CFA all levels cleared in 1 year & 9 months!
Sat for the first exam in November 2021, passed the final one in August 2023. The good olā āone and doneā. What worked for me? Here are 4 crucial factors :
1. The background.
Going into the CFA programme with little to no finance background is akin to a death wish. You absolutely NEED a background. If you donāt have one, you can easily create one by reading more around finance, taking different courses or simply spending time on YouTube everyday for a few months. For me this background came in two ways; I had a degree in economics and I also was involved in the Indian capital markets since the age of 19, so I was always in the loop when it came to finance.
2. Not skimping out on ANYTHING.
In Indian colleges we often hear this line āoption mei rakh dengeā, please donāt try that with the CFA Programme. You must knock each section out of the park. If you see the percentage of candidates that finish all three exams, itās close to the 5-6% mark, if you want to be one of them, start early and finish everything multiple times.
3. Conceptual Clarity
The first two exams have 10 subjects and the last one has 7. All in one day. Itās humanly impossible to rote learn this curriculum. You have to understand what you learn and link it to other relevant topics in the programme, keep in mind this is an extremely application based exam.
To gain more conceptual understanding I used various online and offline resources like free videos posted by Mark Meldrum on YouTube, Schweser Notes, CFA websiteās Learning Ecosystem.
4. Timed Mock Papers
The questions at the back of the books and the CFA website are good but definitely not enough.
You have to grind it out in the mocks. I did 6 mock papers each for my level 1 and 2, and 8 for my level 3, all of them were timed.
This will test you under pressure, enhance time management and prepare you better for D-Day.
I hope this helps your CFA journey, if you want to know more about the programme I have created many videos around it in a playlist on my YouTube channel ; https://lnkd.in/dUSQhFCs
#cfa #finance #investment
Sat for the first exam in November 2021, passed the final one in August 2023. The good olā āone and doneā. What worked for me? Here are 4 crucial factors :
1. The background.
Going into the CFA programme with little to no finance background is akin to a death wish. You absolutely NEED a background. If you donāt have one, you can easily create one by reading more around finance, taking different courses or simply spending time on YouTube everyday for a few months. For me this background came in two ways; I had a degree in economics and I also was involved in the Indian capital markets since the age of 19, so I was always in the loop when it came to finance.
2. Not skimping out on ANYTHING.
In Indian colleges we often hear this line āoption mei rakh dengeā, please donāt try that with the CFA Programme. You must knock each section out of the park. If you see the percentage of candidates that finish all three exams, itās close to the 5-6% mark, if you want to be one of them, start early and finish everything multiple times.
3. Conceptual Clarity
The first two exams have 10 subjects and the last one has 7. All in one day. Itās humanly impossible to rote learn this curriculum. You have to understand what you learn and link it to other relevant topics in the programme, keep in mind this is an extremely application based exam.
To gain more conceptual understanding I used various online and offline resources like free videos posted by Mark Meldrum on YouTube, Schweser Notes, CFA websiteās Learning Ecosystem.
4. Timed Mock Papers
The questions at the back of the books and the CFA website are good but definitely not enough.
You have to grind it out in the mocks. I did 6 mock papers each for my level 1 and 2, and 8 for my level 3, all of them were timed.
This will test you under pressure, enhance time management and prepare you better for D-Day.
I hope this helps your CFA journey, if you want to know more about the programme I have created many videos around it in a playlist on my YouTube channel ; https://lnkd.in/dUSQhFCs
#cfa #finance #investment
