How To Pass CFA Level 1 Exam With Flying Colours
As I’ve so shamelessly advertised a few days ago, I passed CFA Level 1 Exam with pretty good result (all sections > 70%). Now, a lot of people got this kind of result as well. Just look at the AnalystForum’s June 2009 Level 1 result thread. Some of them are probably a lot smarter than me and I wouldn’t be surprised if they did it just by studying for 4 weeks or something.
Studying, studying, studying...
Not me. I got my result because I prepared well. I’m not some bright young man with a lot of time to dedicate 4 weeks to cram L1 material into my head. I have a full-time job that requires me to work until late at night during weekdays–sometimes even weekends. I need to balance my study sessions with my family life although my wife is very kind and understanding about the whole thing.
When I began my L1 preparation, I went through a period of trial and error for a few months. In January 2009, though, I settled on a strategy that has proven itself to be helpful in getting the result that I desired.
Obviously, between January and June 2009, a lot of things happened. So I’d like to share what happened during that 6-month gap in this post. I hope it’ll be of some use to level 1 candidates reading this.
Exam Preparation Tips (6 months – 1 month before the exam)
- Start as early as you can. You’d be surprised by the number of smart people who think that this is just something like a school exam that you can pass by cramming for a few days. Sure, there are candidates out there who studied only for 2 weeks and passed the exam, but you are not one of them. Trust me on this. It’s a bit like the lottery winners. You know they exist, but you’re not one of them. Start as early as you can.
- Realize that you can be a really smart person and still fail this. I know quite a number of really smart people who failed this. They are so used to cramming, because it worked for them in school thanks to all that brain power. Well… no such thing for CFA exams. Especially if you don’t have the finance background!
- Make a plan. Without a plan, you don’t know if you’re behind, on track, or ahead. Seriously, make a plan. Any plan with specific target dates would be better than no plan at all. Again, you’ll be surprised at the number of smart people who don’t plan at all for this exam.
- Make your plan iterative. Meaning, don’t create your schedule such that 14 days before the exam you just finished reading the whole material for the first time. Retention is the key here. You need to target to finish reading the whole material once at least 2-3 months before the exam. Then go for the next round of reading. I went through the whole material twice.
- Put some buffer in your plan. Be aggressive with your plan and do not delay anything until the last minute. Because something will happen along the way. You may fall sick. You may need to work on a project that requires you to be in the office 24×7 for a few months. You may break up with your (girl|boy)friend and as the result you can’t concentrate on your study for a month. Etc., etc., etc. Plan for the unexpected and put some buffer in your plan.
- Solve, solve, and re-solve a lot of practice questions. I did thousands of practice questions from Schweser QBank. I use them for 2 specific purposes. The first one is to have a review of the whole material regularly. The second one is to gauge your mastery of a topic before moving on to the next one.
- Get some kind of notes. A number of people write their own notes. I started writing one myself too. I quickly found that–for me at least–it was a huge waste of time. I ended up buying Schweser Notes and center my study around those notes. I’ve heard that this strategy doesn’t really work for L2, but meh, this is L1. It worked beautifully for me.
- Most importantly, be consistent. Pace yourself. I think one single thing that helps me the most is that I managed to maintain a roughly consistent level of studying throughout. It’s better to study 1 hour per day for 7 days than to study 7 hours on a Sunday. Don’t burn out too soon!
- Take leave before the exam. Preferably one week or more. It really helps in getting you to the exam mindset and forgets everything else. Obviously you need to let your boss know early about this kind of thing!
- Practice with your calculator. NPV, IRR, cash flow, mean, standard deviation, variance… these need to be your second nature. And make sure that you get the right type of calculator! You’d think that for an exam like this, people would take the time to make sure they get the right type… well… no. Some idiots still bring the wrong calculator for the exam. Don’t be one of them.
Before The Exam (1 month – 1 week before the exam)
- Start taking the mock exams. I can’t emphasize enough the importance of taking CFA mock exams. I suggest taking both mock exams 2 weeks before the actual exam to identify your weak points. Patch those weak points ASAP.
- Check your ticket when it is available. Do this early. Make sure that your name there match the name that is listed on your ID. Make sure that you’ve got the right exam center.
- Get into exam mode. At this point, you shouldn’t really have any material left to cover. You should be just working on re-inforcing what you’ve learned and applying them in solving the questions.
- Review Ethics every 2-3 days. You’ll be happy that you did. Memorize the Code of Ethics.
The Last Week (1 week – 1 day before the exam)
Gears of War!
Most of the things here are easy stuff that a lot of people forget anyway!
- Buy a new calculator battery, and change it 2 days before the exam. Why 2 days? So that if for some reason your calculator gets screwed up while you’re changing the battery, you can still buy another one.
