Re: Taking CFA Lv 1 on Dec 2011 + MBA 1st year, is it a good ide
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31 Jan 2011, 08:28
Re: Drop-dead date to start studying -
This really depends on your initial understanding of the material. I've been in "the business" (sales/trading) for about 8 years, and I have an economics degree. So I picked up the CFA level 1 material in mid September and took the December exam (passed).
However, this did not work out for me during level 2. For Level 1, I used the Schwesser notes, which was just fine in getting me through the multiple-choice format of the L1 test. For L2, it is totally insufficient. You definitely need to fully understand the concepts in L2, because the fact is that the format is a scenario-type analysis, and if you get hit with a concept you're not at least 75% familiar with, you're going to take a major hit.
Case in point: I'm highly comfortable with my portfolio management, derivatives, equities, fixed income, F/X, etc (essentially capital markets). knowledge. Corporate finance? Abysmal. On test day, I was hit with a large number of problem sets from the latter areas, and it showed on my test score (fail).
I'm taking the L2 test again this June, with the knowledge this time of what to look at. I will definitely be ready for any pension accounting and foreign income translation questions (so should you...).
Anyways, good luck to you - you definitely need to put the time in to study, but you'll come out of the whole thing with much more confidence regarding your degree of understanding of the world of finance.