The BEST Ways to Study for the CFA Exams (Based on Data)

[@straighttalks-ajsrmek323]

Like this comment if you are subscribed and therefore guaranteed to pass your next CFA exam.

[@faizaanazam]

second attempt of L3 this Sept. If I fail, I am gonna blame you :P

[@pedromota616]

Thank God I saw this before taking the exam

[@yashmishra3385]

Isn't it violates standard 7(B)?

[@straighttalks-ajsrmek323]

@@yashmishra3385 No

[@Stephen-ny9yy]

Can you tell everyone how much the CEO of Uworld, or CEO of Kaplan or CEO of Magoosh make? Is there any relevancy between the wealth of the test prep course business man relevant to the quality of the service they provide? If there is any degree of relevancy, then how about FB, NETFEX,..TELSA.....YOU know what I mean.

[@AzFarhad]

Used MM for L1 and L2. Passed both of them on the first attempt with the scores above 90th percentile. MM is a legend!

[@inthezonemma8338]

Hi, did you use MM as a supplementary resource or primary?

[@AzFarhad]

@@inthezonemma8338 I used both MM and CFAI books. Basically watched MM video then read the chapter related to that video and did EOC questions.

[@inthezonemma8338]

@@AzFarhad thank you!!

[@mindcontrol5337]

MM is Mark Meldrum. right?

[@AzFarhad]

@@mindcontrol5337 right

[@faltitudebossareas1882]

Btw for your previous video. Mark meldrum manages $20 mill of his own money.

[@YusifRefae]

@3:00 man, it must be super tough to be in the 7% of students who studied 500-600 hours and STILL failed :(

[@straighttalks-ajsrmek323]

Yea for sure.

[@djd3g]

I’ve crunched the numbers and tried to poke holes in your last statistic. It checks out.

[@amaanrizvi3716]

Last data was real eye opener 😂 Love from India❤️

[@DreamFirms]

Thanks for all the tips you mentioned!

[@pjc_deleon7290]

Maybe you can do a regression on exam score versus hours of study + mock exam score + No. Mock Exam Tries

[@faizaanazam]

Nah bro. I have subscribed you since November 2020 and I failed my Dec 2020 Level 3 attempt.

[@mohammedalmutairi8259]

🤣

[@danish_aq]

He forgot to mention that you need to subscribe atleast 6 months prior to your exam and watch + like atleast 7 videos a week. That's 1 video/day for a week. That's the secret sauce and no one else would ever tell you. You're welcome!

[@Denis-vr3sh]

MM likely lower because of the type of candidate he attracts - ie. Short on time and needs to utilise videos.

[@straighttalks-ajsrmek323]

Ah, good point.

[@fergusoncherry1342]

I use mm as supplemental material. I use him for the lectures, but use Kaplan for practice problems and mock exams.

[@straighttalks-ajsrmek323]

Sounds pretty expensive.

[@neversayjello]

because MM is overhyped, and ppl love taking shortcuts.

[@milesmueller2836]

Hey man just wanted to say your videos helped me a lot. I'm a 20 year old undergrad in my final year and I took a semester off from school to take the May 2021 level 1 exam. I studied 500 hours and I was able to pass the exam. Thanks

[@straighttalks-ajsrmek323]

Congratulations, Miles! Glad the videos were helpful.

[@Gauravsatange]

500 hours in how many months ?

[@milesmueller2836]

@@Gauravsatange I started December 30 and ended studying May 16. Keep in mind I’m an undergrad so a lot of material was brand new to me. It doesn’t take 500 hours to pass the exam but I wanted to ensure that I learned as much as I could and did tons of practice questions. Best of luck

[@Gauravsatange]

@@milesmueller2836 Thank you for reply 🤝

[@straighttalks-ajsrmek323]

@@Gauravsatange 6-7

[@travismooney5683]

I’ve found participants that use MM don’t do many readings and mainly rely on MM. there are a lot of nuances you catch in the reading that MM doesn’t apply.

[@anikethaldankar8410]

Last suggession: noted 🖊️

[@danielwhyman]

To me on the MM lower pass rate point I believe if you are taking the ‘lazy’ option you pick a provider heavily focused on videos.

[@manu65071]

Last part of your video was really fun. But you are honestly giving good videos regularly. Just one request sometimes I feel that you speaks so fast. So , kindly if it is possible...

[@md.mahbubuzzaman7724]

I remember passing 2 and 3 where I opted to skip quant (L2) and GIPS (L3) completely. I also never spent too much time on mocks. Barely did one or two max. However for 3 I did do the last 5 written question sets of previous years. I did go through the curriculum and the End of chapter questions seemed to be the most relevant. The exam questions were very similar to those questions. Conceptually understand then do the end of chapter questions- any mistakes there that were conceptual errors I would re-read and jot them down. However in hindsight skipping sections is super risky

[@MrOsha7]

Hey AJ, Great and helpful video, regarding the mock exams provided, do you know where can I get extra mock exams since CFAI only provides us with 2-3 And approximately how many practice questions in the CFAI QBank are there? Thank you

[@MrOsha7]

Also other than kaplan since ill be using it as my test prep provider

[@straighttalks-ajsrmek323]

You can find old ones on Google.

[@ahmedmontasserzaki5567]

Mark Meldrum’s videos are just too long, from my own personal experience… I wasn’t able to cope with these long winded videos and took much more time to finish a single reading given my limited study time during the day

[@IcyDeath91]

Probably an over analysis. As MM has said, and as you elude to at 3 minutes, time is what matters. Time matters more than what source you use, how many problems you do, how many mocks you do or anything. There is no substitute for just putting in the time.

