Importance of a Study Schedule and How to Create One

It is important to follow a study schedule to keep you on pace. Without quantitative study goals you are unlikely to pass the exam. After constructing your study schedule, write or type up the schedule and keep a copy where it is visible. The act of codifying your study schedule will help you stick to the schedule. By writing your schedule out on paper, you are making a promise to yourself to follow the schedule. This may seem unnecessary but it is extremely important.

There are various ways you can construct your study schedule.

1. Set a minimum number of hours per week that you will study, i.e., I will study at least 15 hours per week, preferably more.
1. Pros: Having a numerical goal provides discipline and should get you into a routine.
2. Cons: 15 hours per week may not be enough studying for you to pass, which you won’t know until it is too late.
2. Set a deadline for completing each book. I.E., I will finish all five Schweser books by the end of Mach, or I will finish book 1 by January 21^st, and book by February 7^th, and so on…
1. Pros: Setting a goal to finish reading the material before the end of March will give you a lot of time to review.
2. Cons: If you set deadlines for finishing each book and it looks like you are going to miss a deadline you’ll rush through material to finish on time, decreasing your retention. An example, my goal was to finish reading all five books by the end of March. With three and a half weeks left I still hadn’t read books 4 and 5, which caused me to rush through the books. I retained very little and had to commit substantial time reviewing books 4 and 5.
3. Combining an ‘hours per week’ goal with a ‘deadlines for finishing each book’ goal is a good idea because it protects against the weakness of using just one of the methods.
4. Also, do not skip the practice questions at the end of each chapter. Doing these questions will prepare you to answer quickly on test day, and timing is a crucial part of the exam.

It is important to be dynamic with your study schedule. If you feel that you need to study more per week, change your schedule to reflect the additional required study time and stick to your new schedule.

My study schedule looked like this:

• Four days per week, 2 and ½ hours per day. 30 minutes during lunch and 2 hours after work. Give yourself a free day during the week to do what you like. This will keep you sane.
• Four hours on Saturday and four hours on Sunday.
  

This equates to 18 hours of study time per week, which will put you in a good position on test day.

Studying for over 5 hours in one day rendered my brain a useless quivering mass. However, this will be different for everyone. Its been proven that when studying a large amount of material you will remember better the first and last items studied. These phenomena are known as the primacy and recency effects. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primacy_effect. It has also been shown that taking breaks in the middle of complicated learning sessions helps improve learner retention. http://www.recallplus.com/Breaks.asp For example, if you are reading a particularly difficult chapter and you take a break in the middle of reading the chapter rather than taking a break at the end of the chapter, you will learn better.

Choosing Your CFA level 1 Exam Study Materials

You have a few choices when it comes to level 1 study materials. Keep in mind that the CFA exam is based on a body of knowledge that is continuously being updated by the CFA institute. Every year the CFA institute publishes new curriculum books (http://www.efastcom.com/CFABookstore/control/main), which can be purchased for $395 on the website.


The CFA institute's study book are very long winded and take a while to read. I've spoke to some candidates who studied with the institute's books and they said it took them forever to cover all of the material. I purchased the Schweser study notes, which are a condensed summarized version of the CFA institute curriculum. Schweser is a company owned by Kaplan that employs past CFA test writers, as well as other finance professionals who create study materials designed to help you learn the material quickly. I found that Schweser's books were easy to understand and it took me 2 and 1/2 months to read all five books studying approximately 16 per week. I recommend using Schweser's notes.

To be fair, I know of four companies that offer CFA study materials, Stalla (www.stalla.com), PassPro (www.passpro.com), 7 City Learning (www.7city.com), and Allen Resources (http://www.allenresources.com/). I haven't spoken to anyone who used these materials so I can't attest to their quality or lack thereof. If you can't decide between Schweser, Stalla, and Allen Resources get as many opinions as possible from friends who have taken the exam and people on internet message boards/chat rooms and force yourself to make a decision. On the bright side if the study materials don't work out, you can take the exam over and over until you pass. If one set of study materials doesn't work try a different set.

However, it is important that you asses how much time you will have in the 4 to 6 months leading up to the exam and purchase study materials that will allow you to cover all the material, thoroughly review your weak spots, and take lots of practice questions. Remember, studying with the CFA institute curriculum books doesn't allow most working adults to adequately prepare.

Buying used materials:
Buying used study materials corresponding to previous tests can be dangerous because the test content changes every year. I recommend you don't buy old materials because since the test changes every year, some of the content in the old materials won't be tested at all and new information added by the CFA institute won't be included in your old study materials. If you must buy used materials you can buy June 2007 materials for the December 2007, because the Institute doesn't make major changes in the test within the same year, however, it does make big chances from year to year. This means that the June & December 2007 exams are more similar than will be the December 2007 and June 2008 exams. So, don't buy December 2006 materials to study for the June or December 2007 test. Also, many CFA societies offer scholarships that pay for study materials and the cost of the test itself. Visit this link to find your local society http://www.cfainstitute.org/society/societies.html.

If you have any questions about study materials feel free to shoot me an email at JamesUlan@gmail.com.

Good Luck!

CFA Jobs

What are some examples of CFA related professions:

• Equity (stock) analysis
• Examples of companies are any major investment bank, Standard and Poors, Value Line, etc.
  
