2024 CFA Level I Exam: CFA Discussion Topic: 5 Things I Wish I Knew Before Taking the CFA Exams

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Topic: 5 Things I Wish I Knew Before Taking the CFA Exams

Author	Topic: 5 Things I Wish I Knew Before Taking the CFA Exams
MrGrant @2015-05-15 16:22:00	Found this somewhere and wanna share with all candidates: 1. The CFA Institute curriculum is drier than my mouth after I got floured on my 18th birthday. classic wooden dipper with flour This is entirely my opinion and the fact that the textbooks were about 3,000 pages in total didn?t help one bit. I found third-party exam prep material to be much more palatable and concise. However, don?t ignore the curriculum completely. At the very least, do the end-of-chapter questions. 2. It takes a lot more time to go through the material than you?d expect, but not as much time as it takes Congress to reach consensus. I can?t stress this enough. Make sure to start early or you?ll wish you had more time to do practice questions, which leads me to? 3. Practice questions/exams are very important. So much so that it is really hard to pass the exam if all you did was study the material. Be sure to use the CFA Institute?s free mock exam and do that under exam conditions. 4. Doors to the exam hall close a lot earlier than you?d think. OK, to be fair, I knew this before taking Level I. But point is, this is absolutely true. Pretend you are heading to the airport to catch a 9 a.m. flight. Arrive at least 45 minutes to an hour before the start time on your admission ticket. You can still go to the bathroom after you?ve signed in and taken your seat, so you don?t have to worry about signing in too early. 5. Security will be tighter than skinny jeans after Thanksgiving dinner. I put my pencils, eraser, and sharpener in a transparent plastic zip-lock bag for convenience. Then I was told that no bags, not even those plastic bags, were allowed in the exam hall. Passport holders were also not allowed. It is also a good idea to leave the plastic cover of your calculator at home unless you need it. Plan ahead and only bring what you need. Leave valuables that are not permitted in the exam hall, such as your cellphone, in the car or at home. The last thing you want is to worry about your brand new smartphone in the unattended personal belongings area while writing the exam.

Author

Topic: 5 Things I Wish I Knew Before Taking the CFA Exams

MrGrant
@2015-05-15 16:22:00

Found this somewhere and wanna share with all candidates:

1. The CFA Institute curriculum is drier than my mouth after I got floured on my 18th birthday. classic wooden dipper with flour

This is entirely my opinion and the fact that the textbooks were about 3,000 pages in total didn?t help one bit. I found third-party exam prep material to be much more palatable and concise. However, don?t ignore the curriculum completely. At the very least, do the end-of-chapter questions.

2. It takes a lot more time to go through the material than you?d expect, but not as much time as it takes Congress to reach consensus.

I can?t stress this enough. Make sure to start early or you?ll wish you had more time to do practice questions, which leads me to?

3. Practice questions/exams are very important.

So much so that it is really hard to pass the exam if all you did was study the material. Be sure to use the CFA Institute?s free mock exam and do that under exam conditions.

4. Doors to the exam hall close a lot earlier than you?d think.

OK, to be fair, I knew this before taking Level I. But point is, this is absolutely true. Pretend you are heading to the airport to catch a 9 a.m. flight. Arrive at least 45 minutes to an hour before the start time on your admission ticket. You can still go to the bathroom after you?ve signed in and taken your seat, so you don?t have to worry about signing in too early.

5. Security will be tighter than skinny jeans after Thanksgiving dinner.

I put my pencils, eraser, and sharpener in a transparent plastic zip-lock bag for convenience. Then I was told that no bags, not even those plastic bags, were allowed in the exam hall. Passport holders were also not allowed. It is also a good idea to leave the plastic cover of your calculator at home unless you need it. Plan ahead and only bring what you need. Leave valuables that are not permitted in the exam hall, such as your cellphone, in the car or at home. The last thing you want is to worry about your brand new smartphone in the unattended personal belongings area while writing the exam.

CFA Discussion Topic: 5 Things I Wish I Knew Before Taking the CFA Exams

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I am happy to say that I passed! Your study notes certainly helped prepare me for what was the most difficult exam I had ever taken.

CFA Discussion Topic: 5 Things I Wish I Knew Before Taking the CFA Exams

Andrea Schildbach