Information on CFA Level 1

[modern10]

Hi there

I was wondering if anyone on the forum can help me with the following:

• Information on the registration and payment process
• The course material and syllabus/content for levels 1,2 and 3.

Some background on myself. I am in my final year of articles and I'm very interested in the financial markets and investment side of things. I'm also hoping that CFA will give me an advantage on any other CA's vying for the same positions.

Thank you in advance

 

[Messugga]

Knock yourself out.

From when I looked into it a few years ago, all you needed to do was to register and pay the fees at which point they would send out the study material required. Seems like this may have changed since, as I only see a curriculum eBook on their site. You can purchase study material (Schweser, as an example) at not too unreasonable pricing.

 

[Jehosefat]

When you register you can usually choose to get a hard copy of the study material at additional cost. At least that was an option when I signed up in September or so.

 

[modern10]

When you register you can usually choose to get a hard copy of the study material at additional cost. At least that was an option when I signed up in September or so.

How challenging is the material.

 

[touch_stone]

How challenging is the material.

Very from what my mates have told me, then again depends on your circumstances; working, married, studying etc.

I was considering taking the exam a few years back but time would not allow me: married with 2 kids & 2 jobs

 

[modern10]

Very from what my mates have told me, then again depends on your circumstances; working, married, studying etc.

I was considering taking the exam a few years back but time would not allow me: married with 2 kids & 2 jobs

I mean I've written both CA board exams. I was just wondering compared to those how tough CFA was.

 

[Ice2Cool]

Ive done CFA level 1 and passed the exam on my 2nd attempt. The registration is very straight foward - just register and book an exam date (I believe there are only 2 exams per year). THey will then send you the books. I think there were 7 or 8 books when I did it. Probably 3000 pages worth of reading.

I found that the material itself wasnt difficult in isolation, it was just the sheer volume of it that was extremely difficult to remember. There is also an incredible amount of theory which some people like myself find difficult. Im very good with math but terrible with remembering facts. Also, something silly which tripped me up on my first attempt was the ethics section.

Being and ethical guy I assumed this section would be a breeze and I didnt put too much priority on that section. However, they really try to trick u on this section in the exam and its easy to slip up and fail. If you fail the ethics section you automatically fail the entire exam. SO MAKE SURE YOU PASS ETHICS!

Id say that you need a good 6 months worth of studying and practicing to be well prepared. I was lucky to have taken alot of finance classes in college (Im an engineer), so I was familiar with alot of the material. If this is not the case for you then you may need to allow yourself more time.

I think the books that CFA provide you are good enough and I really dont think there is a need to go out and buy anything additional. If anything you may want to be additional practice exams but thats about it.

Also, just so you are aware, in order to qualify as a CFA Charterholder, you need to complete all 3 levels of the exams, and hold at least 3 years of work experience in a financial institution. That said, I worked at one of the prominent investment banks in SA and after completing level 1 there was absolutely no change in my job, and it didnt bear much weight. People are only really interested in talking about promotions when you complete all 3 levels, or are at least busy with level 3. THis is a bit of a catch 22 as I felt real world experience was vitally important.

That said, I think the only reason I got the job at the bank was that I told them in my interview that I was preparing to write the CFA Level 1 exam which was a bonus to them. Anyway if you have any questions let me know.

I know friends who literally studied for 2 months and passed with flying colours - but they were finance majors and obviously had alot more knowledge than me. But if youre completely new to finance i would def say to give yourself 6 months.

EDIT:

FYI - my sister is a Chartered accountant and so has written CA board exams. She tried doing CFA level 1 and failed. She mentioned to me that she thought CFA exams were much harder than CA. I cant comment much as I havent seen or written a CA board exam.

 

[Jehosefat]

I found that the material itself wasnt difficult in isolation, it was just the sheer volume of it that was extremely difficult to remember.

Exactly this.

Another issue I had with it is that because there are so many different topics (10 or 12) its really difficult to get properly into any of them before you move on to the next one.

Also a lot of the questions (especially at level 2) are very specific so if you don't remember that particular model/paragraph/fact you're pretty screwed.

