CFA in 18 Months: How I Passed Level II

By Sophie 

How would you maintain the momentum and motivation to face Level II in June?

At this stage, some self-doubt inevitably crosses the mind, e.g. "6 months ago... CFA seemed like a good idea". Don't let this disrupt your focus. You need to trust your initial decision making that led you to pursue the CFA charter . It will pay off in the long run, and I can attest to that.

Just imagine how disappointed you'd be after working your ass off for Level I, only to waste your initial effort by giving up now. And worse, once you learn to quit, it becomes a habit - and I know you guys are definitely not quitters in life!

Now that you're game on for Level II, here's a couple of tips and strategies that worked for me when preparing for Level II right after passing the December Level I exam. 

What Did I Do Post Level I Exams?

In short, play + relax + enjoy my well-deserved time off until the results are announced. 

Or rather, the things not to do are:

• worrying, because it doesn't add value nor change anything, and is just not as fun as relaxing.
• studying, because you won't even know what you are studying for until results are out. And it would make you go mad, seriously. 

Go on a holiday, hang out with friends or take on more exercise to get away from the routine study that governed your life for the past few months. It will do you good to unclog your brain and bring you back refreshed for the next challenge. Resting is crucial, even if sometimes you may not feel like it. It's just not sustainable in the long run and you will burn out.

What Happened on Results Day?

So after 7 weeks of awesome break from study, to my relief I found out that I passed Level I on 27 January 2010. A little stress was felt despite the excitement on the good news - I only had 4 months left until June's exam. 

It's going to be painful but I knew I wanted to give it a shot with my "I-wanna-get-it-over-with-ASAP" mentality. I knew myself well enough that if I'd waited for another year before taking Level II, giving up is a real possibility. Plus, the upside of quick transition to Level II is that there is some continuity and you save some study time not having to refresh on previous level's concept. 

So before I changed my mind, books were ordered and exam registration for Level II were done on the same day - a great tip for those who want to self-impose some commitment and focus. For those who aren't sure - just make sure you decide by the second deadline, which will be coming up soon after the January results.

Level II Study Tips

Unlike Level I, Level II's format is based entirely on item sets - i.e. "mini cases". Each item set has a short vignette accompanied by 6 multiple-choice questions that relate to it. 

This slight tweak in format requires an updated approach. In addition to my Level I tips and the free Level II commandments, here are 7 ways to cope with Level II that I found extremely useful:  

• Balance breadth vs. depth - Level II's materials are vast and more intense, in the sense that there are more calculations-based questions which require application of a concept. On the flip side, this will work in your favour if you focus your energy in grasping key concepts, and test your understanding with practice questions in that topic. Set a fixed time to do this for each concept, and move on to the next one once time is up as there are lots to cover. You need to make sure you've at least understood 70% of all the materials, rather than 100% of half the syllabus. 
• Make summary notes -  While studying for each concept, I summarised my learnings for that concept on paper as well. Do this especially for topics that you find difficulty understanding. It aids memory and you'd be thankful for concise revision notes nearer to the exams.
• Skim questions first -  With item sets, a technique that works well in the exam is to have a quick read of the 6 questions first. That way, you can then proceed to read the vignette with more purpose and focus in searching for the answer. I found that this significantly reduced the back-and-forth checking between vignette and questions -  a super time -saver.
• Emphasise keywords - Done in conjunction with the point above, always highlight keywords in your reading of questions and vignettes. With more to read in this Level, you can spot and remind yourself of tricky wordings used and minimise costly mistakes. Some examples include "except", "is not", "most/least likely", "closest to" etc.  
• Time management - It may seem more relaxing now that there are only 10 item sets with 6 questions each per paper, but believe me the pressure is the same! You don't really have 3 minutes per question, as you need to take into account timing to read the vignette, and they are on average 1-2.5 pages long. So allot yourself a maximum of 18 minutes per item set, and when time's up, shoot and go.
• Take the last 1-2 weeks off - It's key for all levels to take a week off prior to the exam for last minute drilling. However, this time I added on an additional week of personal holidays for an extra boost. You will learn loads in a short space of time doing practice questions, reading your summarised notes and reviewing formulae. Get additional materials if you find yourself idle. Now is the time to really work for it and not regret. 
• Plan your celebration - The most fun tip of all. You need to set up a plan to celebrate after your exams, right now. Whether it's a party, nice dinner out, or bungee jumping, it is important to have something to look forward to on days where motivation is lacking. The more outrageous and fun, the better.  For me, my vice was having a X-Factor night (yes, wild, I know) in sharing tons of Domino's pizza (+ other junk food). It became a post exam tradition for me ever since.

Level II Results - the Big Day

I remember being so relieved after the exams, it was a brain-numbing experience. Even my index finger was tired from jabbing the calculator for 6 hours. Didn't have the energy to even worry, but was glad to have friends coming over to celebrate with pizzas and a dose of sensationalised TV.
 
All the hard work paid off when I received my results on 26 July 2010 with a great big pass. Almost fell off the chair at work, that's for sure. It was also the first time I had a proper breakdown of performance by topic, and I noted down my weak areas (Fixed Income and Portfolio Management were below 50%) for future reference. 

Over to You...

I hope my experience provided some motivation and useful insights for your preparation. It will all be worthwhile in the end.

If you need further guidance, always remember that we have a large Guides section to get you started. Any questions, comments, or other useful tips to add? Let me know or just say hello in the comment box below!