Countdown to CFA Level I
 

This Saturday. Good luck to me and anyone else taking it!

I wish I had given myself more than 2 months, but I think it will be a good experience and I should be in great shape when I retake it in 6 months. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Anybody else? How goes the studying?

Re: Countdown to CFA Level I
 

all i can say is i'm glad i'm not taking level II this december (although i don't even know if that's an option)

Re: Countdown to CFA Level I
 

Taking it too. Just last-minute cramming of all the little details.

Stinky I think 2 and 3 are just in June.

Re: Countdown to CFA Level I
 

Hey, good luck to you guys. I know what it feels like.

Re: Countdown to CFA Level I
 

Level II and III are just in June. I am planning to take Level I this June. Info session tomorrow.

Judging from what I've heard I need to study somewhere between 0 and 1000 hours. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Re: Countdown to CFA Level I
 

Spider,

Good luck! Also, thanks for being one of the posters that helped me out greatly when I first started learning about finance [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

Re: Countdown to CFA Level I
 

[ QUOTE ]
Level II and III are just in June. I am planning to take Level I this June. Info session tomorrow.

Judging from what I've heard I need to study somewhere between 0 and 1000 hours. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah im sitting level 3 next june. About 3 weeks of full time study before the exam plus 3 months of a few hours per weekend day in the 3 months before that. Seems ok

Re: Countdown to CFA Level I
 

Ugh, I wish I had one more week to study. At least I'll have everything down for sure come June '08.

Re: Countdown to CFA Level I
 

Are there any good freebie practice exams? I'm just curious whats covered on these exams and have no intention of becoming a CFA. Just curious to see what I might score.

Re: Countdown to CFA Level I
 

The tests from the CFA itself are $50 for 60 questions. The real test is 240 questions.

Don't think there are any free practice tests out there that are close to the real thing.

To someone who is so sick of practicing for this test, SenatorKevin, you sound crazy.

A Slew of Mice I agree completely.

Re: Countdown to CFA Level I
 

[ QUOTE ]
The tests from the CFA itself are $50 for 60 questions. The real test is 240 questions.

Don't think there are any free practice tests out there that are close to the real thing.

To someone who is so sick of practicing for this test, SenatorKevin, you sound crazy.

A Slew of Mice I agree completely.

[/ QUOTE ]

Crazy? Curious more than anything else. I've glanced over the Series7 as well. At some point I might move into the financial industry, not now. I enjoy investing too much. :-)

Re: Countdown to CFA Level I
 

I have a few questions guys but I didnt want to start a new thread about it.

1) Do any of you have a background in finance/accounting (undergraduate or graduate degree). If not how difficult was it to go through the level 1 material.

2) Are you already employed in the financial services industry. if not what kind of opportunities are there for someone who has no background degree in finance/accounting but has passed level 1 (or say level 2 also) to get an entry level job.
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background:
I am planning to take Level 1 in June. But to find out if i could handle the material i ordered a pre CFA Level 1 prep book called CFA Fundamentals (by Schweiser). Just finished the Quantitative section of the book have 3/4 to go till end of the book. So far doesnt seem like something that i couldnt handle.

I am just worried about not having any degree in accounting/finance. I come from enggr./comp science background. trying to learn the basics of accounting from online tutorials, time value of money, basic stuff.

Re: Countdown to CFA Level I
 

[ QUOTE ]
This Saturday. Good luck to me and anyone else taking it!

I wish I had given myself more than 2 months, but I think it will be a good experience and I should be in great shape when I retake it in 6 months. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Anybody else? How goes the studying?

[/ QUOTE ]

Spider,

Little background and reason (where do you hope it will lead you) for taking the exams? I am thinking about taking the exam and asses the benefits as far as career goes. TIA

Re: Countdown to CFA Level I
 

taking level 1 in june. gl to all.

Re: Countdown to CFA Level I
 

To iambusto:

1) I have a BA in Psych but have always been interested in investing so it was not hard to pick up. For me the only hard part was the quantity of material for level I not the depth or math. Nothing was conceptually difficult.

2) Not sure about finding a job. An alumni of my school who trades bonds said he likes to hire comp sci/ eng people who have passed the CFA exams. This was about a year and a half ago, right now the job market seems tough.

Re: Countdown to CFA Level I
 

[ QUOTE ]
I have a few questions guys but I didnt want to start a new thread about it.

1) Do any of you have a background in finance/accounting (undergraduate or graduate degree). If not how difficult was it to go through the level 1 material.

2) Are you already employed in the financial services industry. if not what kind of opportunities are there for someone who has no background degree in finance/accounting but has passed level 1 (or say level 2 also) to get an entry level job.
---------
background:
I am planning to take Level 1 in June. But to find out if i could handle the material i ordered a pre CFA Level 1 prep book called CFA Fundamentals (by Schweiser). Just finished the Quantitative section of the book have 3/4 to go till end of the book. So far doesnt seem like something that i couldnt handle.

