Chad’s CFA Level II Exam Preparation Strategy Tips

Disclaimer – I cannot say that these tips will guarantee a pass, but if you follow them your chances should improve.  This represents my basic approach to L2 (taken in 2009) and I appeared to pass with at least some margin of comfort.  Please do not take these as hard rules. Co-opt them to fit your style and do whatever it takes within the CFA Code of Ethics to pass.

Study Length – I recommend a minimum of four months of study preparation (i.e., by Feb. 1 at the latest you should have a book open); five months is better.  CFAI says 250 – 300 hours and I agree with this.  Look at the material five to six days per week Jan/Feb through April; in May, study every day.  Typically I would take Fridays off, until May arrived.  For those of you who are employed, I recommend “strategic sick days” in May to get in some additional study time.

Prep Programs – In full disclosure, I used Stalla for Levels I, II, and III.  I know people who have had success with Schweser.  Ultimately, you will want to do a lot (and I mean a lot) of practice problems, so make practice problems a core part of your study routine.

Calendar – Make a simple study calendar for yourself with topic milestones.  This will help you to pace yourself.  One thing I recommend to every test taker is that he/she gets through every exam topic section by May 1.  You will want to have the last five weeks to review the massive pile of books that were read over the preceding months.  Finishing the last topic one week before the exam is not good.  The review that you will do during May is a key to your success.  If you finish all readings by May 1, a lot of material will come together for you in those last five weeks; you will literally feel the light bulb going on above your head as you review (it happened for me on several of the tougher accounting and derivatives items in May).

Topic Priorities – All exam subjects are not created equal. Your highest tier of topics for Level II is: Financial Statements, Ethics, and Equity.  The middle Tier is Fixed Income, Derivatives, Corporate Finance and Portfolio Management.  The bottom tier is Economics and Statistics.  Do not expect exam success without mastery of the top tier.  I made extra time for those topics in the top tier and above 70% in Ethics and Financials Statements and was 50.1%-70% range for Equity.  Additionally, do not spend too much time on the bottom tier.  There’s no point in beating yourself up over auto-regressive statistical models when you may only see one or two questions on the subject.  Position yourself to get two or three points on those items sets and save your time and energy so you can get four to five points on the more heavily weighted sections.

Special Note on Ethics – Scoring above 70% on Ethics can be the difference between a pass and a fail, so take it seriously.  Reading the CFA Curriculum for Ethics is a must.  The Institute has every right to pull some obscure questions out of its Ethics hat.  Review Ethics a little every week (flash cards are great for this) and make some extra time in that final week of study to focus exclusively on re-reading this section in the CFA Curriculum.