CFA Level 1

As a working adult, I didn’t have much time to study. My system was to study efficiently, and this was all the more important as I had to miss the mock exam while overseas on holiday, and only returned 2 weeks before the actual exam day.

1. Attend classes, pay attention and take notes.

Most people are advised to read up the relevant Schweser chapter(s) ahead of each lecture. Coming from a non-financial background, I found that I didn’t gain much from such reading. The books only made sense to me after attending the lecture, and this saved me some time.

2. Summarise from the notes and textbooks after each lecture.

Summarise each topic on notebooks or foolscap paper, incorporating important information from relevant sources, eg Schweser, lecture notes etc. I managed to keep up with the lectures, spending about 3 hours each time reading, highlighting, and summarizing. Rem: don’t fall behind.

3. Put in the recommended no. of hours.

The lecturers emphasized from early on that we have to put in regular study hours if we want to pass. Their recommended minimum is 200 hours of study.

4. Ask questions

If you are unsure, ask during class, or by email.

5. Be familiar & comfortable with the Texas BAII Plus financial calculator.

This saves you time during the exam, & helps you avoid mistakes.

6. Get the Ethics textbook (Code & Standards of Practice)

Ethics is extremely important because you can score high marks easily if you know the topic well. Schweser & lecture notes are NOT enough. Get the Code & Standards textbook & read thru it.

7. Studying for the exam

I separated the thick stacks of notes, and had them bound by topic. This made it easier to carry them around. I brought these notes, relevant books, mock exam questions and my own summaries to study while on holiday!

Further summarise your personal notes. This reinforces the concepts, formulae; and will become a handy tool for quick referance.

I attempted exam questions by the topic, then checked the answers and revised the facts that I had answered wrongly. Learn from these mistakes.

Finally, I attempt several mock exam papers, adhering strictly to the time allocated. Once again, I checked the answers, and analyzed them to find out the topics in which I am weak or strong. I paid more attention to revision of my weak topics.

8. Exam smarts

Know the weightages of the different topics.

I then devised a personal strategy to attempt the questions by sections. I made sure I did my strong topics first, answering carefully, efficiently and aimed to score well. I also aimed to answer quickly, to gain more time for my weaker topics.

I tackled my weakest topic (FSA) last.

One word of advice: Do not give up on Derivatives. Even though it is the most difficult topic during lecture & studying, the questions are relatively easy & if you put in a decent effort to study you can definitely score some marks.

9. Know where you stand

Remember that the pass mark is 70% of average score of top centile of the candidate cohort worldwide. So the pass mark is less than or equal to 70 & should be somewhere around 63 to 66. From the sample exam workbook & mock exam, see your scores & know where you stand. Know what your strengths & weaknesses are.

10. Common Sense

In the final day before the exam, I revised using my short summaries only.

Eat well, sleep well, prepare necessary pencils etc.

Recce the exam venue. Maybe even pack lunch as the queues can be quite long.