16 days to go

About quarter to 1 am on a Thursday night.

Lately an average day has been waking between 9 and noon, and then studying with fairly minimal breaks until midnight or later, meaning the studying is around 12 hours a day.

At this point I have made a calendar so I can go back through each topic, in order of weakest to strongest, and go through the LOS in the online Qbank and work through the practice problems.  I'm also hoping to be able to go over the end of chapter questions, however the priority is on the qbank for now as I feel like the EOCs tend to be more involved in some cases than what one would see on the exam, though they are great for building understanding on weaker areas.

I'm currently working through FR&A, which is a major portion of the CFA and one of my weaker subjects.  I'm finding the second time through the materials to be very helpful in firming things up, and now that I've done more practice questions I realize every single detail in the Schweser Notes is important.  Basically I am cruising through the Schweser Notes once again and writing down any details that I want to firm up.

I finished ethics and Econ just before this, and Econ was a huge pain because I was working off of the 2010 Schweser notes, without knowing that the CFAI totally revamped the econ section - so many of the sections I had to learn for the first time.  I was dying for a fresh Schweser book at that point but I managed to muddle through the CFAI materials for both Micro and Macro in about 3 days.  Exchange rates is a really painful chapter so I am hoping the Qbank LOS and review can help me there.

I'm averaging a wide band in the Qbank quizzes, from 60-80+ percent - so I am around the range, but I think with more and more practice you find your weak topics and fill in the areas.  Practicing with the Qbank has been invaluable.  It is like having a tutor there to explain how to do the problems and what the important topics are, as well as tricks to look out for.  CFA problems require alot of memorization, yes, but also common sense and a good deal of analytical thinking to see what they are trying to ask and what they are looking for you to do, quickly.  This just comes with time.

I'll say that just reviewing the Schweser materials for the first time, you don't really get a grasp on how important each little bullet and note is.  I'd recommend first time CFAers get their hands on a mock exam first thing, before looking at any materials, to get an idea of the depth and breadth of knowledge you will need to do well.

Ok, back to studying.