How to Prepare for May 2021 Level 1 CFA® Exam in 3 Months?
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3-Month Level 1 CFA Exam Study Plan: Intro
This post tells you how to efficiently prepare a 3-month CFA exam study plan. Apart from the study schedule, below you will also find 4 level 1 CFA exam topic categorizations (May 2021 topic weights ranges included) together with some relevant exam preparation hints designed to let you make the most of the upcoming 3 months.
What Kind of Learner Are You?
To equip you with the right mindset for the next 3 months preceding your CFA exam, we begin with a BIG question:
ARE YOU A SUPERHERO?
Very Important: Your aim after reading this post is to accept who you are. Possible choices: natural learner vs supernatural learner:
- I am a supernatural learner possessing intellectual skills worth a superhero.
- I am a natural learner, which means I can acquire any kind of knowledge if I have enough time (as for my CFA exam, I would make do with these 3 months).
YES! There are (only) 3 months left before the exam is due. This implies lots of hard work for natural learners. For supernatural ones, it presumably makes no difference ;).
Have you ever heard a story how someone passed their CFA exam having studied for only [choose the option applicable to the story]:
6 weeks/4 weeks/2 weeks?
We have.
And we know what it is when we hear it. A fairy tale!
It’s surely better to take it that you are not a superhero kind of learner and NEVER BELIEVE SUCH FAIRY TALES! This kind of devil-may-care scenario simply has no happy ending.
If you dream of a happy ending for yourself, take your CFA exam prep (and the exam itself) seriously. Otherwise, you may as well join the 25% of candidates who do not even show up for the exam because they know they did far too little to pass.
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Level 1 CFA Exam Topic Categorizations
To prepare for your level 1 CFA exam, you need to study 10 topics. They can be handled using different techniques. Below, you can find 3 possible level 1 topic categorizations we prepared for you (plus 1 you will be guided how to create on your own).
Level 1 CFA exam topics can be divided using 3 criteria:
- exam weights,
- difficulty,
- efficiency.
When you prepare to take your CFA exam, it's best if you apply a mix of the criteria to rationally plan how long to study each of the topics.
May 2021 Level 1 CFA Exam Topic Weights
The graph presents the topic weights for the upcoming May 2021 exam, now given in ranges. The most significant topics, i.e. given the highest-weight, are:
- Ethics, with the exam weight even as high as 20% (note that ethical issues are important in the exam also because of the ethics adjustment), and
- Financial Reporting and Analysis, with the exam weight ranging from 13% to 17%.
Then comes another group of topics with the same moderate weight range between 10% and 12%, namely Fixed Income and Equity Investments.
Economics, Quantitative Methods, and Corporate Finance closely follow with their weight ranging from 8% to 12%.
The last group is made of 3 topics given less weight. These are Portfolio Management, Derivative Investments, and Alternative Investments. Each topic weight amounts from 5% to 8%.
Exam preparation hint
Spend more time on the topics with higher weights – the higher the weight, the greater the number of topic questions per exam session.
Level 1 Topics & Their Difficulty
Another criterion used to categorize CFA exam topics is their difficulty. Contrary to the weight criterion, this one is subjective, which means that the classification we propose below may not work for you.
Our division is based on our observations during the courses we provided, as well as the opinions of Soleadea users given mostly through questionnaires.
According to this classification, we distinguish 3 groups of topics: difficult, moderate, and easy. Note that the sequence of topics is very important here: the higher the position, the more difficult the topic.
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How do we define difficulty?
If a topic is said to be difficult, it means that the concepts it covers are considered difficult. It does not have to mean it will take you long to acquire the topic.
Just the opposite, if you easily grasp mathematical concepts but you find it difficult to memorize things and learn them by heart, you may feel that Equity Investments is a greater challenge to you than Fixed Income.
Difficult topics:
- Fixed Income (FI),
- Financial Reporting and Analysis (FRA),
- Derivative Investments (DI) – a positive thing about DI is that although its concepts are difficult, level 1 exam questions often prove much easier + there are only 2 DI readings in your CFA Program Curriculum.
Moderate topics:
- Ethics,
- Economics (ECO),
- Quantitative Methods (QM).
Easy topics:
- Portfolio Management (PM),
- Corporate Finance (CF),
- Alternative Investments (AI),
- Equity Investments (EI).
Based on topics difficulty, we proposed what we call Soleadea Topic Sequence, where we mix moderate, difficult, and easy topics plus – when possible – put topics thematically into pairs, namely QM, PM, FRA, CF, FI, EI, DI, AI, ECO, Ethics.
So, first comes moderate QM, then easy PM. FRA being difficult is matched thematically with easy CF, and so is difficult FI and easy EI. Last but not least, there is difficult but short DI followed by easy, bite-sized AI, and moderate ECO. As far as Ethics go – you can do it either at the beginning or at the end of your prep. You can go for the Soleadea Topic Sequence when you set up your CFA exam study plan or you can quickly DRAG&DROP topics in your study plan options to get your desired topic order.
Exam preparation hint
If you happen to REALLY struggle with something while studying, be careful not to lose too much time on it. Instead, consider leaving it out (at least for the time being) in favor of other concepts & problems. Go back to it when you feel you can afford it.
Efficiency of Level 1 CFA Exam Topics
The last classification we are going to present is about the efficiency of the topics.
