CFA LEVEL 1 EXAM PREP

Start with FRA (20% exam weight)- Based on your background, you
may either need to spend more time on this subject (if you have no finance or
accounting background) or you can breeze past it. Time Needed - 2-3 weeks

Quantitative Methods (12% exam weight) - This forms a basis to other topics
and things that come up in later levels as well, so spend some time to ensure you
are well prepared in this section. Time Needed - 1 week

I would follow QM with Equity, Fixed Income and Portfolio Management

(Equity 10%, Fixed Income 10%, PM 7%; Total 27%) - One reason for this is
the calculations are highly related to QM and the topics are largely calculation
intensive. Another is that the flow of information can be managed since there is a
lot of overlap in concepts. Time Needed - 2 weeks

Corporate Finance (7% exam weight) - A little bit of theory to balance the
overload of calculations from above, plus some minor calculations that still relate
to QM. Time Needed - 0.5 to 1 week

Derivatives and Alternative Investments (Derivatives 5%, AI 4%; Total 9%) -

This is where you may have differing opinions from different people. Some may
choose to skip either or both of these topics - Derivatives mainly because it is
challenging to comprehend, and AI because you get 8 questions out of 240 from
AI so it's not worth the time. I would suggest to get through these topics since they
form a basis for what you study in subsequent levels, and their exam weights
increase as you move up, so it's important to have a strong foundation. Time
Needed - 1 week

Economics (10% exam weight)- The reason I have Economics so far down is that
amount of reading you have to do compared to its weight in the exam is colossal!
You may find the material boring as well. If you have some previous education in
Economics, you may find the questions easy to answer without even reading the
books. If you are really pressed for time, I suggest you choose between bullet
points 5 and 6 based on your background and affinity to calculations.Time
Needed - 1 week

Ethics (15% exam weight)- Do not be mistaken by the placement of Ethics on

this list. 15% weight on the exam is a LOT! The only reason it is here, is that you
should focus on practice questions rather than reading the books. If you must, just
take a look at the names of the standards, and the GIPS section. I would suggest
just going through the examples in the CFA book. This is one topic where I
would strongly suggest CFA books over Schweser.

Once you are done reading, you're left with anywhere between 7-9 weeks until the
exam. Use this time to keep practicing questions. Day in, day out - questions and
read the answer explanations. Make sure you understand the reason you got the
question wrong or right (Yes, even the ones you got right). Schweser Pro Question
Bank is a very good tool you can use in this phase - the QBank has roughly 4000
questions and you need to go through at least half of them.
You will mostly start scoring low in the beginning, but as you practice more your
score will improve.
Formula sheets or Schweser's Quicksheet are a good idea to revise concepts and
formulas.