Introduction & Request for help

[Aruna Ramdass]

Hey Guys,

This Aruna Ramdass from Bangalore, India. I'm intending to take up CFA L1 exam in june '11. I'm totally lost, how to begin with and prepare for this exam. It would be really great if anyone could help me get going with this. I have looked at the syllabus at the CFA website. I'm looking for the pointers and study material for preparing for the exam.

--
Regards,
Anusha

[FabianMHC]

Hi Anusha,

Have you registered for the exam? What was your major in your degree?
Are you more inclined towards finance or engineering or etc?

If you have not studied finance before, it would be best to study the
textbooks from the CFA Institute. If you have studied finance before,
then try to use materials from prep providers like Schweser, Stalla,
Elan Guides, etc. If you're a full-timer, then you will need to manage
your time properly. Try to spread your study schedule evenly over a
week (a few hours in the evening on weekdays, and longer hours in the
weekends).

Try to finish a month before exam to allow yourself to revise and do
mock exams. Good luck to you!! =)

Regards,
Fab

[Aruna Ramdass]

Hi Fab,


Thank u so much for the guidance, I've basically completed my Bachelors in Business Management with a specialisation in sales and marketing and I'm currently working with Austrialia New Zealand Bank as a Static Analyst. I will be very shortly registering for the exam. Before going forward i wanted to know if I could really do this as I'm looking in for a career in finance.

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Regards,
Anusha

[FabianMHC]

Well Anusha,

What I can say is I'm not REALLY from the finance side (I majored in
Math) but I do intend to make the cut in an equity/fixed-income role.
As long as you fix yourself a target of where you want to be, there
should be no obstacle for you. =)

But once you decide to sign up, PLEASE, PLEASE, commit yourself 100%
to the program. You might have other commitments, but try to manage
your time effectively and efficiently.

Cheers

P/S You mentioned you wanted to have a career in finance. May I know
which area you are looking at?

> > june-2011-cfa-level-i-...@googlegroups.com<june-2011-cfa -level-i-candidates%2Bunsu...@googlegroups.com>
> > .

[Aruna Ramdass]

Fab,

I'm a bit confused as to what to take over in finance. I'm open to all and looking into investment banking. Can you suggest any book to start off with apart from what u mentioned earlier.

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--
Regards,
Anusha

[FabianMHC]

Well for me, I'm fixed at fixed income, so doing the CFA program gives
me a direction.

Books? You mean books for the CFA program? You can start off with
Quantitative Investment Analysis (Richard A. DeFusco CFA, Dennis W.
McLeavey CFA, Jerald E. Pinto CFA, and David E. Runkle CFA). There's
also the Fixed Income Analysis by Frank J. Fabozzi and Martin L.
Leibowitz.

> > > > june-2011-cfa-level-i-...@googlegroups.com<june-2011-cfa -level-i-candidates%2Bunsu...@googlegroups.com><june-2011-cfa
> > -level-i-candidates%2Bunsu...@googlegroups.com<level-i-candidates%252Bu nsubs...@googlegroups.com>

[Vikrant Malvankar]

Guys i had appeared for L1 Dec2010 and was not expecting to clear, but alas i did clear, here are my results

 

6437757
Dear Malvankar Gurunath Vikrant,
Congratulations. I am very pleased to inform you that you passed the December 2010 Level I CFA exam. You are one step closer to achieving your goal of earning the globally respected CFA charter.
36% of candidates passed the December 2010 Level I CFA exam. Registration for the June 2011 Level II CFA exam will be available 26 January on the CFA Institute website. (Please note that effective 1 January 2011, the candidate ID policy changed.)
Your detailed exam results, including a matrix outlining your strengths and weaknesses, are in the table below.
As you continue your educational journey with CFA Institute, please contact us if you have questions or comments about the CFA Program.
Again, congratulations on your achievement.
Sincerely,
John D. Rogers, CFA
President and Chief Executive Officer
CFA Institute
The three columns on the right are marked with asterisks to indicate your performance on each topic area.
Multiple ChoiceQ#TopicMax Pts<=50%51%-70%>70%
-Alternative Investments8*--
-Corporate Finance20--*
-Derivatives12-*-
-Economics24--*
-Equity Investments24-*-
-Ethical & Professional Standards36--*
-Financial Reporting & Analysis48--*
-Fixed Income Investments28--*
-Portfolio Management12--*
-Quantitative Methods28--*

 

I was planning to study L1 again but now will switch to L2, if any help is required from side to you guys, pl. let me know and all the best for your June plans. May be if i happen to not clear in June we will again form a group for L2 :-)

 

see ya

 

Regards,

 

Vikrant

[Mahalingam, Vakeesan]

Hi Vikrant, which parts of the CFA exam did you find the most difficult when you wrote in December? Is there a particular area that you think was the most difficult, and would recommend others like myself to better prepared for?

 

Please advise, thanks and Congratulations I hope I pass in June J

 

Also, I know some of the questions even in practice questions take a bit of time and might not be worth spending the time to solve on the exam as time might become an issue, so which area did you find had really long problems that required a lot of time to solve? Would you recommend just taking an educated guess on such question instead of spending too much time trying to work it out with formulas?

