When I saw I had passed level 1, it took a bit of time to really believe I had. I knew I had a chance of passing but when I had score >70% in all but 2 sections, I didn't think it was my marks. I had found the morning session relatively easy but I found the afternoon session very hard. I left 6 questions I didn't know how to do for the end and only had time to go over 1 of them (the rest I just randomly filled in the circles).
But the CFAI would not make such a mistake and I am now a level II candidate. For those of you planning on sitting level 1, I thought I would share some things that I think helped me the most to achieve the passing grade. How people study and remember concepts is different for everyone. One person may enjoy writing their own notes and revising from them, while others would loathe the idea. Use a method which you find helps you learn best.
I started studying for level 1 at the start of May, more than 7 months before the exam date. I had originally planned to finish going through the material and writing my notes by the end of the first week of October (leaving me with 2 months to revise and do questions/mock exams). However, I ended up revising that target and did not finish until November 14th, leaving me less than 1 month to revise. So my first piece of advice would be to start studying as early as you can. Over such a long period, either work-related issues or personal commitments may mean you can't study when you were planning to and it can affect your study schedule. You will want to be doing questions and mock exams for the last month preparing yourself for the exam, not learning new material.
There are many exam prep. providers which offer thousands of questions to help you prepare for the exam. Getting one of these QBanks will greatly help you prepare for the exam. I used analystnotes which is quite satisfactory, but any of them would be suitable (whether it be stalla or schweser or any of the others). You will want to do a lot more questions than the ones at the end of the readings in the curriculum to ensure you understand all the concepts.
As part of your exam fees, the CFAI provides you with an online sample exam. It is a 60 question exam weighted the same as the proper exam. You are given a 2 hour time limit which is longer than you will have for the proper exam, but you are told the correct answer (and given an explanation) after you answer each question. I would suggest that you take this sample exam after going through the curriculum before you begin your revision. The sample exam will give you an idea of your strong and weak areas and where you should focus more time on the revision. Make sure you understand the weighting of the sections as well; if you are getting 65% for FSA and 65% for derivatives, you should revise more for FSA than derivatives since it is worth a larger chunk of the exam compared to derivatives.
The CFAI also provides 2 more sample exams and 2 mock exams which you pay for (US$40 for a sample exam and $60 for a mock exam or $100 for both). Although these are expensive you should sit all these sample and mock exams. If you are on a budget, then you should just sit the mock exams. These questions are prepared by the same people who prepare the proper exams, so these will give you the best indication of what questions to expect on exam day.
The exam day is very long. Halfway through the afternoon session I felt my concentration was wavering. I did have an energy drink in the morning before the am session and one during lunch, but I ended up needing to go to the toilet in the pm session (which probably contributed to me not finishing). You will want to be feeling your best for the exam so try your best to get a good nights sleep, eat a good breakfast and a healthy lunch, and try to go to the toilet before the start of each session.
I hope this helps. You will have times where you feel like you're unproductive and burnt out. If that happens, take a few days off studying. Get some exercise, have some drinks or do something you enjoy doing not related to the curriculum. It may be worth doing this than getting stuck in a rut. Good luck with your studies and think of how happy you'll feel when you pass!
128 days until the level 2 exam.
