My CFA Journey

If you have decided to go for CFA exams then this is a comprehensive guide.

 1.How much preparation is needed

It depends on person to person but around 250 to 300 hours are sufficient per level. I read the material once before a full time leave and studied approximately 150 hours in the last 15 days to the exam.

2. Which material to refer?

Schweser is sufficient if you practice all the questions on the institute portal. I read it for my Level 1 and 2 and found it to be more or less enough. Ethics and some other tough topics of quants/fixed income can be referred through CFA institute Material.

3. whether to go for classes? 

I don't think that full fledged classes are required. I took classes of a renowned faculty of Kolkata for level 2 and wasted  40000 Rs. If you are not comfortable with some topics refer to a YouTube channel called Money Decoding. Here you can find summary videos with logic with a nominal cost of 500. I used this channel extensively for my level 2 preparation.

4.what about Mock test?

You can give mocks in the last few days  to get a feel of the exam. 2 to 3 mocks will give u confidence. Try to score 70 percentage marks in mocks (overall) and also in individual subject.

5. How many readings of the subject is required?

3 to 4 reading will be more than enough.

Since the passing percentage is coming down, you would not want to take any chances. 

6. Should you go for this course?

I initially opted for this course following my seniors and for better job prospects. After Clearing my CA exams in July 2021 I applied for various roles in Finance industry. Most common requirement was MBA-Finance followed by CA and then CFA. I would say that CFA is a value additive course but not a Full fledged course by itself.