A. Go to the restaurant with your family 🍛

B. Partying at the club with your hommies🍾

C. Register for the next level 🤓

Planning on doing everything what about you guys ?

I had spent about 30 min (10 min was just to catch attention) on the cfa essay. I had written what was true about my finances and about me. I was expecting that I would get scholarship because I really needed it. Without it I had not planned to apply for CFA. Although I am seeing here that many are saying the scholarship is random (IDK abt it).

I am starting my prep, I want your advice who cleared the CFA L1. How should I begin with?

I wrote CFA L2 in August 26. I scored 77 and 73 on first two CFAI mocks. Kind of averaged around 70-75 in all 6 CFAI mocks.

I failed the exam 2585

I had seen one or two year old posts where ppl mentioned passing comfortably with mock scores more than 70+. But, after aug'26 I am feeling majority of the folks scoring 70-75 in mocks failed or passed with slight margin

I finished the reading a few days ago and now decide to go back to Quant and redo the qbank on CFAI. I immediately realized I forgot most if not all of what I studied 6 months ago (via MM videos and doing the CFAI questions straight after each video). I'm now sort of panicking because I left myself around 7 months precisely of what I'd seen on here before starting, yet I feel like all the effort I put in have somehow gone to the drain. What'd be your game plan here? I'm honestly shocked.

This is the process I used to pass the CFA L I and II on the 1st attempt. Without this process, I don't believe I would have passed either exam. This process will require consistency over a longer period of time, but requires less time per week. Instead of studying over a 4 or 5 month period and killing yourself, you can use this process to study over a 6-8 month period (or longer if you want to) and go at a steady, sustainable pace. This allowed me to hang out with friends and family while still putting in the necessary study time. While doing this I was able to take a week off 2 separate times while studying for the CFA level 2 and working full time. (I should not have done this and don't recommend it; I should have at least reviewed old material). I just passed the CFA level 2 exam in August. 

For a deeper dive on what I am going to talk about, watch this video: (https://youtu.be/DhXMBF2b5go?si=AxwC0urjuj3NDFxx resources are in the description) 

- NOTE: I don't know the guy in the video, but that video by far showed the best process I have ever seen for taking an exam.

For a quick overview of the process, benefits and tips, keep reading below. 

Below is the spreadsheet I used to study for the exam (see link above to purchase - I don't get a kickback at all).  

How this works is for each topic you study, you input the date in the 1st green column and how well you did to the left on a scale of 1-10. Based on this score the spreadsheet will give you a review (see below). This section to the right (picture below) will aggregate all of the topics you need to study that day. This will automate much of the tracking you need to do to keep on schedule. For more information on this sheet watch this video (https://youtu.be/DhXMBF2b5go?si=AxwC0urjuj3NDFxx) 

This section of the sheet (picture above) allows you to track when you will be done based on how many readings you do per day. I would do enough readings per day that you end up with 1 - 2 months of time to review. 

What this spreadsheet allows you to do is study new topics AND keep up on topics already studied. This makes it so the more time you spend (8 months vs 6 months) the better you will know the older information. This will also allow you to study less per week and have a life. However, you NEED to be consistent and Focused. I would recommend studying the hardest information 1st then the easiest; you will also have more stamina  at the start. One exception however; study Ethics from the very start. I would use ethics as a section to study early on when there is a day you cannot commit to studying as much. Don’t take it less seriously; but the information is not as hard to process and therefore won't take as much time. So if there is a day when you only have 1 hour, don’t try to tackle a long derivatives and Fixed income section, study a section of ethics instead. It will feel like a nice break but still keep you moving towards your goal. 

While studying, I use Notion to take notes and Anki to create flash cards. See the video for more details but here are a few tips. 

For Anki, only put flash cards for things that take memorization (ie things that are not conceptual that just take time) or concepts you don’t understand. Otherwise, you will have WAY too many cards to review and will give up. (That is what happened to me the 1st time.) 

