Re: Countdown to CFA Level I
 

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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

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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
 

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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.

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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
 

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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.

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

Re: Countdown to CFA Level I
 

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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.

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

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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
 

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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?

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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
 

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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?

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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
 

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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?

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

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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
 

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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?

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

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

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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.