Reviewed this section tonight, not bad at all, I kinda got it the first time I read thru and watched the video. Scored 80% on the PassMaster section(60 out of 75). Some notes to remember:

• I am still having issues remembering all of the downstream relationships quickly when it comes to the ratios(except for the off balance sheet ones, those were easy). I have to make it a goal to get these down by exam time, would like to answer any of these  questions real quick to save time for the harder ones. If I spend time thinking thru them step by step I usually get it right but my fear is I won't have enough time on the test to do that.
  
• Most of the calculations are very straightforward and use the TVM calculations learned in SS2
• The Stalla questions for this section were excellent. They really build on one another which made it easier to really get the key concepts.
  

When I get home tonight I'll do a quick review of all of SS9 and then do a test for the entire section before moving on to SS10.

Decided to review the entire FSA material from SS7 thru 9 before we wrap up with SS10 next week. Now that we've gone thru all of the major components, I thought it would be better for me to try to deal with the material holistically vs piecemeal. I reviewed each SS individually using the Stalla lecture notes plus Schweser Secret Sauce and then quizzed myself using Schweser's Qbank since I haven't used that for quizzing FSA yet. My results below:

SS7 - 78%

• Lots of trivial pursuit stuff here that requires either accounting knowledge or rote memorization of the readings. This is definitely a section you want to read right before the exam so it's fresh, especially Reading 31. I wouldn't expect too many trivial pursuit questions but you don't want to lose easy points because you didn't know that a proxy statement filing requires a DEF-14A or where FASB and IASB diverge. Most of the questions I got wrong were due to not remembering specifics, especially from Reading 31. Overall as long as the questions stay focused on core concepts I'm very comfortable with this SS.
  

SS8 - 60%

• I realized how much detail you have to remember to do well in this section. The EPS calculations while not difficult are a lot of little rules to remember when placed in context of everything else. Most of the questions I got wrong here were EPS related. I also noticed that Schweser covers the depreciation stuff that Stalla bundles together with SS9 material so there were a few questions on depreciation I wasn't anticipating.
• I need to review the indirect vs direct methods again. As a matter of fact, I need to go thru the entire Cash Flow section again. Lots of non-intuitive pieces here(add this increase back here but then subtract this increase in another place). Peter Olinto does a good job of explaining this, I'll also watch the Schweser video. I would love to hear tips from people on how they mastered this part of the material. .
  
• least likely reported net of tax = Pre-tax. This verbiage slipped me up a few times.
• This is definitely a section to review and do problems right before the exam since it's easy points once you know the details well.
  

SS9(didn't get to Leases) - 73%

• This section is just vicious. I'm just not connecting the dots well enough to know all of the downstream impacts right away without having to give serious thought to it. This is mostly in the Analysis of Inventories, Long Term Assets and Income Taxes. I need to come back to these sections again. Maybe 3 or 4x.
  
• Financing Liability section isn't too bad, mostly due to my prior fixed income knowledge.

Overall, I was a little discouraged but the fact that I came back to this material a 2nd time and plan on hitting it 2x more gives me some comfort. I still need to finish up the Leases and Off Balance Sheet part which I'll probably do tomorrow night. After FSA, most of the other sections I should be OK in which will allow me to come back to this area as many times as necessary.

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. Was on a business trip and also wanted to really focus on this material since it's rather dense and definitely way beyond the detail I went into in my grad level accounting class. Undergrad accounting was 14 years ago when I wasn't even thinking about a career in finance.

Wow, previous candidates weren't joking. There is a LOT of material here to cover. I already went over FSA 1 in a previous post. That was just the warmup before delving into the deep end of the pool. I decided to handwrite notes for this section as it was just too time consuming trying to format the stuff correctly. So I apologize for not posting my notes as I have been for other topics. I’ll break down the posts by FSA section and promise to be caught up by this weekend. My plan is to have FSA 1-3 down cold this weekend and do a progress test.


FSA 2

 
Reading 32
-          This topic focuses on the income statement in detail. Knowing the different reporting formats is crucial and how to switch between them.
-          Stalla skips over certain material found in the CFAI texts, most notably the ratios. They pick it up in later sections thinking the context is more appropriate.
-          Know those EPS calculations inside and out.  Not too difficult if you remember the rules.
-          The OCI stuff is easy to remember if you use the “PUFE” pneumonic that Peter Olinto recommends.

 

Reading 33
-          Balance sheet details. Nothing too hard here.
-          Know difference between current and noncurrent assets and liabilities
-          Know the difference between trading, held to maturity and available for sale and how they’re treated on the BS. This is a pertinent topic that ties directly into what’s going on how with the bailout stuff in Congress.
-          Realized gains and losses are treated differently based on the security class. Know how.
-          Know different components of equity capital.
-          Off balance sheet stuff goes in disclosures.

