through all the answers after you’ve completed a test?

LPoulin133

From my experience: I’ve read through just about all of the CFAI materials, but once I started taking the sample exams, I was lost. It’s really hard to recall the specifics after cramming all that reading in.
Fortunately however, by plowing through many questions, you begin to subconsciously pickup on the trends: what’s asked the most, how the questions are structured, what tricks to look out for. And then you realize how much of the crap you spent all that time reading about doesn’t even show up in the questions :/
The Schweser mocks are pretty good. I’ve more questions than I can ask for there, and you learn a lot by reading through the solutions.

hanvinh

Are the CFAI mocks out yet?

Colum

you should DEFINITLEY take the mocks and the qbank if you have access.
i was scoreing around 80s and above towards the end for Schweser Qbank (i recommend only using moderate and hard level questions).. when i took the CFAI exams about two weeks before the exam, i scored around a 68 and 65 on them. didnt pass either one.
it helped me to realize that on ethics the CFAI board likes you to be able to categorize what type of ethics violation is committed rather than whether it happened or not.
i also took the last week off before the exam and put in a good 6 hrs per day. passed on first try (luckily).
PS i also logged my hours religously and booked over 300