Revised Study Schedule

Studying for university exams hindered my CFA exam study quite a bit. I am meant to complete study session 4 by tomorrow but I'm only halfway through study session 2 (just finished reading 6)!

Luckily I'm on holidays until July 21. I'm going to use this break to catch up as much as I can without going through the material too quick as to skim through it. So I've set my self a target of studying 5 readings a week.

More specifically, for 5 days a week I'll study. In the morning I will do the end of reading questions for what I studied the day before, have a break and start the next reading before lunch. After lunch I'll finish the reading and at night I will do some basic questions from analyst notes. I may change when I do the questions (as in doing the end of reading questions at night and the basic questions in the morning).

If I stick to this, I'll be starting study session 6 by the time university starts next semester (I was meant to finish SS7 by then). University wont be anywhere as near as busy as last semester since I'm taking 3 papers as opposed to 5. So I think doing 5 study sessions a week will still be manageable, at least it will be for a while so I catch up with my original schedule.

What do you think? Should I be aiming to do 6 readings a week? Or more?

162 days until the level 1 exam.

Exams are over!

I'm so glad. Some were easy, some were hard. Accounting was the hardest, I really hope I pass that. There was one tough question I wanted to share with everyone. My friends and I all found this question the hardest and we think it didn't make sense. Maybe you can help? Here it is:
Mainwaring Ltd made a private placement of $10million of eight-year debentures. The coupon interest rate is 8 percent, paid semi-annually. The investor's required rate of return for these debentures is 10 percent.

The issue was made on 1 April 2007. The company's balance date is 31 March.

The company uses the effective interest rate method to allocate any discount or premium which may arise on the issue of its debentures

PVIFA(n=16, i=5%) = 10.83777

PVIF(n=16, i=5%) = 0.45811

Show the journal entry to record the issue of the debentures on 1 April 2007.

This was easy enough (I hope..): dr cash 12m

                                       cr bond premium 2m

                                       cr 8% bonds          10m

Calculate the i)debenture interest expense disclosed in the Income statement for the year ending 31 March 2008.

                      ii)cash outflow for interest in the year ending 31 March 2008.

This was where the trouble started. Does anyone know how to do this? I was stumped...

This was off topic a bit, but from tomorrow I'll start posting more frequently, and it will be related to the CFA. Goodnight.

163 days until the level 1 exam.

Exams are nearly over

Hi everyone. How are your studies (or break from them) going? I've been stressed from exams the past week but I only have 2 left. Since they're finance and economics they will be the easiest of the 5, so I'm pretty happy at the moment.

In fact I did some questions on ethics last night and this morning! I did it without going over my notes and I was happy with what I got. For ethics I got 4/6 (67%), for professionalism I got 14/20 (70%), and I got 13/15 (87%) for integrity of capital markets. I'm happy with my results even though I'm below the 70% barrier for ethics. I have a lot of time to improve my marks. I think if I continue doing questions from ethics once in a while I should only have to do a bit of light reading on it before the exam.

I better concentrate on my finance exam rather than ethics...

168 days until the level 1 exam.

What are you doing after the exam?

I saw this post on analyst forums and it goes to show that there is something great to look forward to. Don't get me wrong, getting the charter would be one of the most exhilarating moments ever but in the short term a night of drinking would take all of the stress away.

So what are your plans after the exam on saturday (or sunday in some places)? Whatever you do, you deserve it.

My CFA studies will go on hold until the 30th since I have university exams. I've said this already but good luck for tomorrow, and take care tomorrow. No driving!

1 day until the June exam.

How I write my notes

Although I've purchased analyst notes, I think writing up your own notes helps your retention immensely. I thought I would share how I go about studying each reading.

The CFAI as well as all the major study prep companies put a lot of emphasis on candidates basing their study on the LOS (learning outcome statements). So when I start each reading, I read each LOS separately, and write them at the top of the notes. I do this so I know what I am meant to get out of each reading, and stay focused on those points.

I then read through the material and when I get to a part relating to a LOS, I write the points I need down. The LOS are numbered and I number the notes I write so I can see quickly which LOS the notes refers to.

 

That's an example. What do you think? How do you go about your study for each study session? I'm eager to know since I've got lots of time to change my style and become more efficient with my time.

187 days until the level 1 exam.

(5 days until the June exams!)

Reading 5 complete!

You've read it right. I finished Reading 5 yesterday. I actually finished my notes on it a while ago (they all fit onto 1 page :) but it took me a while to complete the questions. I can solve those questions with my calculator and I think it will help me immensely in the exam. Some of the formulas like present and future value annuity are quite easy to mix up, and although I have ways of remembering which is which (present value is the hard one and future value is easy) it will be much quicker to use the calculator. I will study with the aim to memorise these formulas "just in case" (I don't know how to finish that..)

Tomorrow's a day off so I'm hoping to do some of reading 6, it's only 20 pages long so I think I can finish it quickly. But tomorrow I have soccer practice, and I also want to do some finance and accounting study. My exams start friday the 13th. This is not looking good...

189 days left until the level 1 exam.

(7 days left until the June exams).