You’ve decided you’re ready to take on the challenge of the CFA® Test and become a Chartered Financial Analyst. Make sure you think this through because it’s going to be a tough few years. Although Only 20% of people who take Level I do so There is no secret to finally passing the exam and earning their CFA charter.
You will need an organized and disciplined approach to conquer this beast. I’m here to help you, starting with Level I. Trust me, you don’t just want to dive in, you want to get an idea of your overall CFA exam study strategy.
Start studying
You have about 300 hours of study before Level I, so I recommend starting 5 to 6 months before your exam date. There are so many elements—if ever, it’s an understatement—so it’s important to pace yourself. This will help prevent you from burning out before exam day arrives. I strongly recommend using one CFA Exam Preparation Course To support your self-study in addition to the CFA Institute curriculum.
Schedule a study
Level I material is generally not difficult for any business-savvy person to understand, but the volume is substantial – you’re going to see a lot of your basic Econ 101 material, but with a lot of higher-level concepts woven into it. Some test prep guides will recommend 250, but passing The average amount of study time spent by candidates is around 313 hours. Don’t underestimate the time and effort it takes to pass this exam. If you’ve already worked 280 hours, what’s another 20 or 30 in the grand scheme of things?!
An important step to pass CFA® Setting yourself a rigorous study schedule to tackle the mountain of material ahead of you. If you can stick to your schedule and really skip any planned sessions, you’ll have the self-discipline to pass Level I and eventually the entire CFA® exam. I thought about it like I was that kid who had to watch other kids play while doing homework – it wasn’t fun, but I knew there was a reason behind it.
Don’t forget about ethics
After reading the syllabus, one big mistake you can make is to ignore the ethics section. This is a bad call because the ethics component will span all three levels of the CFA® exam You will be able to understand ethics for Level I so you will have a strong foundation in place when you move on to other levels.
It is rumored that you cannot pass the exam without passing ethics. This is not technically true because you can skip Ethics if you crush everything else, although this is extremely rare. But, your score in Ethics will determine whether you pass or fail if you are close to the minimum passing score. TheEthics coordinationWill determine whether you crash or burn. It’s always a good idea to find out Additional CFA® Exam preparation materials If CFA® Institute curriculum is too dry for you.
Practice, practice, practice tests
The most important part of your study schedule is the CFA practice exam. Many will plan to study the material right up until test day, but essentially ignore the practice tests. This is a huge mistake and leads to a low-passing score. Before the test you should give yourself plenty of time (some say a month) to take as many practice tests as possible. A good rule of thumb is to shoot for 6 practice tests before test day.
The purpose of the practice test is to let you know if your study hours have paid off. Practice tests identify your strengths and weaknesses, tell you where more work needs to be done, and what you’ve mastered. They will also help you determine how long it will take you to complete the test, which is a concern for Level I. Incorporate practice tests into your test prep course, and you’ll significantly improve your chances of success.
Keep track of time
Level I consists of 240 questions and is time limited. Level I is the most time limited in terms of the volume of questions to be answered, so there is always a risk of not finishing. If this happens to you on exam day, it’s better to blindly guess for the rest of the exam than nothing. There is no penalty for guessing.
Shoot for 70%, but don’t worry if you’re below
Minimum Passing Score (MPS) set by CFA® Institute will never exceed 70%. This means that the highest score bracket to pass in a particular subject is 70%-100%, but you don’t have to reach every subject to pass, as long as you can make up for the loss in another subject.
You should aim for 70% or more in your practice tests so that on test day you will be confident that you are at least close to passing the subjects you are struggling with and can exceed that level in your strong areas. Remember, 70% equals success in real exam, but below 70% does not always mean failure.
Prepare for the exam day
After months of studying, you may forget to give yourself time to prepare for the exam. You need to sort out the exam day logistics to avoid any surprises that may shock you on the day of the exam. Read on for what to bring on test day and you may want to check where the test center will be in advance. Don’t waste your efforts by forgetting your passport or any other logistical glitch. These details should be the least of your worries before taking the CFA Level I exam. Good luck!