- Buy TWO HB pencils. Sharpen them and use them just a bit to get the right sharpness.
- Buy an eraser. If you’re like me, you will make mistakes. Get a good eraser that will erase mistakes cleanly.
- Buy a pencil sharpener. A number of dudes asked to borrow my pencil sharpener. Apparently they only brought one pencil with them, and they were broken. Duh!
- Make you you know the way to the exam center! Don’t find everything out at the last minute.
- Get some good sleep the day before. You don’t even need to try hard to sleep. Just lie down and read something light. Hopefully then you’ll doze off and sleep. But realize that, even if you don’t sleep well, the excitement of the exam day tomorrow will help you to go through it anyway. I slept at 2AM, woke up at 6AM, and I went through the exam just fine.
- Figure out what you should wear in advance if possible. I went for the exam in a thin T-shirt and three-quarters because I didn’t want to get bothered by Singapore heat during the exam! Well… I should’ve brought a jacket. It was freakin freezing cold in there! The air conditioners were working in full blast!
- Try to arrange for lunch if possible. My friends had told me way in advance that I should arrange for lunch beforehand. Well, I didn’t do it. Big mistake. The exam place was so packed that the only lunch I got was a smalll piece of bread from 7/11 (that was pretty much the only piece left I think). That, and a can of coffee. Hardly an ideal lunch. By the time the exam was finished I was exhausted, hungry, and cold. Don’t be an idiot like me. Arrange for lunch.
Exam Day
- Bring your: passport, watch, CFA exam ticket, 2 HB pencils, 1 approved calculator, 1 eraser, 1 pencil sharpener, lunch. I don’t know about you, but I’m not the type who leaves my handphone unattended along with thousands of other bags. So I didn’t carry my handphone on that day. It’s your call.
- Read the instructions carefully, and remember that proctors got POWERS that day. You’ve spent all those weeks/months so that you can pass. Pay attention and obey the proctors and you’ll be fine.
- Be calm, don’t care about others. I saw more than a few people went out with more than one hour to spare. Not me. I stayed till the very end verifying my answers. What I’m suggesting here is: just stick to your own style and don’t get affected by what others do.
I’ll see you all at CFA Email Study Group! 
A bunch of us passed Level 1 in June, so drop by and ask questions if you like. If you’re going for L2 i 2010, please join us in preparing too!
August 7th, 2009 at 11:06 am
Agree with you that we need to plan early and stick to it.
I made study plans but kept modifying it because I was behind schedule all the time. Only managed to finish reading Schweser Book 1-5 on the last day before the exam and did not have time to review. Really regret for preparing so badly. Hope to keep to schedule and to well in L2.
August 7th, 2009 at 5:53 pm
Great post I agree 100%.
Now that we are in Level 2 do you know how you will tackle this? Use schweser to study? use them just for the Qbank? or go for the CFA textbooks?
I used Analystnotes for level 1 and it was enough but saw on forums that you need the books for L2
Am undecided:(
August 8th, 2009 at 11:40 am
@Veggie: yes, I kept modifying my plan too, I try to put as much buffer as possible though
@malcolm: I’ll be using CFA textbooks for Level 2, especially now that I still have about 10 months to prepare. They are actually a good read if you’re reading it without schedule pressure
August 16th, 2009 at 10:05 am
Congratulations.. Hard work pays.
I am starting on my preparation for Dec 2009 now. Do you think it is too late? Can you please help me plan my study
August 16th, 2009 at 11:42 pm
Hi Vish,
Defininatly no it is not to late. Just work and do as many questions as possible. Be sure to know Ethics, quants, econ, FSA, corporate finance equities and fixed income very very well and you will make it.
September 4th, 2009 at 11:28 am
Hi,
Same here…started level 1 preps a few weeks ago and not sure if I will finish in time.
I have been reading two of the CFA text books and for the past few days I have looked through the schweser notes for the volumes I have read. Basically all the important stuff is in there as far as I can see.
Do you think it would be possible and reasonable to only read Schweser and only refer to CFA books when further explanation is needed? And to pass the exam of course. I dont mind reading the CFA books at all, it is very interesting. It is just that I am a bit worried about the time since I am working full time, running a small company on the side and preparing for this exam while I can’t take time of work before the exam.
September 24th, 2009 at 4:09 pm
Thank so much for sharing your valuable experiences/insights – it gives me so much encouragement( I am an L1 Dec 2009 candidate with no financial background whatsoever). This site is so awesome that I have bookmarked this link and keep referring it time and again for study plan tips! Kudos and good luck for everything
September 24th, 2009 at 11:02 pm
congratulation. you cheer me up actually. i m currently studying at a university in Singapore. since i m not a straight A student, i plan to take CFA one semester before i graduate. i am planning to take a semester off to study and sit for CFA exam. Will it be worth my time? will there be more job opportunities after i sit and pass cfa level 1. i plan to take cfa until i pass all level 3 by the way.if so , i will drop my marketing major which is my second major and take major in investment banking sector rather than finance as general. what do you think?? i am not an expert in this area and i have no senior to ask. pls help me advice.