 

Reading 34

-          Statement of Cash Flows. Definitely the most intense of the 3 readings.
-          Know the 3 primary categories and how to place transaction inflows/outflows into each bucket
-          Know direct vs indirect methods and how to switch between them.
-          Know difference between IFRS and GAAP with respect to how interest, dividends and taxes are treated.
-          Free cash flow

Overall this section wasn't too bad. Any exposure to FS in the past will definitely help you here.

Last week I started the FSA section. Study Session 7 is a basic overview of Financial Statement analysis, the major statements(balance sheet, etc) and some of the regulations and standards that exist both domestically and internationally. Nothing really new here if you have an accounting background or took this stuff as an undergrad but the standard section may be new to you.

The Stalla lectures for this are covered by Peter Olinto who's a CPA. My hand still hurts from all the notes I wrote down during Thursday's lecture. I still need to go over it again to get a few I missed. I'm glad he's teaching this section, he makes it easier to understand.

I'm glad that I'm at the point where I can study the material before the lecture on Thursdays. This allows me to identify weak areas and then use the weekends to focus on quizzing myself and reviewing the material.

I wanted to use this weekend to review some of the older material I was shaky on(certain quant sections, Econ) so I may use one night this week to catch up there. So far I seem to be retaining most of the core concepts which is encouraging and the trivial pursuit stuff is stuff I'm sure I can memorize during November in review time.

It now gets really hard and into the meat of FSA. I plan on actually reading the CFAI texts for this as much as possible to make sure I don't miss anything. We'll see how that goes.


My Notes

Reading 29

Reading 30

Reading 31

Here are the results of a survey Stalla conducted with L1 candidates. I didn't answer this in time. I definitely would have fallen into the On Track group, Yes I created a study plan, and I'm Pretty Confident I'll pass. I would say Highly Confident but I always underpromise and overdeliver.

How do you feel about where you are in your preparation for your CFA Exam?


Ahead of schedule 4.4%


On track 20.0%


Slightly behind 66.7%


Way behind 8.9%




Did you create a study plan yet?


Yes 57.8%


Sort of 33.3%


No 6.7%




How confident are you that you will be prepared to pass your upcoming CFA exam?


Highly confident 8.9%


Pretty confident 51.1%


Not confident 4.4%


Unsure 35.6%

Well today I planned on staying later after work and doing some reading FSA 1 SS7, which covers readings 29-31. I wound up forgetting my Stalla material at home so I just printed out the Schweser material while at work. I figured it would be good enough to read and then quiz myself on. I have to admit, I was kind of disappointed with the quality of these notes. After reading each section, I would hop over to PassMaster and quiz myself. Many of the questions I got wrong just because the Schweser material didn't cover it.

Here's an example. I get a question asking what type of auditor opinion would be issued if the auditor lacks independence. The answers were Unqualified, Qualified, Adverse, Disclaimer. I chose Unqualified and the answer was Disclaimer. Reading over the material again, this definition is nowhere to be found. Looking at the Stalla material(you can access it in PDF form from PassMaster), it's prominently mentioned.

I need to compare how thorough the notes are vs Stalla but it seems like Schweser seems to try and game the exam and only focus the notes on what it thinks the CFA has a high or medium likelihood of testing you on. I have read that other people had issues with the notes and this seems to confirm it. Then again, Ive heard of people who've passed just using the notes so maybe it's just me.

At any rate, I was able to get thru the material for this Thursday's lecture. I'll actually read the Stalla study guide tomorrow and take notes.

I obtained the 2008 Level 1 MP3's from Schweser and I highly recommend them. I put them on the IPod and listen on the drive to work and in the gym. They range between 7-15 minutes per Reading and I like how they go over each LOS and hit the high points. Not a substitute for actually reading the material but a good way to keep material fresh and for a quick review.

Finished up Reading 27 and 28 today and boy am I glad to be done with Economics. SS6 wasn't too bad as I mentioned in an earlier post since most of this material can be directly observed in the real world today. The last 2 SS's were pretty easy, wait, I shouldn't say that, relatively easy compared to the other sections. Reading 27 focused on Fiscal Policy from the government and how it affects employment, GDP etc while Reading 28 focuses on Monetary Policy from the Fed and it's effects on the same factors.

I didn't do notes for these two, really because I was just too tired today and wanted to enjoy something of a holiday with the kids. The flashcards were good enough.

I made sure not to complete 90% of the PassMaster questions for Econ as I expect this will be a heavy review topic for me so I wanted to have questions available for review later on.

I'll probably do a Progress Test tomorrow for SS1-6 and then start the FSA 1 section.