Passing CFA Level 2 - Nine Mantras to Pass CFA L2 [Based on August 2022 Attempt]

In this post, I will tell you Nine Mantras for passing the CFA Level 2 examination. Those nine crucial mantras are mentioned below.

Cover the Syllabus 9 times
The first and foremast mantra is to cover the syllabus Nine times. Why nine times? There is a special reason behind it. The CFA syllabus is humongous. I am not saying that you need to prepare for the entire syllabus in a comprehensive way for nine times. You have to understand the length and breadth of all the topics and concepts in the curriculum. So, that you are in a position to relate to whatever is being asked in the examination. You do not have to take the pressure of remembering everything. You need to cover the entire syllabus as many times as you can and preferably nine or more than that.

Do not do Research on Quantitative Methods
I know quantitative methods is interesting, it has a lot of concepts and it is very demanding as well. You will be tempted to do a lot of reading on your own and try to understand that why certain things happen the way they happen and what are the assumptions and why are such assumptions used over here and what will happen if these assumptions are violated. Do not go outside of the scope of the curriculum. Quantitative methods encompasses a lot of things and with my experience of studying quantitative economics, I know that the content of quantitative methods is of two to three semesters. So, you have to understand that this is the kind of beast you are dealing with.

Corporate Issuers as the easiest topic
Corporate Issuers is the easiest topic, don’t miss it. Read everything thoroughly in corporate issuers. How can you miss something which is very easy.

Financial Statement Analysis (FSA) and Alternative Investments are text heavy
Financial Statement Analysis and Alternative Investments are heavily terminology dependent. So, there is very less mathematics and a lot of text. So, keep on reading as much as you can, but do not beat yourself up if you are not able to learn everything. 

Fixed Income, Derivatives, Portfolio Management
All these topics will consume most of your time, because they are heavy in terminology, heavy in maths and heavy in conceptual understanding as well. Do not take these topics lightly. You have to focus a lot in these three topics. 

These are the three pillars which you have to make strong- Fixed Income, Derivatives and Portfolio Management. 

Economics and Equity give the best ROI of your time invested
They will ask you to understand the concepts, remember the theory, and remember the terminology, but you will not find it difficult. You will find it easy and that will increase your score in CFA Level 2 examination. So, economics and equity are going to be your friends in your journey. 

If you leave ethics, you will cry
Try to read at least 20 to 30 minutes on a weekly basis, and it is not difficult, it is just requiring your attention. Do not leave it. 

Revise, Revise and Revise!
It means that you need to constantly revise the curriculum. So, if let’s say you have six months of preparation time slot, so revise after every couple of months. 

Calculator is your friend
Always know how to do any activity on your financial calculator, be it standard deviation, present value, future value, annuity, because in the exam, you will have to do a lot calculations and if you are not hands on with your financial calculator, you will hate yourself for it, because that is the silliest mistake you can commit. 

Why it took me 3 Attempts & 9 Years to pass CFA Level 2 ?

In this post, you will come to know about my journey of clearing CFA Level 2. Why it took me three attempts and 9 years to qualify level 2 of the CFA Certification Exams? Let’s discuss that.

Lost interest in CFA
The simplest and the easiest explanation is that I had lost all interest in the worth of CFA certification in my profile. I was into teaching. I was teaching physics. My career was not in finance. That is a big reason.

Apart from that, my 2 failed attempts were also characterised by my inefficiency or deficiency in the way of studying for this exam.

Schweser:
First inefficiency was complete reliance on schweser. Schweser is a CFA Institute Prep Provider. I completely relied on schweser for all the preparation and that is a suboptimal strategy. Schweser must only be referred for Revision and that too in the initial stages of the preparation because revision comes in two-three stages. There are stages of revision. The initial revision has to be done through schweser.

Problem Solving:
The second inefficiency from my side was solving a lot of problems. I practiced a lot of problems without understanding the concepts, that is not going to help you. Internalising the concepts and solving a lot of problems, both are needed. You cannot skip either of them.

Read a lot:
Third inefficiency was trying to read everything and remember everything of the CFA curriculum. My attempt to remember everything which was written in the CFA curriculum was a big mistake from my side. That is humanly not possible. The better approach is to get the essence of whatever is written because CFA curriculum is designed for people coming from different walks of life and all of them want to get into finance with the help of CFA certification. You need to cover each and everything written and prepare your concepts according to the type of questions which CFA is going to ask you.

So, before you get into the CFA program, try to get motivated for the program. If you are not having any worth or value for the certification, you will ultimately fumble. Even if you do not commit any kind of mistake in preparation, your lack of motivation will always be a hindrance.

 

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