 

Regards,

Vakeesan Mahalingam

Client Administration, United Financial |  CI Investments

15 York Street, 7th Floor 

Toronto, ON M5J 0A3

Tel: (416) 681-4149 | 1-800-268-3200 ext. 4149

vakeesan....@ci.com

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[Vikrant Malvankar]

Hi

 

The main thing is the state of the mind, when i left the exam hall i thought i am busted because i thought the mocks which i solved were very difficult and i was getting easy answers to many questions. i thought i may have missed a trick or so in many Qs. My advice is not to study last day at all, it is pretty much a waste to study last day, it can only make you nervous. Instead i preferred to watch an English movie the day before th exam. In the morning session i was very nervous, but later i settled myself in the second session. Myb u guys can improve youyrself in that area. Also pl. know that CFA is all about knowledge , dont only look at passing the exam.

 

Study Ethics,FSA hard, as you can see from my results >70% is must in this area, if i had scored 50-70% here i would definitely have failed. Dont be worried about Derivatives, its just a small part, nevertheless its understanding is important also from L2 point of view. Rest FSA,Equity i found very easy. I am surprised that i got 50-70% in Equity, i was expecting much better.

 

I studied from mix of ELAN + Schweser notes (Econ from ELAN),(Fixed Income from ELAN),(Derivatives from ELAN),(Ethics from CFAI books),(Equity from ELAN),(Quants from Schweser),(FSA from Schweser),(Portfolio from ELAN). I referred CFAi books when in doubts. I solved ELAN Question Bank after studying every Topic. I solved two Mock Exams of ELAN and thats all. This is where i made a small mistake i revised the syllabus two times and solved only two Mocks (got 75-80% range in both), you guys need to solve much more.

 

The most imp. area of my preparation and which i did was to only watch videos (Schweser) 7 days before the exam and read 11th Hr. guide, i pretty much did nothing apart from this during last 7 days. The videos helped me a lot. e.g. I was pretty nervous about Economics(logic) but Video taught me logics behind every situation(diagram) after that it was very easy.

 

All the best to you all for L1 2011.

 

Regards,

Vikrant

[Vikrant Malvankar]

Hi,

 

I think when you will start solving Mocks, you will understand that there is no time crunch situation. there are many easy Qs where you can save time to allot it to more formulae related Topics (Derivatives,Fixed Income,Equity,Corporate Finance). Corp-Finance and Equity is very easy imho.

 

Make good use of Calc, you can solve majority of Quants + TVM + Corp Finance + Equity in no time if you have command over BA II + Professional (i strongly recommend Professional model here)

 

In any case i never faced time pressure, i guess you are feeling it because you have not solved a Mock Exam as of now.

 

Regards,

Vikrant

On Thu, Jan 27, 2011 at 7:06 PM, Mahalingam, Vakeesan <vakeesan....@ci.com> wrote:

[Costin Traian Tira-Radulescu]

Hi Vikrant!

Congratulations on your achievement. We all hope to receive this kind of email after we take the exam. Best of luck with the other 2 levels!


Regards,
Costin

[Vikrant Malvankar]

Hi Constin,

 

Thanks!!!. All the best to you all in your preparations. !!!, i hope to see ya all for L2. :-)

 

Regards,

Vikrant

[Ron Esser]

Hello Aruna, I am in the same boat.  (Taking the exam in Jun 11) 

Take a look at how the exam is broken down.  use your studying strategy accordingly.

Cordially,

Ron Esser

The Level I CFA® examination 

The 2010 Level I CFA^® exam focuses on the tools and inputs relating to investment valuation and portfolio management. It also introduces basic concepts regarding securities laws, regulations, and ethical and professional conduct. The emphasis here is on knowledge and comprehension.

The six-hour Level I exam consists entirely of multiple-choice questions and is divided equally into morning and afternoon sessions. The morning session covers 120 questions, followed by a lunch break. The remaining 120 questions are administered in the afternoon. Because some questions take longer to answer, and others require less time, the average time allotment per question is 1½ minutes. The afternoon session covers the same topics as the morning session in exactly the same order. Each session is a self-contained unit: you cannot circle back and answer morning session questions in the afternoon.

Download sample multiple choice questions provided by CFA Institute

Exam Topics

Not all topic areas are given equal weight at each level of the CFA exams. Although variations in weighting occur from year to year, and the categorization of multifaceted problems is open to some interpretation, an approximate breakdown of the relative importance of the different topic areas for the Level I exam is as follows:

• Ethical and Professional Standards, 15 percent
• Investment Tools, 50 percent
  • Quantitative Analysis/Methods, 12 percent
  • Economics, 10 percent
  • Financial Reporting and Analysis, 20 percent
  • Corporate Finance, 8 percent
• Asset Valuation, 30 percent
  • Equity Investments, 10 percent
  • Fixed Income, 12 percent
  • Derivatives, 5 percent
  • Alternative Investments, 3 percent
• Portfolio Management and Wealth Planning, 5 percent

The Level I exam emphasizes investment tools (50 percent of the exam) and the fundamentals of asset valuation (30 percent). Generally, the largest single topic on the Level I exam is Financial Statement Analysis, which includes Corporate Finance in the exam topic breakdown.

http://www.stalla.com/cfaprogram/level1.cfm

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[boo...@hotmail.com]

Hi All

I just finish reading Ethical and going to start quantitative..seem like didn't start anythg especially compare with you guys.

