Taking CFA Lv 1 on Dec 2011 + MBA 1st year, is it a good ide

Question

I plan to start reading CFA from now bit by bit.
B-School's term should start around August, so 8th, 9th, 10,th, 11th I have to cover both CFA and MBA classes.
I'm curious whether this is a normal practice for MBA students?
Or do they normally wait for June 2012 when they've already passed their first year.

Thanks.

rouzbie · Answer

Congratulations on deciding to take the CFA exams! I think the charter has been very beneficial in my career, adding both knowledge about financial markets and credibility on my knowledge.

I haven't been to business school yet so I can't really speak to your question entirely, yet I had some experience similar to what you're considering here. I took Level I during the December session while in the middle of searching for a new job. I started studying in January (because I have no formal economics or accounting education) and was able to pass Level I even while changing jobs.

I think you can easily pass Level I if you do a significant amount of studying before school starts in August.

analyst218 · Answer

Hey 
I'm starting my FT MBA this fall and thinking about passing the CFA Level 1 as well. Why wouldn't you just take the June exam? I'm thinking that's better in terms of both being able to focus on MBA and having it on your resume before recruiting for internship starts.

jb88 · Answer

Further, what would you consider the drop-dead date for beginning to study the material for the June date if you expect to put in the required time and effort to pass?

rouzbie · Answer

That's really dependent on how good you are at studying, retaining the material, and taking tests. For Level 1 I started studying in January for the December exam because I had no finance background. I definitely overstudied, but because I did I was able to study much less for level 2 and level 3. For level 3 I started studying about 2 months before the exam and passed (but with much lower scores).

At a minimum I would start studying 3 months before the exam. Take two months to study the material really hard, finishing 2-3 sections a week. Then spend the third month taking many practice exams and reading the material for questions you answered incorrectly.

At best I would start studying 20+ weeks out, reading 1-2 sections a week and spending last 3 weeks taking practice exams.

cgeorgan1 · Answer

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.

ramsundarg · Answer

What will be a good place to search for study groups for preparing CFA Level 2 ?

cgeorgan1 · Answer

LinkedIn is actually a great place to start.

shivgan3 · Answer

Thanks for the thread, I am also planning to give the exam in Dec 2011

skeechiro · Answer

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anstance5 · Answer

An acquaintance of mine who is in B-School knew a classmate who was also studying for CFA. It's definitely doable -- the guy passed L2. But he didn't get to do many extracurriculars or be part of the social milieu. It seems like getting an MBA is also about developing a network of people as much as it is doing well in your classes. So I would think at least for the first year you want to develop some camaradarie etc so you can get some extracurriculars etc in. Maybe start in year 2?

cgeorgan1 · Answer

AnalystForum is indeed the go-to site for the CFA.

Careful, however - I put in the 130 hours for Level 1 (with extensive finance background) and passed.

Tried the same thing for Level 2, and failed miserably. Level 2 is the weed-out test...take it very seriously.

teshs84 · Answer

I am also interested in this topic.

At one business school I visited, they mentioned that the 1st year classes matched up perfectly with the Lvl 1 CFA material. That if you took the time to learn the knowledge throughly during class, then you should not have to study much outside of school. Is this typical of most programs?

shivgan3 · Answer

Dear Seniors,
What the total cost of CFA, if someone goes in for early registration for all 3 exam & pass all in 1 attempt?
Please help me to know about the total cost of CFA given that I register early for all 3 exams and clear them in a single attempt?
I plan to do like Level 1 in dec 11, level 2 in June 12, and Level 3 in June 13.
I am currently doing coaching for CFA and teaching for GRE/GMAT.
 https://onlineclasses.nanotechbiz.org/

Thanking and Sincerely,

cgeorgan1 · Answer

Pardon my inquisitive nature, but how can you coach people for the CFA and not know any of that information already?

shivgan3 · Answer

OOPS, That was a typo, I coach for GRE and GMAT(giving).
I am learning for CFA from another coaching in New Delhi(taking).
So that are two separate points, sorry for the confusion.

cgeorgan1 · Answer

Gotcha. https://www.cfainstitute.org/cfaprogram/ ... index.aspx

shivgan3 · Answer

It says 1,085 USD for Level one, what will be approximate cost for Level 2 of the exam in June 11, and Level 3 in June 12. Please guide me about rough estimates. 
I need a rough idea about level 2 and 3 exam costs.

cgeorgan1 · Answer

The CFA does test attention to detail:

shivgan3 · Answer

Hey, thank you.
Yes that very right.

Taking CFA Lv 1 on Dec 2011 + MBA 1st year, is it a good ide

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