Level 1 Results

By Jim on 1/27/2010 12:43:00 PM

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Looks like most of the candidate boards are swamped right now but I did find this article on the CFAI website that says the pass rate for Dec was 34%. It was around 46% in June which means they made the Dec exam harder based on the 3 answers than it was in June. I suspected this would be the case as my theory is that they want Level 1 pass rates to be 40% and under given the amount of people who take the exam these days.


Can people share their results with me, either on the comments or via email? I'm curious what folks thought about the exam itself.

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Item Sets

By Jim on 1/26/2010 12:27:00 AM

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As I mentioned before the new question format in Level 2 presents a few challenges. Don't quote me, but I believe the format of the Level 2 exam is 10 item sets in each session with 6 questions per item set which comes out to 60 questions in each session and a total of 120 total.


I just did my first item sets for Ethics and I already noticed why this format can throw you for a loop. It's real easy to lose concentration when reading 5-6 paragraphs to the point where you have to re-read the entire item set. What I did to solve this was read 1-2 paragraphs at a time and then try to answer the first 1-2 questions, assuming the paragraphs I read actually had all the information I needed to answer them. This seemed to work well as it seems the question order follows the order of information provided in the item set. It remains to be seen whether I can follow this during the rest of the material but if so, that could be one way of tackling the item sets and breaking them down into more manageable components.

Another tip was to underline key info in the item set and write in quick notes in the margins. Usually I was able to already note violations just from the reading so when a question was asked on that, I already knew the answer without having to revert back .

Of course this is harder to do when answering questions electronically but I think that could be a good thing. If you learn how to mentally underline the key points when using QBank or Passmaster, it should be easy on exam day to actually underline the key points and use that to your advantage.

I have my first live Stalla class tomorrow with Ethics as the topic. This will serve as the final review for me and I'll then hop into the more complex material such as Quant next.

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Remainder of Study Session 2 - Ethics

By Jim on 1/20/2010 10:27:00 PM

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I wrapped up the remainder of SS2 tonight. Reviewed the Prudent Man vs Prudent Investor rule and there were 3 case studies on how the SPC's are applied, So far, all the Ethics material is coming back to me and now I'm beginning to understand why CFAI tests it so much. By the time you finish taking all 3 exams, the ethics material should be second nature to you unlike some of the more academic concepts you may not even wind up using in your career.

Here are some videos I found on YouTube that cover the Level 2 Ethics material. I have not watched them in their entirety but they may come in handy during review time. If you recall my suggestions from the Level 1 studies, I'm a big fan of hearing the same material presented in different ways via different folks. I just think it helps to assimilate it better when you hear the same material covered differently.

I'm going to hold off on posting notes, it  just takes too long and I'll be using the Stalla lecture notes where I'll add on my own 2 cents. That worked well for Level 1.



CFA Exam Prep: Level 2 Ethics



CFA Exam Prep: Level 2 Ethics: Topical Studies

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Soft Dollar Standards

By Jim on 1/18/2010 10:48:00 PM

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Picked up Ethics again tonight, mostly just briefly reviewed the highlights of the Level 1 material and decided to quiz myself using QBank to see how much I retained. I actually did pretty well. Major issues were around the newer material on Level 2 such as the soft dollar standards. Speaking of which found some good material on the CFA Institute page at the link below:



There's a link for the Research Objectivity Standards as well as the Standard of Professional Conduct which is must reading for Ethics.

Here are some notes I took for the Reading
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Live Stalla Class Schedule

By Jim on 1/18/2010 12:49:00 AM

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This is the high level schedule I'll be following. I'll try to attend as many of these classes as possible.


http://twurl.nl/yqo4ss

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Good orientation video by Stalla

By Jim on 1/18/2010 12:48:00 AM

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More for the overall CFA program, not a specific level

http://cdn.beckercpa.com/StallaOrientation/stallaorientation.html

Enjoy!

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Going with Stalla for Level 2

By Jim on 1/18/2010 12:15:00 AM

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First off, happy new year to everyone. I hope your holidays were enjoyable and you started off the new year on a good note.

I'm finally going to get serious about the studying for the Level 2 exam this June. I have been slacking a bit but I decided to place the order for the Stalla System. This is the one with the lecture notes, the video lectures, passmaster, and study guides. It doesn't come with the mock exams or flashcards. I did not use those in Level 1 so I don't feel I'm missing much here. Also they are holding Level 2 classes here in Miami that start next week so I think I'll be attending those as well and following their schedule to have some structure.

I'll be posting the high level study plan this week.

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