• Credit (bond) analysis
• Standard and Poors, Moody’s, Fitch Ratings, DBRS
• Mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures
• Any major investment bank, namely Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, and Lehman Brothers. There are also a number of boutique M&A firms.
• Investment banking
• Conduct initial public offerings of stocks
• Conduct placements of bonds
• Trading
• View a list of investment banks on wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Investment_Banks
• Private equity
• Carlyle group, Texas Pacific Group, Blackstone, KKR, Goldman Sachs
• List of the 50 largest Private Equity firms: http://www.peimedia.com/pei50
• Real estate investing
• Vornado, Equity Office Properties, Equity Residental, Brookfield Properties
• Pension & Endowment management/consulting
• Russell, Cambridge Associates, Ennis Knupp, Barclays Global
• Visit Pension and Investing online for a list of various P&I companies: http://www.pionline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?category=PENSIONFUNDDIRECTORY&IssueDate=20070122
• Private wealth management (private banking)
• All major investment banks, Mellon Financial, Stanford Financial, US Trust
• Hedge funds
• Bridgewater, D.E. Shaw, SAC Capital Partners, etc.
• Mutual funds
• Fidelity, American Funds (a Capital Group Company), Vanguard, etc.
• Economic consulting
• NERA, LECG
• Tax and transaction consulting (i.e., accounting firm)
• KPMG, Deloitte & Touche, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Ernst & Young, Grant Thornton, etc.

If you are unfamiliar with any of these visit www.investopedia.com or www.wikipedia.com Investopedia’s definition of Private equity is lacking. Wikipedia has a good explanation of private equity, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_equity

Top CFA employers by region:
http://cfachicago.org/pdf/pcr_top_employers.pdf

Efinancial News' Guide to Careers in Financial Markets Your Guide to Finding a Job in Securities and Banking:
http://www.efinancialcareers.com/images/fuseads/inhouse/cifm_us.pdf

Deciding to Take the CFA Exam

If you’re interested in the CFA designation you're probably in one of a few different groups.

• You've heard of the exam and you're interested in learning more.
• You've researched the exam and you're undecided about taking it.

If you've heard of the exam and you're interested in learning more:

Begin by reading about the content of the exam to determine if you are truly interested in the material. Exam content can be found at http://www.cfainstitute.org/cfaprog/courseofstudy/topic.html. If you are not interested in the material don’t take them exam. If you are interested you must decide if taking the exam is right for you.

If you’ve researched the exam and you’re still undecided about taking the exam, ask yourself:

What kind of benefit will the CFA charter provide me? Monetary, upward mobility, increased knowledge?

• View a compensation survey of CFA charterholder statistics: http://www.cfainstitute.org/aboutus/press/release/05releases/20050506_01.html

Does taking the CFA exam make sense given my current career position?

• Is it favorable for a 50 year old CFO working 70 hour weeks at a major corporation to pursue the CFA designation? Probably not. Will taking the CFA be helpful to a college graduate who is two years out of school and wants to make the jump from marketing to an equity analysis position? Most likely.

Am I prepared to study between 10-20 hours per week for four to five months?

• If you cannot study for at least 10 hours per week for four months you have a low chance of passing the exam.

Do I have the will power to study this much? How will this commitment affect my life?

• The time you put into the exam will greatly take away time with friends and family.

Common reasons for pursuing the CFA designation:

• Interest in exam content
• Desire to increase knowledge
• Improve compensation
• Augment upward and lateral career mobility
• Signal competence to current and potential employers
• Career change to finance
• Career change within finance
• Prepare for the analytical side of an MBA program
• Facilitate admission to a high caliber MBA program
  

Blog Resources

Blog Entries in Word Format:
The Importance of Taking Practice Problems
Psychological and Physical Challenges of Preparing for and Taking a Large Exam
Importance of a Study Schedule and How to Create One
When Should I Finish my Initial Read of the Material
CFA Time Saving Tips
Importance of a Study Schedule and How to Create one
Choosing Your CFA level 1 Study Materials
CFA Jobs
Deciding to Take the CFA exam

CFA Designation Articles

Behavioral finance on minds of attendees at CFA Institute conference

And take $300 for your trouble

MBA, CFA Discussion Dominates Debate

CFA or MBA: Which is right for you?

CFA vs. MBA, which is best for you?

CFA Institute's Media Highlights

well-traveled teacher: Here, there and everywhere, CFA tutor really goes the extra mile

CFA Links

www.cfainstitute.org
The CFA Institute’s website

www.analystforum.com
A message board dedicated entirely to the CFA.

www.schweser.com, www.stalla.com, www.passpro.com, www.7city.com, www.allenresources.com
Exam Study Materials Websites

www.cfainstitute.org/society/societies.html
Directory of CFA member societies. Most cities have a society of CFA charterholders/CFA candidates.

www.cfapubs.org/doi/pdf/10.2469/ccb.v2005.n3.4000
Standards of Practice Handbook, 9th Edition, 2005. Read this to prepare for the ethics portion of the exam. Note: this is extremely helpful and I recommend that all CFA level 1 candidates read this. This is the most recent edition of the Standards of Practice Handbook.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chartered_Financial_Analyst
Wikipedia's information on the CFA designation.