AuthorTopic: Study Schedule Strategy
navn
@2015-03-01 20:43:04
Has anyone had particular success in setting up a study schedule using specific tools or an approach? I was thinking of using excel to structure a schedule where I study X hours per day, leaving 1 night a week free, and have specific due dates for study sessions. Such an approach would provide motivation if I saw I was falling behind.

I realize this is probably a fairly obvious approach but if anyone had specific success and would be willing to describe their approach, it would be appreciated.
agitau
@2015-03-03 17:50:13
I'll share mine.

I am studying for the june 2014 L1 exam. I have an excel spreadsheet from feb 16 - may 31. where each day I fill in how many hours I study and where I left off or what I did.

beside that table I have an estimated number of hours Id need to study every day to reach 300 by april 300 and 400 by may 31. I then have an identical section for actual totals. so it sums how much Ive studied to date. I then have it automatically calculate todays date and how many days until the exam as well as average hrs I have studied per day so far.

lastly I have percentage complete progress tracker which divides total hours studied by 300 and then 400 to show my study percentage completion.

Ive been studying for 2 weeks and have had great success with this. I can see everything I need in terms of planning and my progression and can see if my avg hrs studied per day starts dropping.
wamuyu
@2015-04-10 10:43:16
I finished all 4 sections of the CPA exam in 6 months using Becker and my accounting bible (keiso) lol....my study strategy then, was to MASTER the material in each section and start doing the questions/exams.

Given that you can finish a section in 1-2 months, you must fully understand/master the material in order to absorb all the material by exam date and pass. Glad I did, because that strategy worked.

I'm currently using the same approach for Level 1 but I feel that I'm not that efficient and I'm overstudying. I spent almost a month on Ethics, Equities, and FI. Obviously, there are a lot more readings/SS left.

Question- Should I really master the material and spend more time on each SS before moving on or should I focus on getting as much reading done as possible, get a good understanding, and come back when it's closer to the exam and master the material?

Should I complete the basic and review questions after each study session , wait until the last month or after finishing a functional area, (i.e asset valuation, investment tools, etc.) and do them all @ once? or wait until the last 10 days to do 10 mock exams (I heard they are tougher than the real exam).

Any feedback will be greatly appreciated.
krisangels
@2015-05-19 14:58:30
I was doing what you did at the start for level one....spending too much time on each detail and my studying was moving along at a snails pace....I like to:
1)Speed read chapters, making flashcards off of the LOS and end of chapter notes
2) Do end of chapter questions

Once finished w/ all books, take my flash cards for a particular study session, learn them, and do the Practice Exams on Analyst Notes

One I'm at 70% or so compared to everyone else on analyst notes, then I did CFA sample and mock to find out really which areas I needed to focus on.

CFA Discussion Topic: Study Schedule Strategy

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I just wanted to share the good news that I passed CFA Level I!!! Thank you for your help - I think the online question bank helped cut the clutter and made a positive difference.
Edward Liu

Edward Liu