The CFA Level 1 Exam Date is June 3, 2017. Our study tips below can help you pass the closed book, 240-question multiple choice exam.Study TipsCover Broad Topics: Cover the syllabus adequately. CFA Level I has lots of material. Breadth is more important than depth in your studying.Learn Efficiently: Set aside time each day to study. Consistent effort will help you learn and retain information. If you're not sure where to start, we can help.Practice Often: The best way to hone your skills is to practice on exam-style questions. Be familiar with the style and content of the CFA Level I exam. AdaptPrep's Practice question bank consists of more than 3,000 questions. You can practice with topic quizzes or full-length exams.Ask Questions: A great way to learn CFA Level I material is to ask others for help. Good discussions enhance your learning. AdaptPrep students have the opportunity to ask their questions within our discussion forums.Best of luck!—KeithHow should I start preparing for the CFA Level 1 exam?
A good preparation is a function of: time, knowledge, practice and commitment.Time: the earliest you start, the more time you'll have to cover all the topics, from top to bottom. The more familiarized you are with the curriculum, the better, and for that you need time. Official statistics say that you need on average 300 hours for level I, I needed 600 hours approx. If you take it in June, some people start studying in February. For me that's not enough. I think that 6 months is ok. I would recommend you to take some time off, let's say, two weeks before the exam (when possible). Ask your boss early if this is possible. Try to finish the curriculum with one month in advance, so you can make exams and re-read some things. Don't expect to remember everything only by reading. Knowledge: it's a long exam and they ask everything. Study well and know the curriculum, you'll have 1,5 minutes in average to answer each question, you have to be quick. To be quick you will need practice and for that read the next point ;)
For studying I used Schweser's study notes, and for some specific readings also read the official curriculum, they also offer video classes and online courses. Know the different topic weights for the exam, also know the exam format. Identify your strengths and weakness quickly, and improve/solve them.Practice: you are not going to pass the exam if you read only. The truth of the matter is that it is a practical exam. You will learn, remember and get the required exam rhythm by doing exercises. Of course that you have to memorize some theoretical concepts, but you don't do that at the beginning (like ethics, and even in ethics you need to do a lot of exercises). You have to test yourself with exercises. The most important are the mock exam. If you get a package like Schweser you'll have 6 mock exams. You should be able, at the end of your preparation, to do 3 mock exams with "real exam conditions", that is: strictly by clock, two blocks of three hours, no materials, no google, no phone, with the approved calculator and pencils, no interruptions.
The most similar to the real exam conditions. You should be getting more than 70% correct answers. If you need additional exercises, you could get also Schweser's Qbank (but they are not as good as the mock exams). mitment: make a study plan and commit to it. Follow it and make the correct adjustments when necessary. Try to be honest on when you can study and for how many hours, be real on your estimates. It's a long process and it is really easy to say once in a while "I'll check that later". And remember, don't forget about your health, family and friends. Your social life will suffer, specially when the exam gets closer, but take care of it as well.I hope this helps!!!Tips for the exam for the guy who "writes" it: 9 tips for passing the CFA exams from the man who writes the questions - eFinancialCareersPs. I assume you either have prior finance knowledge and you work (full time) in something related.How to Prepare for CFA level 1 (Dec 2016) with 6 Day working job?What is the best study prep for the CFA level 1?
Does one need to remember the entire content in each of the CFA levels to pass the exams or are just the key points for each topic sufficient?What is the most difficult subject in CFA Level 1?How many hours do I need to prepare for the CFA (chartered financial analyst) level 1 exam?Here are my advice:If you have 300h upfront, start preparing.Make a study plan.Stick to the study plan.Start studying with something that interests you and is not boring to you.Focus more on the practice problems than on the theoretical stuff.Take days of work to study.Take breaks during studying.If you miss the study session, make it up in the same week.Stick to the study plan. Don't miss a study session.You might see that I repeated the "stick to the study plan" advice few times. Because, even though CFA Level is demanding, the main challenge lies in the study organisation and time management. One of the main helpers in that process is TimePrep - Right on time!You must cover the topics in a way that you cover them in decreasing order of weightage in the exam.
However, certain topics must take precedence because they command a good level of understanding and are relatively tougher to grasp.Firstly, you must learn how to operate the calculator. There’s a short and precise video on it on Youtube by Arif Irfanullah. (Texas BA Plus 2 tutorial by Arif Irfanullah).Now once you’ve learned how to operate the claculator, you must start with Fixed Income. This is, in my opinion, the toughest of all subjects. You can read Economics everyday and finish it in bits rather than doing the whole chunk together to make it easier.Fixed Income should be followed by Financial Reporting Analysis. It carries 20 percent of the weightage and is crucial in getting you through. It is quite easy to grasp but a tad bit lengthy.Once you finish FRA, begin Quant. This is a very scoring area with 10 percent weightage with very few subtopics. Then take up Equity, again with 10 Percent weightage. Then you are left with Portfolio Management, Derivatives, and Alternative Investments.
They should be prepared in the order mention.Lastly, you have Ethics. Ethics should be done only in the last month of your preparation. This is the best way to deal with a relatively confusing but easy if practiced topic. First read all the material. Then solve as many case studies as possible. There are abundant examples in the CFA material which are enough to set you up.For each subject, solve all the possible MCQs. You have CFA end of the chapter questions, Schweser Question Banks, Mocks, and Topic Tests on the CFA site. Summarize important concepts that you learn through these practice questions. Dont fear of you get them wrong. I used to score more than half of those wrong during practice. The idea behind solving questions is only to grasp the concepts better and to prepare you for the actual exam day. I solved close to upward of 3000 MCQs and it made the paper highly mechanical for me, so much so that I finished each paper in under 2 hours.And revise as much as you can. It is a marathon.