Passing CFA Level 2 in 9 Years after clearing CFA Level One in 15 Days - Why I took 9 years & 3 attempts for CFA L2

9 Years of Wait!
Clearing an exam in 1st Attempt is always special & worth mentioning.
For me clearing Level 2 of CFA exam took 9 years.
Of Course, I didn't take 9 attempts, It was put on the back burner all this time!



The journey started in 2012 when my interest in finance was at its peak. CFA certification seemed the next best logical step. I registered for the exam & studied bits & pieces from the material till the last few weeks of the December Level 1 (2012) exam. 

I understood that this pace of studying is not going to push me forward to level 2, I took a two weeks leave before the exam, studied like crazy. 
Lo and behold, when the results came in January 2013, it upped by confidence. I calculated that if I can pass level 1 in 15 days, I can very well pass level 2 in 4.5 months and 1 year for level 3 would be a walk in the park!

I missed the passing score for level 2 in 2013(June) by a whisker.
I didn't lose hope, I started preparing for level 2 of 2014(June). Then, life happened. I lost interest in the certification. How foolhardy I was, that I did't defer my Level 2 exams. With no reasonable preparation, I wasted another attempt & closed the CFA chapter of my life for good.

I moved on with life, with different jobs, different phases of life. I got married. I started preparing for Data Science & Finance careers, this led me to Masters in Quantitative Economics at Indian Statistical Institute (ISI, Kolkata).

Thankfully, I became a Data Scientist.
As time rolled on, I registered for CFA level 2 again!
And, I passed CFA Level 2 Exam convincingly!
After 9 years!

This achievement was made possible by the unrelenting support of my wife.

You can watch the video below to understand what didn't work for me. Why I took 3 attempts. Things which could be very useful for you

ISI MSQE Question Paper Analysis - Raw DataSet

I took out around 1 month of time, in bits and pieces to piece together this analysis of MSQE previous year questions. Attaching the google sheets below:
Link to Google Sheets Document(Also attached below)


Kindly, use this with an idea that there are a lot of subjective judgements in this analysis. 
So, use your discretion.

MSQE Preparation Plan

This plan is made for 9 months. That being said you can shrink the plan depending upon your time availability, proportionately.

Go to Plan (PDF)


Indian Statistical Institute(ISI) has a stellar Quantitative Masters Program in Economics, popularly known as MSQE.In the above PDF, I have given a rough plan to clear the entrance exam for the same.
I secured AIR-7 in this exam(2018).
Book Suggestions:
Maths : https://amzn.to/3e4WyiA | https://amzn.to/3ab0jlg
Tomato (Test of Mathematics at the 10+2 Level ) : https://amzn.to/3ab0jlg
Statistics : https://amzn.to/31Zd7Jd (I'll be adding more books in future)
Econometrics (Statistics for ISI / DSE) : https://amzn.to/3i5fJK5 | https://amzn.to/2HvS4WE Microeconomics : https://amzn.to/2QpP2Vn
Macroeconomics : https://amzn.to/37w1kTM | https://amzn.to/30Tk7qy

PS : The WhatsApp group is no longer operational.

How to Prepare for any Job Interview

 

I have done my undergrad from IIT, unarguably the best Engineering institute in India. Post that I have done my Masters from Indian Statistical Institute (ISI), the oldest statistical institution in the world. Also, I was All India Rank - 7 in the merit list for ISI's entrance exam.
None of the above has ever helped me in cracking/preparing for interviews.
So, what really helps in interviews? Having appeared for interviews at Bulge Bracket Banks, Google, Big 4 Consulting firms, etc. and also being part of the interview panel, I have some valuable pointers.

I agree, having some form of spike, like undergrad from top institutions, or work experience in McKinsey helps you get yourself into the proverbial door, the interview!


Beyond that, you are on your own mantle.

Let's start with the basics. There are some very common interview questions, which you are always expected to prepare. 
The expectation is that it must come naturally to you. You need to sound genuine and prepared. Not memorise every word as if you are a parrot, rather talk like you honestly knew this could be asked in the interview and you have a reasonable idea about what to speak.
This is the first barrier, not every interviewer is kind enough to ignore your follies at this stage. The interviewer could very well decide not to move ahead with your candidature if they aren't satisfied at this stage. Assuming you somehow, make to the next stage.

The next stage is the main course of the interview. You need to satiate interviewer's hunger in this stage.
You could be asked about your projects, internships, certifications or any technical/soft skill relevant to the job you have applied for. So, prepare a 2-5 minute answer for every bullet point in your CV/Resume.
Always have 2/3 versions of project-walkthroughs. So, that you could choose the one, dependent upon the interview vibe and interviewers' interest.

Now, once you are past the above two stages, you need to answer any spontaneous non-technical question related to your hobbies or personality, like you are serving dessert. Just try to put cherry on top!

In this piece obviously, I have just given you the essence of interview preparation, it doesn't detail any of the steps mentioned above. I might expound on them, sometime later!

Book Recommendation :
Not related to job interviews but my College friend from IIT,  J. Sai Deepak has come up with a book on India (Part 2 of India Trilogy) : You can order it from here - India, Bharat and Pakistan : The Constitutional Journey of Sandwiched Civilisation