[@広い意味で]

It is a surprising data for Asia people to get the lowest pass rate. This may depend on a little amount of statistics. It is often said that Japanese like me can get pass each level on only 20-25%(Japanese are bad at not only writing but also reading professional English sentences).

[@chickenkeeper3450]

No. The real reason is that Asian people are way more honest and willing to admit that they failed the exam than Americans. I think way more Americans lied about passing the exam while I think almost nobody from Asia lied about that.

[@ernestomorales6091]

I feel like language play a major role there. The effective hours of study, between an American and a Japanese (as your example) are way different, even if they study the same amount of time. Just by how easy it is for American to read in their mother language, usually the rest of the people would take more time to read and find the sense of it.

[@jeremybest9578]

If you subscribe to the channel, passing your exam is as guaranteed as your superior returns after you inevitably become a charter holder

[@straighttalks-ajsrmek323]

Lol

[@CataclysmSJ]

after the ending I am asking my friend to subcribe to your channel too cause we're both giving cfa exam next year, let's see how this goes!!!

[@straighttalks-ajsrmek323]

Best of luck!!

[@Fercoppelia]

Hahaha great conclusion!

[@jameljeanjacques8511]

HI does CFA give other exercice I didn t see than practice problèm and mock examen ?

[@straighttalks-ajsrmek323]

No, those are the main resources they offer.

[@jameljeanjacques8511]

@@straighttalks-ajsrmek323 do u have any exercise's recommendation i want to do 4hours of exercise peer day until november ( i began one week ago)

[@straighttalks-ajsrmek323]

@@jameljeanjacques8511 I have specific study plans in some of my videos!

[@sarabenedetti6957]

Hi! I have failed May 2021 exam. Do you think the program for Level 1 will Be different in February 2022 from that of 2021? I wouldn’t buy platform twice.. thank you!

[@straighttalks-ajsrmek323]

If you mean the CFA level 1 program, I think it will be similar.

[@CataclysmSJ]

hahaha love the ending

[@MrDeadlyCrow]

Talking about a data, you should be showing it all the way on the screen. ;)

[@matthewalcock939]

Where can we find the other mock exams? thank you

[@danieldelahormaza4336]

Hi AJ, Just a quick question. When people talk about one mock exam is that am and pm exams or that would be considered two mocks?

[@hoanghaitran813]

i finished the last chapter 2 days before the actual exam and took 0 mock and still passed. But I do not recommend this to other candidates since I was just being lazy and indifferent about the exam.

[@Shazam_575]

Smiles in 150 hours of studying for level 1 and passes :) not playing the same game for level 2 since I'm working now and I've heard it's the toughest level 🙃 and I'm South African :)

[@steliosaronis5701]

Also from South Africa and doing my level 1 exam now in November. Well done on passing your level 1 exam and good luck for your level 2, very impressive that you passed with 150 hours 😂 is there any advice you good also give me on passing level 1 ? I’ve watched all of straight talks videos but the more advice the better

[@Shazam_575]

@@steliosaronis5701 Always happy to help a fellow South African. I wrote level 1 in December 2019, a month after my final exams for my B Bus Sci degree. Only spent 3 proper weeks on CFA but since it was after I'd just finished studying for my finals for my degree I guess it is a bit misleading to say "only 150 hours" but technically I only studied directly for CFA for 150 hours so go figure. My main advice would be to spend some time identifying which sections align with your strengths and weaknesses and their respective weightings in the syllabus. I did finance with accounting so I barely focused on the accounting for CFA despite it's high weighting, I only looked at GAAP stuff but it had been 2 years since I'd done stats or ecos so I made sure to go over that. Ethics is highly weighted so, for me, it was the only topic I went through twice (it was my first and last section) Not sure what you're studying/ studied but I feel your own experience plays the most important role. Also, don't get bogged down in the finer details - focus on having a holistic understanding of the concepts for level 1. I found that helped me a lot.

[@steliosaronis5701]

@@Shazam_575 Thanks dean for the help. yeah I studied Financial management and graduated last year so decided to do CFA this year so thank you for the advice Im the same with you my degree closely linked to the CFA curriculum so im focussing more on the stuff I haven't done in a while as apposed to spending a large amount of time on stuff Im already good with such as the accounting Thanks for your advice

[@Shazam_575]

@@steliosaronis5701 Always a pleasure bud! I hope the preparations are going well and all the best with the exam!

[@MegaAshfire]

All the best Dean 👍. I am giving l2 this year.

[@shelly8844]

where can i get more mocks? i have cfa and schweser only

[@michaeltannous3388]

Where do we access the lectures content ?

[@matthewszolnoki6892]

What company did you use for your prep? Kaplan, Wileys, etc.

[@straighttalks-ajsrmek323]

I used Wiley but they are relatively expensive so consider some of the other options!

[@Andsowhat-o8m]

CAn u share the tricks and study method for the person who doesn’t have financial background? I’m from accounting major, just started watching videos teaching each stuffs

[@straighttalks-ajsrmek323]

I think you would need to spend more time reading the material / watching video lessons before getting into practice questions.

[@Andsowhat-o8m]

@@straighttalks-ajsrmek323 okkk thx , can u share more techniques on how to memorize the formula?

[@jkang7943]

Just a quick question, as a requirement for CFA exams, does bachelor degree have to be relevant to finance or can it be in any field e.g. science?

[@williampoulin6526]

any field

[@jkang7943]

@@williampoulin6526 Thank you for your reply William!

[@maroon002]

Where can i find these statistics?

[@straighttalks-ajsrmek323]

old r/CFA posts about results.