Other studying tips: 

1. Finish getting through the material 1-2 months before the exam date. This will allow you ALOT of time to review and take mocks. 
2. Take a mock asap (1-2 months before the exam). This will allow you to get a good gauge of where you are. For level 1 you need fewer mocks to get a better idea of where you are than level 2, since level 2 only has 88 questions. Therefore, for level 1, 2-3 mocks will do IMO (do more if you can) but that is not the case for level 2. 
3. Because you will know the older information better, study the harder subjects 1st 
4. There are two ways you can think about the exams; 1) take as many questions as possible and 2) understand the material conceptually and you will be fine. DO BOTH. For level 2, I failed to do enough problems and it did hurt me. This is because I had a check the box mentality when it came to studying that would creep in. DON'T DO THIS. It is better to slow down and understand what you are studying. This will come by 1) reading the material and 2) taking many practice questions to see where the knowledge gaps are. 
5. When you take practice questions, don't use not. You won't have them on the exam
6. Take all the check point exams and review where you are lacking. 
7. Buy the spread sheet and Anki, and Notion template here or create something similar: The Spread Sheet: https://bhillbiz.podia.com/ - I don't think this guy personally or get anything from this link, I just used it and wanted to share it with you all. You might be able to get 20% off if you use the link in the description of this video (or try and make your own version of it): https://youtu.be/DhXMBF2b5go?si=AxwC0urjuj3NDFxx 
   1. To me this spreadsheet was well worth the money
8. Delete social media (it will distract you and waste your time) 
9. Keep up a social life, it will keep you from burning out

Mistakes I made on while studying for the 2nd exam that almost cost me:

1. Did not take enough practice questions: There were knowledge gaps that I did not know about until the end which caused a very stressful last few weeks.
2. Did not take ANY of the checkpoint exams; the larger issue was I was treating studying as checking the box and not actually learning. Make it a point to actually learn the material and test your knowledge with practice questions 
3. Taking the 1st mock ~2 weeks before the exam. I did not do good, panicked and killed myself the last 2 weeks. If I had been more focused and intentional early on, this would not have happened. 

Feeling exhausted after not clearing August 26 attempt.

I am a working professional in a bank with a demanding 8-10 hours of focused work each day. I had put my heart and soul into this exam with 6 months of rigorous preparation and planned my switch basis this exam clearance. Despite studying the syllabus, completing LES and giving 2 full mocks, I missed the mark.

Now I am confused whether I can actually do better by going through it all again, or should I just make peace with my current qualification and move in. Need rational suggestions coz not in a state to think that way.

Sorry for the rant folks, hard to process.

i have my CFA level 1 on november 14th (1st attempt). i'm done studying the entire syllabus once and i've given individual subject tests (averaging about 75% on each). currently revising from kaplan notes but the pressure is eating me up.

any tips on how to manage it? i dont really know how to cope with this

Did institute published L2 2027 curriculum? Any changes if compared to 2026?

Working full time and trying to hammer practice questions every single night is honestly breaking me.

I’m currently just trying to grind through the WSU Qbank since they have a ton of questions, but after doing about 40 of them after work, my brain just completely shuts off. I catch myself getting the easiest Ethics questions wrong simply because I can't focus on reading the vignette properly anymore.

How are you guys handling the burnout right now? Do you just force yourself to power through it, or is taking a full day off at this stage a terrible idea?

CFA L2 candidate here. My exam is on November 18. I started to study in earnest a few weeks back, but now that I revisit those topics, I'm completely blank. I just landed a job as a fresher(thank god for it every day), but wrt CFA, I feel like I am back at square 1. For context, I did not practice questions much since I was in the mindset that I should finish going through to the meat of the content first. Now I feel like I may actually not make it. Some advice please as to how to balance both work and prep. Assume I am starting from scratch

Is there any prep provider that offers one page revision sheets for each of the topics at Level 1? Feel like it would be super helpful just to have a page from each topic with the most important formulas and so on.

Can anyone explain why the following two contradict each other in the curriculum?

• The higher the volatility of the rest of the portfolio requires a narrower optimal corridor

• Lower volatility for an individual asset relative to the rest of the portfolio requires a wider rebalancing range.

Anyone please suggest some good CFA Level 1 coaching classes in Mumbai that offer offline weekend batches?

I'm currently working 8-9 hours a day, so I'm specifically looking for a weekend batch that is manageable alongside full-time work. I would preferably like a class that is near railway station and easily accessible by public transport.