Efficiency is understood as an average number of exam questions for a given topic per 100 pages of the CFA Program Curriculum and it is calculated using the following equation:
\(\text{E}=\frac{\text{W}\times\text{180 questions}}{\text{N}}\times\text{100 pages}\)
Where:
- E – topic efficiency,
- W – topic weight,
- N – no. of pages on a topic in the CFA Program Curriculum.
For example, if the efficiency for Ethics is 9.2, it means that in the exam you will find about 9 questions per every 100 pages on Ethics in the Curriculum.
Exam preparation hint
If during your exam preparation you feel that you have to give up on certain topics, make sure that Portfolio Management and Economics are the first to drop out. Do not give up on other topics too easily! (Also, remember to catch up before your level 2 exam...)
Your CFA Exam Topics Classification
The last division is yours to decide.
For example, you should consider your previous knowledge of topics. If you took your finance course at university or you work in finance, you will definitely know some topics better than the others.
You must take this into account while arranging your 3-month study plan. Because every candidate has different knowledge background and, thus, different study needs. While exam weights or topic efficiency are objective criteria, there is a number of subjective factors such as topic difficulty or fluency that are equally crucial when you plan your CFA exam preparation. We know this and that's why we enable our users to easily customize their study plans by choosing the topic sequence or using the DRAG&DROP feature to quickly move CFA exam readings across study weeks (go to the PLAN view of your study schedule).
Exam preparation hint
When planning your CFA exam prep, take into consideration what you already know.
LEVEL 1 CURRICULUM = over 3000 pages
Are You a Superhero?
If NOT get down to work now using our CFA Exam Study Planner.
YES? Quit the CFA exam & save the world like superheroes do .
3-Month Level 1 CFA Exam Study Plan
If you plan to start your CFA exam prep as of 18 February, you will get a study schedule exactly like the one below. Of course, unless you choose to personalize it... and personalize you should! By all means, we recommend you to choose topic difficulty or tick off the already-studied readings. 'Cos a personalized study plan is what you need! Let the one below be a sample 3-month schedule then...
START on 18 February 2021
1st Study Block (18 Feb – 11 March)
- Ethics
- Quantitative Methods
- Portfolio Management
- QM+PM Review
2nd Study Block (12 March – 4 Apr)
- Financial Reporting & Analysis
- Corporate Finance
- FRA+CF Review
- QM+PM Review
3rd Study Block (5 Apr – 22 Apr)
- Fixed Income
- Equity Investments
- FI+EI Review
- QM+PM+FRA+CF Review
4th Study Block (23 Apr – 9 May)
- Derivative Investments
- Alternative Investments
- Economics
- DI+AI+ECO Review
- Ethics Review
FINAL REVIEW (10-17 May 2021)
END on 17 May 2021
The May 2021 exam window lasts from 18 to 24 May 2021. Your Final Review depends on when exactly you take your exam. You can pesonalize your study plan by changing both START DATE and EXAM DATE.
3-Month Level 1 CFA Exam Study Plan Timetabled
| Level 1 CFA Exam Topics | Study Deadlines |
|---|---|
| Ethics | 21 Feb 2021 |
| Quantitative Methods | 28 Feb 2021 |
| Portfolio Management | 9 March 2021 |
| QM+PM Review | 11 March 2021 |
| Financial Reporting and Analysis | 27 March 2021 |
| Corporate Finance | 2 Apr 2021 |
| FRA+CF Review | 4 Apr 2021 |
| QM+PM Review | 4 Apr 2021 |
| Fixed Income | 14 Apr 2021 |
| Equity Investments | 20 Apr 2021 |
| FI+EI Review | 22 Apr 2021 |
| QM+PM+FRA+CF Review | 22 Apr 2021 |
| Derivative Investments | 28 Apr 2021 |
| Alternative Investments | 1 May 2021 |
| Economics | 7 May 2021 |
| DI+AI+ECO Review | 9 May 2021 |
| Ethics Summary | 9 May 2021 |
| Final Review | 17 May 2021 |
NOTE:
If you set up your personalized study plan,
the deadlines will get adjusted.
7-Point Summary
Let us recapitulate the key things you need to remember after reading this post:
- There are 3 months left no time to lose before the exam.
- You should spend more time on the topics with higher weights in the exam – the higher the weight, the greater the number of topic questions per exam session.
- If you happen to REALLY struggle with something while studying, be careful not to lose too much time on it. Instead, consider leaving it out (at least for the time being) in favor of other concepts & problems. Go back to it when you feel you can afford it.
- If during your exam preparation you feel that you have to give up on certain topics, make sure that Portfolio Management and Economics are the first to drop out (see efficiency). Do not give up on other topics too easily! (Also, remember to catch up before your level 2 exam...)
- When planning your CFA exam prep, take into consideration what you already know.
- Soleadea offers a CFA Exam Study Planner, which allows you to organize your personalized CFA exam preparation successfully.
- Not everyone can be a superhero ;).
Here’s a sample level 1 CFA exam study schedule as displayed in our new Study Planner 4.0:
You will find your Study Plan in the PLAN tab View all the weeks of your CFA exam prep, see how much you’ve done and how much is still ahead of you, as well as customize your plan using both your Study Plan personalization options and the DRAG & DROP feature.
CFA Exam Study Planner: STUDY View You will be asked to focus on your current week of studying. You will know what to study (left-hand menu) and how much to study (benchmark study times). At the end of the week, your hard work will be evaluated (hit the SUM UP button).
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Last Update: Feb 16, 2021
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