I am just worried about not having any degree in accounting/finance. I come from enggr./comp science background. trying to learn the basics of accounting from online tutorials, time value of money, basic stuff.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm a recent graduate with a BS in Finance. I was a slacker in school and didn't really study to learn/retain anything from the classes I didn't like (Econ, Financial Statement Analysis, Fixed Income) so I've put in a lot of time re-learning those topics again. I would estimate that my undergrad studies covered about 80% of what is on the Level I test. The thing is, the topics tested aren't very complicated. The hard part is remembering the fine details for everything. Even though I was pretty familiar with most everything tested, I've still put a lot of effort into studying in order to retain everything (Do LOTS of practice problems as early and often as possible!!!). I'd liken it to taking a cumulative exam for every undergrad finance class at one time. I'm sure it's a lot easier for most finance majors, but this is the price I paid for being lazy in college.

The short-term job outlook is pretty bleak for the Finance industry. Obviously, passing Level I will help you stand out from most other applicants, but it will only really hold most of its weight in the buy-side of the industry. Also, I've heard that being passing Level II (even I for some cities) is more useful when applying to slightly smaller financial cities. It's unlikely to help you out in NYC - but you might have luck in Los Angeles or San Francisco, or even internationally.

Re: Countdown to CFA Level I
 

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I'd liken it to taking a cumulative exam for every undergrad finance class at one time.

[/ QUOTE ]

if this is true, undergrad finance is pretty loltastic

Re: Countdown to CFA Level I
 

Hey guys Im taking it this saturday as well! Man there are a lot of materials to remember. But luckily Im a finance/accounting 4th year and most of the stuffs have been covered before except for the ethics and GIPS part. From what I have heard from other people who have taken the exam before, a lot of them think ethics is the hardest part because a lot of times the answers are so similar and questions can be vague. I believe the passing % for the past few years were around 35-38%? And for those who were asking if there are any pracise exams out there, I actually got mine from Hong Kong and it is from Schweser. There are 6 exams in there and it costs like 150 HKD (like 20-25 USD). So I geuss I will have more practises than you guys.

Re: Countdown to CFA Level I
 

My opinion on the ethics section (my only credentials are that i passed 1/2 first time so not that great) are that u shouldnt spend too much time revising it. % wise its only about 10% of the test, and moderate revision will get you 60% right on it. After that, its hard to get full marks because there will be a few questions that are SO hard/ambiguous/trick you that you're going to be lucky if you get them right. Or you could do insane amounts of practice and hope to see every trick. The point is that extra time is much better spent on practicing the numerical questions.

Re: Countdown to CFA Level I
 

But I thought the ethics part really count alot and one of my friend failed the exam because she did bad on ethics. I dont tihnk the weighting is all based on the number of questions.

Re: Countdown to CFA Level I
 

[ QUOTE ]
Little background and reason (where do you hope it will lead you) for taking the exams? I am thinking about taking the exam and asses the benefits as far as career goes. TIA

[/ QUOTE ]

I doubt this will help, but since you asked... I'm really an applied micro-econ/stats guy and looking to move towards macro-econ/finance. I really just signed up b/c a couple of people I trust and respect said it would be a good idea.

I'm going to almost certainly flunk b/c I just haven't been able to put in the time, but I've nevertheless found it useful for exposing me to a lot of stuff I'm interested in and for giving me some motivation to study.

Overall, I'm really not able to speak to career benefits but I would say that if you are interested in the material anyway, it's not a bad way to structure your studying and the possible certification benefits down the road can't hurt.

Also, even though it's not super-cheap, it's still a lot cheaper and easier than taking classes.

Re: Countdown to CFA Level I
 

[ QUOTE ]
I am just worried about not having any degree in accounting/finance. I come from enggr./comp science background. trying to learn the basics of accounting from online tutorials, time value of money, basic stuff.

[/ QUOTE ]

Speaking only about level 1, I don't think you'll find any of the math at all hard if you're an engineer. You should breeze through the quant, bonds, TVM, all that stuff.

Other stuff like accounting is not super hard or anything, but it is fairly time consuming if you don't have the background (as many have pointed out), so just try as much as possible to start early on the studying.

Re: Countdown to CFA Level I
 

[ QUOTE ]
My opinion on the ethics section (my only credentials are that i passed 1/2 first time so not that great) are that u shouldnt spend too much time revising it. % wise its only about 10% of the test, and moderate revision will get you 60% right on it. After that, its hard to get full marks because there will be a few questions that are SO hard/ambiguous/trick you that you're going to be lucky if you get them right. Or you could do insane amounts of practice and hope to see every trick. The point is that extra time is much better spent on practicing the numerical questions.

[/ QUOTE ]

ethics is actually 15% iirc which makes it the biggest/most important part of the test

Re: Countdown to CFA Level I
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
My opinion on the ethics section (my only credentials are that i passed 1/2 first time so not that great) are that u shouldnt spend too much time revising it. % wise its only about 10% of the test, and moderate revision will get you 60% right on it. After that, its hard to get full marks because there will be a few questions that are SO hard/ambiguous/trick you that you're going to be lucky if you get them right. Or you could do insane amounts of practice and hope to see every trick. The point is that extra time is much better spent on practicing the numerical questions.