Can anyone pls advise if I need to use a calculator for the exam then I can prepare to buy and try to use it earlier as I m not similar with it


Thank you
Popson

Sent from my BlackBerry® by dtac.

---

From: Vikrant Malvankar <vgm...@gmail.com>

Sender: june-2011-cfa-le...@googlegroups.com

Date: Fri, 28 Jan 2011 11:21:41 +0530

To: <june-2011-cfa-le...@googlegroups.com>

ReplyTo: june-2011-cfa-le...@googlegroups.com

[Costin Traian Tira-Radulescu]

Hi Popson!


I think you should read Vikrant's message below, as he clearly states that the TI BA II calculator is a lot of help on many occasions during the exam.

..and he passed! :)

Regards
Costin

-----Original Message-----
From: boo...@hotmail.com
Sent: 29 ianuarie 2011 09:57
To: june-2011-cfa-le...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: Introduction & Request for help

Hi All

I just finish reading Ethical and going to start quantitative..seem like didn't start anythg especially compare with you guys.

Can anyone pls advise if I need to use a calculator for the exam then I can prepare to buy and try to use it earlier as I m not similar with it


Thank you
Popson
Sent from my BlackBerry® by dtac.

[The entire original message is not included]

[arkus]

Hi guys.. Im Arun, I too wish to join u all.. As far as prep goes, i
thot i was goin wel, bt i had trouble recollectin the stuff tht i had
done, so takin ma time n tryin to study more thoroughly.. i did FSA
till inventories; corp finance till reading 47, and the first two
readings in portfolio management. doing ethics lil bit alongside. nw m
revisin al this again, cuz if i study de way i had done, i wudnt make
it :) ..
regards,
arun

On Jan 29, 1:53 pm, Costin Traian Tira-Radulescu

> On Fri, Jan 28, 2011 at 10:54 AM, Costin Traian Tira-Radulescu <costin.t...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Vikrant!
>
> Congratulations on your achievement. We all hope to receive this kind of email after we take the exam. Best of luck with the other 2 levels!
>
> Regards,
>  Costin
>
> On 1/28/2011 6:41 AM, Vikrant Malvankar wrote:
> Hi,
>  
> I think when you will start solving Mocks, you will understand that there is no time crunch situation. there are many easy Qs where you can save time to allot it to more formulae related Topics (Derivatives,Fixed Income,Equity,Corporate Finance). Corp-Finance and Equity is very easy imho.
>  
> Make good use of Calc, you can solve majority of Quants + TVM + Corp Finance + Equity in no time if you have command over BA II + Professional (i strongly recommend Professional model here)
>  
> In any case i never faced time pressure, i guess you are feeling it because you have not solved a Mock Exam as of now.
>  
> Regards,
> Vikrant
>

[arkus]

Hi guys.. Im Arun, I too wish to join u all.. As far as prep goes, i
thot i was goin wel, bt i had trouble recollectin the stuff tht i had
done, so takin ma time n tryin to study more thoroughly.. i did FSA
till inventories; corp finance till reading 47, and the first two
readings in portfolio management. doing ethics lil bit alongside. nw m
revisin al this again, cuz if i study de way i had done, i wudnt make
it :) ..
regards,
arun

On Jan 29, 1:53 pm, Costin Traian Tira-Radulescu
<costin.t...@gmail.com> wrote:

> On Fri, Jan 28, 2011 at 10:54 AM, Costin Traian Tira-Radulescu <costin.t...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Vikrant!
>
> Congratulations on your achievement. We all hope to receive this kind of email after we take the exam. Best of luck with the other 2 levels!
>
> Regards,
>  Costin
>
> On 1/28/2011 6:41 AM, Vikrant Malvankar wrote:
> Hi,
>  
> I think when you will start solving Mocks, you will understand that there is no time crunch situation. there are many easy Qs where you can save time to allot it to more formulae related Topics (Derivatives,Fixed Income,Equity,Corporate Finance). Corp-Finance and Equity is very easy imho.
>  
> Make good use of Calc, you can solve majority of Quants + TVM + Corp Finance + Equity in no time if you have command over BA II + Professional (i strongly recommend Professional model here)
>  
> In any case i never faced time pressure, i guess you are feeling it because you have not solved a Mock Exam as of now.
>  
> Regards,
> Vikrant
>

[Noa Slup]

Guys I found excelent "Guide for the CFA Exam" that can be downloaded as iBook (iPad) but is available in PDF here:

http://www.timeprep.me/free-cfa-ibook/TimePrep-Guide-for-the-CFA-exam.pdf