• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Finance Train

Finance Train

High Quality tutorials for finance, risk, data science

  • Home
  • Data Science
  • CFA® Exam
  • PRM Exam
  • Tutorials
  • Careers
  • Products
  • Login

CFA Exam: My Experience and Some Tips

CFA® Exam

Chartered Financial Analyst is a great award that everybody wants, but it’s very difficult to get. Not because of the money you have to invest but the dedication you have to demonstrate for minimum three years.

Perseveration and dedication are relevant skills you need to succeed, but is this enough?. I’m not sure.

In my opinion, and from my own experience, the methodology of Level I and Level II exams are very different. Level I seemed easier to me because of the answers, the topics, and also the time you have to give to the exam. Nothing similar happened to me in Level II exam, the one I failed last June. Is it really necessary to have a six-hour exam to demonstrate how much you learned from the curricula?.

I must be honest and tell you that I didn’t apply the same time for both exams. I took more time to prepare for Level I exam. In both cases I used the original CFA Books, but for Level I exam I made summaries of all the readings. That was very helpful for me in order to organize the way I studied. It took seven months to prepare and I succeeded. A very useful tool was the mock exams I did because it allowed me to practice a lot in the final three weeks before the exam.

In contrast, Level II Exam methodology was very different. I think this exam is more challenging so you need more time to prepare for it, and more perseveration. You need to practice a lot more than in Level I. My own experience was that I dedicated less time, for many reasons, and I failed.

I don’t want to blame the six-hour exam as the main factor for not succeeding. It’s just that it seemed harder to get the whole exam on time because of its structure. Of course, I know that the CFA Level II exam is the turning point to succeed in the program, so you must be more confident about yourself and give your best to pass.

Particularly, you must pay attention to Ethics and Professional Standards, Financial and Reporting Analysis and Equity Investments as the key topics.

I will take all these tips for my CFA Level II preparation next year and any advise you have to give will be welcome.

Go to CFA Exam Dashboard.

Join Our Facebook Group - Finance, Risk and Data Science

Posts You May Like

How to Improve your Financial Health

CFA® Exam Overview and Guidelines (Updated for 2021)

Changing Themes (Look and Feel) in ggplot2 in R

Coordinates in ggplot2 in R

Facets for ggplot2 Charts in R (Faceting Layer)

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Latest Tutorials

    • Data Visualization with R
    • Derivatives with R
    • Machine Learning in Finance Using Python
    • Credit Risk Modelling in R
    • Quantitative Trading Strategies in R
    • Financial Time Series Analysis in R
    • VaR Mapping
    • Option Valuation
    • Financial Reporting Standards
    • Fraud
Facebook Group

Membership

Unlock full access to Finance Train and see the entire library of member-only content and resources.

Subscribe

Footer

Recent Posts

  • How to Improve your Financial Health
  • CFA® Exam Overview and Guidelines (Updated for 2021)
  • Changing Themes (Look and Feel) in ggplot2 in R
  • Coordinates in ggplot2 in R
  • Facets for ggplot2 Charts in R (Faceting Layer)

Products

  • Level I Authority for CFA® Exam
  • CFA Level I Practice Questions
  • CFA Level I Mock Exam
  • Level II Question Bank for CFA® Exam
  • PRM Exam 1 Practice Question Bank
  • All Products

Quick Links

  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact Us

CFA Institute does not endorse, promote or warrant the accuracy or quality of Finance Train. CFA® and Chartered Financial Analyst® are registered trademarks owned by CFA Institute.

Copyright © 2021 Finance Train. All rights reserved.

  • About Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact Us