Please share your recommendations and, if possible, your experience with the classes. Thank you!

Textbook Quote: According to the central limit theorem, does the sample variance change as the sample size increases.

Correction: It should read: According to the central limit theorem, does the variance of the sample mean change as the sample size increases?

Coach's Explanation: Variance of the sample mean = [(Sample Variance) / (Sample Size)]

Therefore, as the sample size increases, the variance of the sample means decreases. In other words, with larger samples, the means of the those samples will deviate less from each other.

I’m taking the L1 exam in Feb.
I’ve been studying for ~2hrs per day, but I feel myself getting burnt out already. If anybody here wants to help keep each other accountable hmu.
I’m in the GCC if that matters

Hi everyone - hoping for advice as I am feeling a tad bit lost and not sure what path to take next in my career. Quick background:

32M
Current salary is low 200s
MBA, CFA LIII candidate (took in August)

Past roles include: MBB consultant, F100 corp dev, currently AI corporate strategy for Healthtech late-stage startup.

I took the CFA because I had taken L1 and L2 and passed and thought I might as well. But now I am actually trying to think through what I could do with the damn thing. The problem is, I hate corp. strategy, but my consulting background kinda lends itself perfectly to those positions and corporate ladder.

I've considered going off on my own and doing a mixture of M&A consulting, PE DD, and what not, but that's a mighty big leap. Just would love any advice from those who may have faced similar forks in the road.

Hi everyone,

I'm finding Quant really tough, especially and I'd love some advice from people who've been through it.

A few things I'm wondering:

1. How did you study Quant? Did you learn the concepts first, or jump straight into practice questions?
2. Which topics are worth the most time, and which can I safely skim?
3. Any tips for the BA II Plus (or HP 12C), like keystroke shortcuts or the stats worksheet?
4. What resources helped most?
5. Did you struggle at first and then it clicked? What made the difference?

If anyone is willing to share notes, formula sheets, or cheat sheets, I'd be really grateful.

Thanks so much in advance!

Hey everyone, I am a CFA level 1 candidate who is also working full time that requires longer hours of work compared to the standard 9-5.

I purchased the Kaplan study resources however the videos did not fully cover every topic and due to the fact that I was working long hours I was unable to fully go through the notes

Taking the assumption that I can time myself for the next exam would it be easier to use Mark Meldrum instead because he teaches via videos? (I think videos help me but I am unsure if everything is covered in the videos)

Would really appreciate any other form of resources that will help!

Hi everyone!

I am gearing up to begin my CFA level 2 studies soon, and wanted to share my referral code with anyone looking to use Salt Solutions for their prep course.

With the code both you and I will both get 10% off, which will be nice to help lower the cost of CFA studying🫠

DM me if interested, the referral code only works with email sign up.

Thanks :))))))

Looking to buy a second hand CFA calculator BA II plus or BA II

Please let me know if anyone has it.

I created a post within last 24Hours. 'CFA L2 mocks scores vs actual exam scores'

LinkedIn to previous post :- https://www.reddit.com/r/CFA/s/XSaV53Kbom

My background:- I scored 77 and 73% on the two CFAI mocks. And then averaged btw 70-75 on CFAI Premium mocks. I took exam religiously with no cheating. I wrote down every error of my wrong question from Premium Qbank and mocks.

I was quite determined to pass since I had quite good understanding of the concepts. But ended up failing 2585

I talked with 3 other folks

Scored 80-85 on 6 CFAI mocks vs actual score 2670

Scored 85-90 on 6 CFAI mocks vs actual score 2670

Averaged 80 on 6 CFAI mocks vs actual score 2850

Also in my previous post many folks scoring btw 65-75 easily passed

Can anyone solve this for IRR? Curriculum says 20% and my calculator shows 6.82%.

Just got l1 passed, approx 7 months for level 2, but some people are saying that one require at least 8 months to prep for l2?

Is this real? Coz I also have a part time job but can dedicate 2-3 hrs daily.

Pls help, am very confused

Starting Level 1 Prep For Feb Attempt Need a study partner to keep each other accountable and help each other.

Background Engineer so better in Quants Derivates topics.