CFA exam: study resources and answering burning questions

In Part 1 of this series, I wrote about my CFA study routine and how I combined exams with work.

In this article, I have a flashback to the three-year journey that preceded my CFA designation. I also answer the most asked questions I get about the CFA.

CFA exam is a three-part exam that tests one's knowledge of a wide range of investment topics. Unlike some accounting exams, you cannot get an exemption for any level.

My CFA exam experience

On June 23, 2018, I sat for the Level 1 exam.?Thankfully, my score was in the 90th percentile. ?

In June 2019, I wrote the Level 2 exam.?It's been a long-standing debate about whether Level 2 or Level 3 is more difficult. For Level 2, there is an overwhelming amount of formulas to know. What helped was practicing all the questions I could find. According to this article , practice testing and distributed practice are the two most effective of the 10 common study techniques. More on this later.

Worn out but still pushing and eager to put CFA behind me, in August 2019, I enrolled for the June 2020 Level 3 exam. But, life had other plans.?

Unlike Levels 1 and 2 that were purely multiple-choice questions, Level 3 had a case study session that required structured responses to essay questions.?

It means if you don't know it, you don't know it. No multiple choices to bail you. Consequently, I knew that this preparation had to be different. So, I purchased a prep provider's course (Mark Meldrum) and solved all the questions, paying careful attention to the session on the essay questions.?

You see, as one country after another closed their borders and restricted gatherings to limit the spread of COVID-19, CFA candidates like me continued reading amidst the unprecedented (the word we overused in 2020) uncertainty. "Will the exams be postponed?", we wondered. Well, in March 2020, the exam was finally postponed .?

So, I took a break from studying, while I, like others, tried to come to grasp the reality of a different way of living. And working.

In May 2020, I started studying again, slowly picking up momentum. At this time, COVID-19 was still very much around, the lockdown was still in effect, and the uncertainty was still crippling. [Some candidates had their exam postponed just weeks to the exam date.]

Anyway, I wrote Level 3 in December 2020. And to my relief, and the relief of my cheerleaders, I passed.?

Now I answer questions I usually get about the CFA exams.

What materials did you use?

I read the entire CFA Curriculum (textbook) for Level 1 - 3. At some point, I tried to read one of the prep provider's abridged materials, but it was too dense. I like the story nature of the Curriculum, its?case studies and real-life examples.

On the CFA website, each candidate has a Learning Ecosystem , with hundreds of practice questions. Thankfully, or unfortunately (depending on what lens you view it through), the Learning Ecosystem also shows how you compare with other students. Talk about peer pressure!? Devote enough time to practicing the questions on the Learning Ecosystem, together with the end-of-chapter questions in the CFA Curriculum.

The CFA Institute also provides mock exams. And I practiced all that I could find.? If you have access to previous years' or other prep providers mock exams, practice them all.?See this LinkedIn article on why practice questions are king.

Please remember that as the CFA updates it's Curriculum yearly (as far as I know), earlier years' mock exams become less and less relevant.?

For me, I practiced them nonetheless, aiming for 10 mock exams.

This is a survey I found in my archive originally published on Reddit/CFA. While this may not always apply because of the limited data subjects, note that people who practiced 10 mock exams or more tend to pass.

For Levels 1 & 2, I listened to some free YouTube lectures from IFT, while Mark Meldrum's video lectures and question bank proved useful for Level 3. So, I got a Bluetooth speaker that blasted CFA lectures while I was doing physical chores.

What other resources did you use?

I cannot overemphasize the importance of a community. As I didn't know a lot of Charterholders personally, I turned to the internet community.?

Reddit/CFA was my go-to for information about how other candidates were faring. It truly made me feel less alone. I felt like there were people on planet earth who understood what I was going through.

Analyst forum is also a good community for asking questions.

From exam study techniques to exam-day checklist and how to read exam results, 300 hours provided valuable information. And in 2020, when the pandemic caused uncertainty in the exam date, 300 hours analysis presented as palliatives.

How many hours did you study (do I have to study?)

According to the CFA Institute, the average candidate studies for 300 hours . So if you have 6 months to study, you'd study for 11.5 hours per week.?However, the CFA 2019 Program survey shows the hours students spent on average for each level:?

CFA Level 1: 303 hours

CFA Level 2: 328 hours

CFA Level 3: 344 hours

I estimate I studied for about 700 hours for CFA Level 1 and 2 exams. Before the Level 3 exam was postponed in 2020, I had put in 175.5 hours. And, between May and December 2020, I studied for 415 hours.

How did you read?

On two occasions, I stayed back at work on a Friday night with a friend/colleague to pull all-nighters. The following Saturday was a blur. I enjoyed the reading. It was effective but I didn't like feeling so tired and worn out on a Saturday. So, I stopped.?

It took me trial and error to workout a routine that worked for me. That's why I would advise you start studying earlier than required. That will give you some time to get into a state of flow. In this blog post, I wrote more on the CFA study routine I adopted.

Before every exam I planned my study on paper. I read through online posts on what people did to pass exams. What did they study? How many hours did they spend? How many mock exams did they take? I then adapted their strategy to work for me.

Why I started studying 9 months in advance

Working as an auditor at that time, February to April was peak audit season, and I knew I'd have less time to study. I'd be neck-deep in deadlines that CFA study won't stand a chance. So, I estimated how many weeks I'll do slow reading, and factored in emergencies.?

Also. it takes a while to get into a rhythm and determine what works best, You know.

The money is a lot. Why bother?

This is a layered question. It really depends on what you can hope to get from it. I do realize that sometimes it can be difficult to know if you'd get enough returns to justify your investment in the exams.?

Here is the unsophisticated method I used to decide to put in a significant amount of my salary. I just thought well, it's possible that I invest this money in some other financial investment and I lose it. So, why not risk investing in my self, my career??It's not a heuristic for everyone. And it's not one I hope to use again. Because I have more knowledge on investing (and not just from CFA books).

People say the CFA exam is tough. Is it true?

If you choose to read the Curriculum, that's committing to read ~8,500 - 9,000 pages through Levels 1 - 3. The sheer amount of information you need to know makes it challenging. It doesn't help that we sometimes forget what we read. The brain isn't perfect, you know. So, solving loads of practice questions helped me remember what I had read.

I'm afraid of failing. Help.?

When I started the exams, I thought I'd at least fail 1 of the levels. However, each time I was studying for one exam, I couldn't imagine rewriting it.?

If you don't write the exam, you have zero chances of passing.?If you cast this bread upon the water, who knows if you will find it after many days .

My unpopular decision

I intentionally limited the people I told that I was writing the CFA exams, including not putting it on LinkedIn till I passed Level 3. One reason being that I didn't want anyone reminding me and asking "how far with your exam?" ??♀?

I added this section because there are people like me who don't want to share and are thinking "well, everybody is sharing, should I also share?"

If you have concrete reasons for not sharing, you don't have to.? However, be aware that potential recruiters (if you're open to new roles) will also not see your exam progress on your profile.

In conclusion, here is what I did:

• Read the CFA Curriculum
• Maintained a study plan and relatively stuck to it
• Start studying early
• Practiced 10 mock exams or more

Part 3 (hopefully the last part) will be on the CFA result day emotions and the little things that count.

I hope I answered your questions. Share this article with someone who needs it.

#cfa #cfaexam #cfacharterholder #cfastudyplan #cfaprogram