9/4/2019 3-Month CFA Level 1 Study Plan | SOLEADEA

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How to Prepare for December 2019 CFA Exam in

3 Months?
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CFA EXAM (HTTP://SOLEADEA.ORG/CFA-EXAM) / STUDY PLANS (HTTP://SOLEADEA.ORG/CFA-

STUDY-PLAN) / LEVEL 1 DEC 2019, 3-MONTH

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NEW STUDY PLANNER  available for ALL LEVELS (http://soleadea.org/study2/start)

3-Month CFA Study Plan: Intro

This post tells you how to efficiently prepare a 3-month CFA study plan. We are confident,
you will find it worth reading no matter if you have already started studying or if you are
about to open the Curriculum for the first time today.
Soleadea

Apart from the study plan, below you willHow findwe4 help?
alsocan CFA level
We're1 here
topicfor
categorizations
you!

together with some relevant exam preparation hints designed to let you make the most of
Type your message…
the upcoming 3 months.
Chat by Drift

Interested in a different study plan? See:

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9/4/2019 3-Month CFA Level 1 Study Plan | SOLEADEA

 December 2019 4-Month CFA Level 1 Study Plan (http://soleadea.org/cfa-study-plan/level-1-

december-2019-4-months)

 December 2019 5-Month CFA Level 1 Study Plan (http://soleadea.org/cfa-level-1-december-

2019-study-plan)

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.
Soleadea
And we know what it is when we hear it. A fairy tale!
How can we help? We're here for you!

It’s surely better to take it that you are not a superhero kind of learner and NEVER
Type your message…
BELIEVE SUCH FAIRY TALES! This kind of devil-may-care scenario simply has no happy
ending. Chat by Drift

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 CFA candidates who do not even show
up for the exam because they know they did far too little to pass.
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9/4/2019 3-Month CFA Level 1 Study Plan | SOLEADEA

Plan Your Exam Prep (http://soleadea.org/study2/start)

AVAILABLE FOR ALL LEVELS

CFA Level 1 Topic Categorization

There are 10 exam topics, which can be handled using different ways. Below, you will read
about 3 possible categorizations we prepared for you (plus 1 you will be guided how to
create on your own).

Exam topics can be divided according to:

 exam weights,

 difficulty,

 efficiency.

December 2019 Topic Weights

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9/4/2019 3-Month CFA Level 1 Study Plan | SOLEADEA

CFA Level 1 Topic Weights

Financial Reporting & Analysis

The graph presents the topic weights for the upcoming December 2019 exam. The most
Ethics
significant topics (http://soleadea.org/cfa-level-1/3-most-important-topics), and so given the
highest-weight, are:
Fixed Income Investments

 FinancialEquity
Reporting and Analysis, with the weight of 15%, and
Investments

 Ethics,Quantitative
which also makes 15% of all exam questions (note that ethical issues are
Methods
Topic

important in the exam also because of the ethics adjustment (http://soleadea.org/cfa-

Economics
exam/results/ethics-adjustment)).

Corporate Finance
Then comes another group of topics with the same moderate weight of 11%, namely Fixed
Income andPortfolio
Equity Investments.
Management

Economics,Derivative Investments
Quantitative Methods, and Corporate Finance closely follow with their weight
of 10%. Alternative Investments

The last group is made of 3 topics

0 given less weight.
5 These are
10 Portfolio Management,
15

Derivative Investments, and Alternative Investments. Each topic weight amounts here to
6%.

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.

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CFA Topics & Their Difficulty

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Another criterion used to categorize CFA exam topics is their difficulty. Contrary to the
Chat
weight criterion, this one is subjective, which means that the classification by Drift
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.
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9/4/2019 3-Month CFA Level 1 Study Plan | SOLEADEA

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.

Personalize Your Study Plan (http://soleadea.org/study2/start)

AVAILABLE FOR ALL LEVELS

How do we define difficulty?

If a topic is said to be difficult, it means that the concepts it covers are considered difficult
(http://soleadea.org/cfa-level-1/hardest-topics). 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:

1. Fixed Income (FI),

2. Financial Reporting and Analysis (FRA),
3. Derivative Investments (a positive thing about DI is that although its concepts are
difficult, level 1 exam questions often prove much easier).

Moderate topics:

4. Ethics,
5. Economics (ECO),
6. Quantitative Methods (QM). Soleadea

Easy topics: How can we help? We're here for you!

7. Portfolio Management (PM), Type your message…

8. Corporate Finance (CF), Chat by Drift

9. Alternative Investments (AI),
10. Equity Investments (EI).

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9/4/2019 3-Month CFA Level 1 Study Plan | SOLEADEA

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 CFA level 1 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 Curriculum and it is calculated using the following equation:

W×240 questions
E = × 100 pages
N

Where:

E – topic efficiency,

W – topic weight,

N – no. of pages on a topic in the CFA Curriculum.

