End of the week.

Quantitative Methods is quite long. I only just started the third reading (#13) for it yesterday. However they seem to focus on one main topic: Regression.

Readings 11 & 12 were very interesting to go through. Reading 11 covers basic linear regression and correlation analysis while Reading 12 goes into multiple regression (where you have more than 1 independent variable), and the limitations of regression analysis. I think it is quite an important topic because it is good to find out if 2 variables are related in any way. I did not find the questions at the end of the readings too hard which is a good sign. For the Vignettes, I got 9/12 for both readings. I know it’s too early to say Quant will be an easy section of the exam, but at least I know I understand the material.

To stick to my study schedule I need to finish economics by next Sunday. I think this is doable; there are more readings but they are a lot shorter. Economics was one of my majors in University too.

105 days until the level 2 exam.

Ethics Complete

Today I finished study session 2, which ended up being quite short. Readings 5-7 were case studies where multiple ethics violations were present. The reading went on to describe the violations and how they could be prevented/corrected. These were short readings and good to see the Ethics and Standards represented in practical situations (they will help for the exam preparation). I did not need to write notes so I finished them quicker than I expected. Readings 8 and 9 were similar and showed real-life examples where people had broken the law and been prosecuted by the SEC. Again, I didn’t need to write notes.

Reading 10 focused on the Prudent Investor Rule. This states that trustees must exercise care, skill and caution when managing trust assets. The Prudent Investor Rule is a bit different from the previous Prudent Man Rule. Instead of avoiding risk altogether, trustees may now determine a risk/return tradeoff which would be in the beneficiary’s best interest. It was quite interesting to go over.

Next is Quantitative Methods which is apparently one of the more difficult topics. I am slightly ahead of schedule, so I do not have to rush through it..

115 days until the level 2 exam.

Item Sets

Today I finished reviewing Reading 2 and I got my first taste of the types of questions I will face in the exam.

The level 2 exam consists of two 3 hour sessions (like level 1). Each session is made up of 10 item sets. An item set has ‘vignettes,’ which are mini-cases around 1 1/2 pages long. Each vignette is followed by 6 multiple-choice questions, which the information required for the answers are found in the vignette. This gives a total of 60 questions for each 3 hour session. It is easy to see that you should spend around 18 minutes on each vignette.

The questions for Reading 2, level 2 did not seem any more difficult than the questions for it on level 1. I got an average of 71% for the 4 vignettes (4/6, 5/6, 4/6 & 4/6). The first vignette took me about 20 minutes to complete, but the rest only took around 10 minutes each.

It is worth thinking about a strategy to tackle the item-sets. Do you read the vignette first and then read and answer the questions? Or do you read the questions first, and then go back and read the vignette and answer the questions? For these mini-cases, I read the vignette first and then answered the questions. It may be worth looking at the questions first though so you know what you are looking for. What do you think?

117 days until the level 2 exam.

The Break is Over

Today I received the curriculum in the mail:

The books are a similar size to the level 1 books so from today I will start studying hard. If I finish studying ethics this week, I will be one week ahead of my schedule. I’m sure I will need to use it at some point..

Equity is, as predicted, the largest section. It is covered in one book and is 576 pages! Financial Reporting and Analysis has its own book too but is a lot smaller than the FSA book for level 1 (it’s only 325 pages). Derivatives and Portfolio Management is quite large and has 569 pages.

When I was studying for level 1, I didn’t end up writing about my study progress as often as I’d have liked. This time I will do my best to write at least weekly to help keep me on track. Let me know how your studies go as well. Good luck!

117 days until the level 2 exam.

Mock Exams are free!

This year the CFAI have made the mock exams free. This is great because we save $100. No one has an excuse not to take them either..

126 days until the level 2 exam.