[/ QUOTE ]

ethics is actually 15% iirc which makes it the biggest/most important part of the test

[/ QUOTE ]

It's not the biggest/most important aspect of any of the tests because of % of questions...I don't remember exactly how they are split up, but I was at the info session just yesterday and there is at least one more heavily-weighted area on each level.

That said I have heard some anecdotes about the ethics part being more heavily weighted/automatically failing if you fail the ethics part etc. I cannot speak to the truth of these anecdotes. Does anyone have anything to add here?

Re: Countdown to CFA Level I
 

Think ethics is weighted more heavily in borderline pass/fail cases.

Tomorrow I am going to supercram ethics/GIPS (which I think is funny because gip is to rip off)

Re: Countdown to CFA Level I
 

[ QUOTE ]

It's not the biggest/most important aspect of any of the tests because of % of questions...I don't remember exactly how they are split up, but I was at the info session just yesterday and there is at least one more heavily-weighted area on each level.

That said I have heard some anecdotes about the ethics part being more heavily weighted/automatically failing if you fail the ethics part etc. I cannot speak to the truth of these anecdotes. Does anyone have anything to add here?

[/ QUOTE ]

my stalla instructor told me that if you're close to borderline pass/fail, how you did on the ethics part will likely make the difference. what that means in terms of percentages/points, who knows.

Re: Countdown to CFA Level I
 

Quick question about study materials: I have the official CFA study curricula (volumes 1 to 6) that say 2007 on the cover. Will I be able to use these for studying for the June 2008 test? I assume there will be updated 2008 guides but the vast majority of material I've seen in the 2007 books seems 3 to 4 years old.

And given that I have the offical stuff already, does the Schweser stuff add much?

Re: Countdown to CFA Level I
 

[ QUOTE ]
Quick question about study materials: I have the official CFA study curricula (volumes 1 to 6) that say 2007 on the cover. Will I be able to use these for studying for the June 2008 test? I assume there will be updated 2008 guides but the vast majority of material I've seen in the 2007 books seems 3 to 4 years old.

And given that I have the offical stuff already, does the Schweser stuff add much?

[/ QUOTE ]

if im not mistaken, when you register for the 2008 tests you'll be paying for the 2008 curricula. moneygrubbing pooptards they are

Re: Countdown to CFA Level I
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Quick question about study materials: I have the official CFA study curricula (volumes 1 to 6) that say 2007 on the cover. Will I be able to use these for studying for the June 2008 test? I assume there will be updated 2008 guides but the vast majority of material I've seen in the 2007 books seems 3 to 4 years old.

And given that I have the offical stuff already, does the Schweser stuff add much?

[/ QUOTE ]

if im not mistaken, when you register for the 2008 tests you'll be paying for the 2008 curricula. moneygrubbing pooptards they are

[/ QUOTE ]

Yup starting in 2008 you are required to buy the curricula, so you cant try to get some used books or other alternatives.

Re: Countdown to CFA Level I
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Quick question about study materials: I have the official CFA study curricula (volumes 1 to 6) that say 2007 on the cover. Will I be able to use these for studying for the June 2008 test? I assume there will be updated 2008 guides but the vast majority of material I've seen in the 2007 books seems 3 to 4 years old.

And given that I have the offical stuff already, does the Schweser stuff add much?

[/ QUOTE ]

if im not mistaken, when you register for the 2008 tests you'll be paying for the 2008 curricula. moneygrubbing pooptards they are

[/ QUOTE ]

Yup starting in 2008 you are required to buy the curricula, so you cant try to get some used books or other alternatives.

[/ QUOTE ]

I just registered for June 2008 for $1078. I am of the understanding that they will provide the study materials which are included in this price. Is that correct ??

I am going to spend the month of december trying to get my basics for pre CFA right. My goal is to spend 600 hours studying for the test. They say you need 350 but for a student without finance/accounting background, 600+ hours might get the job done.

Re: Countdown to CFA Level I
 

[ QUOTE ]
if im not mistaken, when you register for the 2008 tests you'll be paying for the 2008 curricula. moneygrubbing pooptards they are

[/ QUOTE ]

Son of a ... Ugh, I should have waited until 2008 given that I didn't know if I would really have enough time to study for this one.

Maybe I can get something for the old ones on ebay...

Re: Countdown to CFA Level I
 

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I am going to spend the month of december trying to get my basics for pre CFA right. My goal is to spend 600 hours studying for the test.

[/ QUOTE ]

you guys is pretty hardcore

Re: Countdown to CFA Level I
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

I am going to spend the month of december trying to get my basics for pre CFA right. My goal is to spend 600 hours studying for the test.

[/ QUOTE ]

you guys is pretty hardcore

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haha I would suggest you guys to study ethics last since it is basically memorization and application. You will not remmeber them in June if you study them in Dec.