For example, if the efficiency for Ethics is 12, it means that in the exam you will find about
12 questions per every 100 pages on Ethics in the Curriculum.

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9/4/2019 3-Month CFA Level 1 Study Plan | SOLEADEA

CFA Topics E ciency (No. of questions per 100 pages)

25

20
Exam preparation hint
15
 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
10give up on other topics too easily!

0
FRA ETH QM
YourFI CFAEITopics
ECO
Classification
CF PM DI AI

Topic
The last division is yours to decide.

You should consider your previous knowledge of topics. For example, if you took your
finance course at university or you work in finance, you will definitely know some topics
better than others.

You need to take this into account while arranging your 3-month study plan.

Exam preparation hint

 When planning your CFA exam prep, take into consideration what you already know.

Soleadea
CFA LEVEL 1 CURRICULUM = over 3000 pages
How can we help? We're here for you!

Are You a Superhero?

Type your message…

If NOT  get down to work now using our Free CFA Study Planner
Chat by Drift

(http://soleadea.org/study2/start).

YES? Quit the CFA exam & save the world like superheroes do .

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9/4/2019 3-Month CFA Level 1 Study Plan | SOLEADEA

3-Month CFA Study Plan

If you plan your CFA exam prep as of 2 September, 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 2 Sept

1st Study Block (2 Sept – 27 Sept)

Ethics

Quantitative Methods

Portfolio Management

QM+PM Review

2nd Study Block (28 Sept – 20 Oct)

Financial Reporting & Analysis

Corporate Finance

FRA+CF Review

QM+PM Review

3rd Study Block (21 Oct – 6 Nov)

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Fixed Income
How can we help? We're here for you!
Equity Investments
Type your message…
FI+EI Review
Chat by Drift
QM+PM+FRA+CF Review

4th Study Block (7 Nov – 24 Nov)

Derivative Investments
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9/4/2019 3-Month CFA Level 1 Study Plan | SOLEADEA

Alternative Investments

Economics

DI+AI+ECO Review

Ethics Review

FINAL REVIEW (25 Nov – 6 Dec)

END on 6 Dec

3-Month CFA Study Plan Timetabled

Topic Deadline
Ethics 8 Sept 2019
Quantitative Methods 15 Sept 2019
Portfolio Management 22 Sept 2019
QM+PM Review 27 Sept 2019
Financial Reporting and Analysis 11 Oct 2019
Corporate Finance 18 Oct 2019
FRA+CF Review 20 Oct 2019
QM+PM Review 20 Oct 2019
Fixed Income 27 Oct 2019
Equity Investments 3 Nov 2019
Soleadea
FI+EI Review 6 Nov 2019
QM+PM+FRA+CF Review
How can we help? We're here for6you!
Nov 2019
Derivative Investments 10 Nov 2019
Type your message…
Alternative Investments 12 Nov 2019
Chat by Drift
Economics 22 Nov 2019
DI+AI+ECO Review 24 Nov 2019
Ethics Summary 24 Nov 2019
Final Review 6 Dec 2019
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9/4/2019 3-Month CFA Level 1 Study Plan | SOLEADEA

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:

1. There are 3 months left  no time to lose before the exam.

2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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!
5. When planning your CFA exam prep, take into consideration what you already know.
6. Soleadea offers a free CFA Study Planner (http://soleadea.org/study2/start), which
allows you to organize your personalized CFA exam preparation successfully.
7. Not everyone can be a superhero ;).

 Create Study Plan Now  (http://soleadea.org/study2/start)

AVAILABLE FOR ALL LEVELS

Below you can see both calendar and weekly view ofSoleadea
your 3-month study plan:

How can we help? We're here for you!

Type your message…

Chat by Drift

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9/4/2019 3-Month CFA Level 1 Study Plan | SOLEADEA

Study Plan: Calendar View  That’s where you can view all the weeks of your CFA exam
prep to see how much you’ve done and how much is still ahead of you.

Soleadea

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Chat by Drift

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9/4/2019 3-Month CFA Level 1 Study Plan | SOLEADEA

Your Current Week View  You will be asked to focus on your current week of studying. You
will know what to study, when to study, and how much to study. At the end of the week,
your hard work will be evaluated (hit the ‘Sum Up Current Week’ button).

Posted in:  Resources (/blog-categories/resources)

Tagged as: 
topic weights (/blog-taxonomy/topic-weights) CFA study plan (/blog-taxonomy/cfa-study-plan)
CFA study planner (/blog-taxonomy/cfa-study-planner)
December exam (/blog-taxonomy/december-exam) CFA level 1 (/blog-taxonomy/cfa-level-1)
CFA exam (/blog-taxonomy/cfa-exam)

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