November 7th, 2009 at 12:04 am
Hi…congrants…..specially because i was inspired 2 appear 4 d exam CFA after going through your blog……me appearing 4 lvl 1 in dec 2009.
November 16th, 2009 at 2:33 am
Hey,
Congrats on clearing level I
Thanks for the info, very helpful. I am appearing for level I in Dec’09. Scoring 70% in tests and need to boost my score to 90% to gain confidence. Any tips?
November 26th, 2009 at 6:08 pm
Any tips for someone who only has one week to study and do the mock exams, sample exams.
What areas should I concentrate on. Been procrastinating for so long, and now the rpessure is pretty intense.
A week to go before exams. I’m screwed.
November 26th, 2009 at 8:22 pm
Screwed, if you haven’t really studied anything up to this point, I suppose you can try the mock exams and memorizing the Secret Sauce.
I agree with you though that unless you are a genius at the level of Chris Langan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Langan ), then you are truly madly deeply screwed.
May 9th, 2010 at 2:48 pm
Hey
Firstly your blog makes for some fantastic reading, and almost a must for any CFA level 1 candidate like me.Have a specific query on test prep’s. Why did you choose the schweser q-bank and not Allen resources test bank?Have people around me who are not so happy with the Schweser Q-bank claiming it to be a little too simulated and also the q’s are not similar to the real exam. What has been your experience?Would be helpful if you could help me narrow down my choices.
Thanks and best of luck with your L2 prep.
May 17th, 2010 at 11:53 am
Thanks,
I liked the exam checklist.It really helped me a lot.
-
I passed Level 1
May 19th, 2010 at 9:46 pm
Hi Kingpin, thanks for the comment. I used Schweser for L1 and did thousands of practice questions. You are right in the sense that QBank may not be similar to the real exam. But the main value is that by doing those thousands questions, you are inculcating those topics into your brain.
Gogole: congratulations! Are you going for L2 this time around?
May 21st, 2010 at 3:57 pm
Nope.I am planning to write next year 2011.
Am from Singapore too but working on the computer side
I need to say this again, Your checklist for the exam was damn useful to me.
BTW, are you into any investment management firm?
May 27th, 2010 at 9:01 pm
HI dude, can i post articles to your blog ? Let me know if you are interested
May 30th, 2010 at 1:51 am
Hey Ray,
Congrats for your CFA L1 success and best of luck for further levels.
I don’t have much of financial domain knowledge (Engineering background), and I’m targetting CFA. Considering this, what would you suggest regarding study material. Should I just study CFA official material or should I buy Schweser or rather recommended text books e.g. Analysis of Derivatives, Investment Analysis and Portfolio Management to name a few.
One of professor I met at information session told that CFA material and prep notes like Schweser contain bits and pieces of text unlike text books that contain detailed info. He suggested me to go for books first. I’m really confused what should I do…
Your feedback is highly appreciated.
Thanks.
May 31st, 2010 at 11:47 am
Hi orange.comet,
I say it depends. My thinking goes like this: the reality is that a full, comprehensive, and firm understanding of the whole CFA curriculum will take more than 3 years to acquire.
But I see no reason why you can’t pass the exams first while pursuing the detailed info later on (or in parallel). So my suggestion is this:
Use Schweser (or Stalla, or whatever prep provider you want to go with) for passing Level 1. Don’t bother about the text books for now, they will just distract you with unnecessary details that are probably not going to be tested.
After passing the exam, then yeah, sure, read all the books to your heart’s content. But don’t make reading the text books delay your passing the exam!
July 7th, 2010 at 6:59 pm
This is perhaps the best blog on CFA prep. Its kinda motivational:) & has real good advice! I am not a CFA candidate but have been thinking of signing up for the same…the only thing that is keeping me away from the monster is my lack of finance knowledge…I am from engineering background and have studied finance at a very beginners’ level at the business school (general business degree not specialist finance)…but your blog inspired me! Nevertheless I do plan to do a rain-check of my own, so I have planned to attempt the Investment Management Certificate (IMC) offered by the CFA Society of UK before signing up for the CFA programme…If I pass the IMC, I can at least dream of clearing the three levels of CFA. Anyways, great blog and all the best to you!
July 29th, 2010 at 2:18 am
I followed your advice, it was january and i had all the big bookss and didn’t know where to start!!! My exam was this june 2010 so i had less than 6 months. I followed your advices,and i passed with pretty good grades. Now, i’ve recommended your blogs to some of my friends. Thanks a lot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!