 

[Ancalagon]

Do you guys think there is any value in doing CFA 1 for someone who is not an investment banker? Like, would it benefit me in terms of management aspirations?

 

[Ice2Cool]

No, none at all. CFA is solely for people working in finance and who work with financial instruments in particular.

 

[Ancalagon]

Cool, thanks!

 

[modern10]

Ive done CFA level 1 and passed the exam on my 2nd attempt. The registration is very straight foward - just register and book an exam date (I believe there are only 2 exams per year). THey will then send you the books. I think there were 7 or 8 books when I did it. Probably 3000 pages worth of reading.

I found that the material itself wasnt difficult in isolation, it was just the sheer volume of it that was extremely difficult to remember. There is also an incredible amount of theory which some people like myself find difficult. Im very good with math but terrible with remembering facts. Also, something silly which tripped me up on my first attempt was the ethics section.

Being and ethical guy I assumed this section would be a breeze and I didnt put too much priority on that section. However, they really try to trick u on this section in the exam and its easy to slip up and fail. If you fail the ethics section you automatically fail the entire exam. SO MAKE SURE YOU PASS ETHICS!

Id say that you need a good 6 months worth of studying and practicing to be well prepared. I was lucky to have taken alot of finance classes in college (Im an engineer), so I was familiar with alot of the material. If this is not the case for you then you may need to allow yourself more time.

I think the books that CFA provide you are good enough and I really dont think there is a need to go out and buy anything additional. If anything you may want to be additional practice exams but thats about it.

Also, just so you are aware, in order to qualify as a CFA Charterholder, you need to complete all 3 levels of the exams, and hold at least 3 years of work experience in a financial institution. That said, I worked at one of the prominent investment banks in SA and after completing level 1 there was absolutely no change in my job, and it didnt bear much weight. People are only really interested in talking about promotions when you complete all 3 levels, or are at least busy with level 3. THis is a bit of a catch 22 as I felt real world experience was vitally important.

That said, I think the only reason I got the job at the bank was that I told them in my interview that I was preparing to write the CFA Level 1 exam which was a bonus to them. Anyway if you have any questions let me know.

I know friends who literally studied for 2 months and passed with flying colours - but they were finance majors and obviously had alot more knowledge than me. But if youre completely new to finance i would def say to give yourself 6 months.

EDIT:

FYI - my sister is a Chartered accountant and so has written CA board exams. She tried doing CFA level 1 and failed. She mentioned to me that she thought CFA exams were much harder than CA. I cant comment much as I havent seen or written a CA board exam.

Thank you very much. Will probably register for the December sitting.

 

[matt_za]

Just a few points for you:
Background: just finished finance and accounts degree, going down CA path, wrote cfa level 1 this past december, stressing for cfa results in two weeks time

points:
I echo what others have said, the sheer volume is what gets you. In isolation the different sections are undergrad level around 2nd/3rd year. However when you come to doing practice exams the volume of everything really hits you as you are tested on everying in one day.
If you get hardcopies you will have to pay an additional duties fee to the delivery service who delivers it. Since its shipped from America. My one was a few hundred cant really remember.
I never used any 3rd party material besides mock and practice exams from schewer(not sure of the spelling). Guess we will know if it was the right choice when the marks come out but i scored above the pass mark in the mock exam cfa provides.
Check out 300hours.com, wallstreetoasis.com and analystforum cfa level 1(google it) for great materials around the approach, materials and style of exam. As well as being able to interact with fellow candidates.
Some sections you can really only gloss over as you are familiar with the work but others catch you by surprise. For example i am familier with IFRS for accounts but they want you to know US GAAP and IFRS. So things can get a bit confused between the two. Ecos was very similar to what i had done in undergrad. Valuations were different to how i had learnt to do them for some instruments and methods. So depending on your background your study time and difficulty may vary.
Its tough you lose most of your free time and in the remaining free time you stress about things(for me it was "should i be studying?" & "should i rather be working on university work". Be prepared to be chirped by your friends even though they wishing you the best.