So how was the second Quants study session? Did you manage to work your way through all the end of chapter questions until you could confidently answer them all? If so, you are in a good place. You have mastered more than 25% of the exam curriculum already, and we are just getting started.
The week to come:
Unfortunately there is no time to rest on your laurels when studying for the level 1 CFA® exam. The upcoming 2 weeks we are going to cover economics. This topic area is slightly tricky, in that it is the topic area with the lowest anticipated exam representation per page of curriculum. As a result you will be whipping through a lot of pages, but it will not have a great influence on your final exam score. To be specific Economics takes up roughly 17% of the pages in the curriculum, but is estimated to only count for roughly 10% of the final exam score:
Source: Financial Exam Academy (Based on the CFA® exam – level 1 curriculum – December 2013 Exam)
With this in mind we are going to attack the first 5 economics readings this week, this includes the entire micro economics study session and the first reading in the macroeconomics study session. At 290 pages this is the largest weekly effort so far in terms of page numbers (We have tackled around 200 pages in each of the previous weeks). My best advice would be to employ the same approach that we have used the first three weeks, but with an even firmer focus on seeking out the LOS rather than mind-numbingly reading through every page. Your key success criteria for the week remain the following:
- Answer all of the end of chapter questions before going through each reading (There are 115 end of chapter questions in the 5 readings, this should take about 3 hours combined). As you answer the questions make a list of the questions that challenge you (especially if you need to guess the answer). Review your answers thoroughly and add the questions that you got wrong to your list. You will now have a complete list of the toughest questions in the reading seen from your perspective.
- Write down the LOS on flash cards so that you have them handy, and actively seek out and write down the answers on the flip side (with the page number) as you progress through each individual reading (It is crucial that you manage to focus on what is important in this reading). Also as you progress through the reading write down any key concepts or formulae that you come across on individual flash cards framed as a question, write the answer and page number on the flipside of the flashcards (for future reference).
- Answer only the EOC questions from your list once you are through each reading, and do this as many times as you need until you can answer all of the questions confidently (thankfully we are back to standard multiple choice questions in these readings, which should make the marking easier).
One last point. If you do own a set of study notes (like e.g. the SchwesserNotesTM) then this topic area is probably the best suited area of the curriculum (if you trust the provider) as the study notes will provide an abbreviated version of the readings (saving you valuable time by emphasizing, what the study note provider considers most exam relevant). A set of study notes is by no means a prerequisite to pass the test though, at the end of the day you are going to be tested on what is in the curriculum, and if you go by the LOS you should be able to focus your attention on the most important passages.
Let’s touch base next weekend, when you will be halfway through economics.
Good luck with your studies!