At level II, we found that numerous candidates underestimate the amount of work required to properly prepare for the exam. Those who studied considerably less than 300 hours at level I and still passed it because they had seen some of the subjects before studying are the most likely to make this mistake. The approach to follow depends on the technical gaps in your knowledge. An error band lower than 8 usually indicates that you had gaps in your technical knowledge, and a band lower than 5 indicates that they were quite important.
If your technical gaps were more significant, some kind of instruction will help. If you have knowledge gaps because you ran out of time to fully prepare, the key is to start resuming your studies soon. Discover effective strategic planning methods to close knowledge gaps and prepare you to return to level III. Our advice is that, unless you are 100% sure that you made a mistake, never change your answer. The CFA Institute estimates that more than 300 hours are needed to properly prepare for each level of the CFA exam.
It is often difficult to achieve a balance between work, social life and studies. And of course, the discipline needed to maintain studies is one of the main reasons why employers value the CFA letter so highly. If most of the subject was new to you, then 300 hours of study might be a conservative estimate. If the number of hours needed to properly prepare for Level I caught you off guard, then the solution is quite simple: you have to put in more hours to succeed.
Many candidates will have read at least some of the Level I topics, but having previous knowledge of the Level II curriculum is much rarer. As a result, the estimated 300 hours of study needed will apply to many more Level II candidates. It's just not wise to base your studies on what you think will be tested. In addition to this, our experience tells us that the CFA Institute likes to throw the odd curve ball at candidates on the exam.
Questions appear about what we might consider the most peripheral areas of the curriculum; these questions will soon classify fully prepared candidates from those with knowledge gaps. If you start your studies six months before the exam to be able to complete those 300 hours, you will have to study approximately 15 hours a week. The danger is that, as time goes on and the initial enthusiasm for studying begins to wane, the number of hours studied per week will begin to decrease. When you consider social life, family life, and the pressures of a demanding job, it's easy to see why candidates struggle to keep this commitment.
Some students will run out of time and will not be able to complete the exam. This is usually due to a lack of an exam strategy or because they feel panicked during the exam and don't apply their exam strategy. If exam time was a problem for you, try dividing it into blocks of 10 questions and give yourself a 15-minute time limit for each section. I passed level 1 of the CFA because I finally accepted that I have to study more and read each section as if it could appear on the exam and if I had to leave my social life to pass it, since it is worth the sacrifice to achieve this goal in my life.
CFA Institute preparation providers are prohibited from including in their products and services simulated questions for the official CFA Institute exam or any other question other than the final reading question. I failed level 1 of the CFA the _ second _ time for pretending that accounting, economics and derivatives didn't exist because they were too difficult. I know this question has been asked several times, but since the day I registered for the CFA Level 1 exam, I was informed of the low pass rate and the horror stories of people not passing the exam on their third or fourth attempt, I would like to know from their own perspective the reason why they did not pass the CFA Level 1 exam. This means that the average time to study for CFA Level I will differ dramatically depending on the candidate's previous knowledge and experience.