please share your precious level 2 experience experience

Elliotbay

I just cleared the cfa level1 exam by solely using the schwester notes, I am wondering whether I could pass
by using the notes only or do you have some other suggestions, really appreciate every piece of advice

WarrenB1

I used CFAI books exclusively and did all EOCs, Mocks once. I didn't use Schweser notes but found their Practice Exams and Secret Source very useful for the last week review. And more importantly, I passed level II this year. My two cents.

bbtomato

Arial10 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> 1. Level 2 is only 120 questions vs. 240
> questions on Level 1. This makes it much easier.
>
> 2. The pass rate is higher for Level 2 than for
> Level 1. This implies it's much easier as well.
>
> Just do it bro. It's nearly a coinflip pass
> probability if you show up.

I hope you guys picked up on the sarcasm. He was joking for all of you knuckleheads that thought he was being serious.

wizofoz

Arial10 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> 1. Level 2 is only 120 questions vs. 240
> questions on Level 1. This makes it much easier.
>
> 2. The pass rate is higher for Level 2 than for
> Level 1. This implies it's much easier as well.
>
> Just do it bro. It's nearly a coinflip pass
> probability if you show up.


You have the same amount of time for half the amount of quetions...wouldn't that imply that it is harder? Plus you also have less room for error.......



I suggest CFAI text book and use kaplan as a guide on some harder topics. Do tone of Mock exams and I suggest you do it earlier rather then later so you can go back to review your weak areas.

I have a psych degree, passed L 1 in December and L 2 today, both on first attempt. Do not be fooled....Level 2 is a beast! You have to know all the material!

ninja1024

Few notes from my experience, I passed.

My Background - Bachelors in Finance and work as an FX Analyst for a major corporation

Notes:

- Studied from Schweser
- Did not do all Schweser practice questions
- Did almost all of CFA end of chapter problems(some multiple times...eg FSA, Equity, Derivatives). These are very important and will cover things missed by Schweser
- Did roughly 1200 questions from the Schweser q-bank. Good for retaining concepts
- Did the Schweser 16-week online seminar
- SChweser online videos are archived, and were great for second thrid review. There were two professors, you can view either. I preffered the lady who taught the British time course, but the US time guy was pretty good too
- Prepared 40 pages worth of notes, helped enormously for retention
- Bought the Elan review notes, but did not read all of them, but some of them were useful

- Things that I felt I was not well prepared-
- Ethics
- Derivatives
- Quant

- Retention is a big issue, don't be panicked, just revisit the material multiple times
- CFA mocks are very important.

I did not feel confident at all, and as arunprasath said, no one does.

Good luck to you all

former

Well, biggest difference from L1 is volumes. L2 had many. With full time job, it usually knocks off the brightest.

Was wise (luckily) to avoid E-book and went for hardbound instead. Took FRA, Equity, Derivatives & FI books each day from October. To sit while going office, started in earlier train. Up & down travel, each 55 mins. Lucky I was able to concentrate hard in spite of noise.

This went on till March. From mid-march started Corp finance and simultaneously reread the big guns. CFAI books were excellent for these topics. Then came Chief distracters such as Cricket world cup, IPL & Rolland Garros.

By May 1st week, somehow I limped and arrived confidently about big guns and utterly terrified of others (AI, PM, Ethics, Quant, Economics). With short time in hand, shifted to Schweser for remaining topics. Then shifted to top gear, woke up at 4, studied till 8, arrived home from job by 9, studied till 11. By May 20, started mock tests. Scored 65-70% in CFAI mocks & 70-75% in Schweser mocks.

Out of exam hall, not as confident as L1. Later learnt that nobody comes out of L2 fully confident and those who did mostly missed the trap. How true!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at Tuesday, July 26, 2011 at 01:04PM by arunprasath.

CFA4Techie

I used a set of 2010 Schweser notes and videos the first time through the curriculum after checking for changes in the LOS between 2010 and 2011. Second time through I reviewed the Schweser notes and did CFAI end of chapter problems. Anything I was struggling with I read the CFAI text for until I could solve the problems. I focused most of my attention on FRA and Equity and nailed those sections on the exam. FWIW, I've been working in Equity Valuation for four years, so that section was not terribly difficult for me. I blew off Derivatives because they're really difficult for me for some reason. You don't have to get them all right.

Basically, I passed using a combination of Schweser and CFAI materials and put a lot of emphasis on the two largest sections (FRA & Equity).

Swanand

Just try to know everything in the Kaplan Notes (which is already huge) and I can tell you that you will know enough to pass the exam. Practice exams and exercices are key during the last 2-3 weeks.

SpyAli

Here is my L1 and L2 comparison, more effort but lower grades in L2.

L1 0(<=50%) 3(>50%) 7(>70%) - PASS - >300 hrs
L2 5(<=50%) 2(>50%) 3(>70%) - PASS - >400 hrs

300/400/500 hours, its never enough. Start early and don't stop until finish.

RepoToronto

prophets

x2...same here. it can be done it's all about the person tho everyone is different



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at Tuesday, July 26, 2011 at 12:47PM by sdanalyst.