CONTENTS

• Introduction: Not One-Size-Fits-All: Self Study Makes It Hard

• Study: What AND How

• Steps to Refresh Your Study Plan

Prepping for the CFA Exam is Not One-Size-Fits-All

There is a secret sauce to passing these exams with one attempt. What is needed to pass is a full engagement with the materials and more importantly the process. The process is more than watching a few videos. The process is reading the materials, measuring retention with blue boxes and end of chapter quizzes, watching videos or getting a tutor to help master difficult concepts, and finally engaging in an active review process that cements what you’ve learned and fills in the gaps. That’s all it takes. All? Not such a small order.

Staying engaged is important. Take out one step in the study process and wham there goes 10 percentage points off your score and maybe another year before you gain your charter.

Self-study is one aspect that makes the CFA exam “the hardest exams in the world”. Some candidates do this easily. They organize the materials, prioritize time and topics, and enact their plan day by day. Since the “what” of the study plan is exactly the same for everyone (there is a small handful of review providers), it is the “how” is where candidates gain an edge. Differences in the “how” are what move some candidates forward level after level. Individualizing your plan makes it so much easier as well as more effective. As adults our lifestyles and study styles have individuated.

You might think this is overthinking but imagine the next 7 months as a round-the-world sailing trip. Everything depends on how you plan.

So how get to the winning “how”? We have worked with hundreds of candidates and surveyed over 1,000 more looking for the right answer. The exact details varied of course but there were distinct patterns among candidates who ended up passing their exam. We’ll summarize those for you, and update the comments to be especially meaningful in this most extraordinary of years 2021.

(Want to know how effective your current study approach is? Take a 2-minute survey and get your score.)

How

Now that the exam date is set you have to retool your plan. With multiple exam dates each year, you have a myriad of opportunities.

That luxury will turn to deprivation quickly though if you don’t plan for the time.

The first consideration in customizing a plan just to you is to consider the current demands on your time. You might be one of the lucky candidates for whom time is fungible. The choices are work and then what to do after work. There are no out of work demands that cannot be adjusted. For other candidates, days are already tightly scheduled 24/7. Lifestyle planning is key.

Second decision is analysis of your strengths and weaknesses including your most effective learning method.

• Are you organized, self-disciplined, open to learning new information?

• Do you need bite sized lessons, need long stretches to read and understand, or have trouble learning from just the words on a page?

• Do you need the intensity of an impending deadline or can you work a disciplined plan over a longer period of time?

As you see, planning and deciding on the “how” is an important first step in being effective.

The “What” is pretty straightforward but figures into the planning. There are 10 topics and about 50 readings. “How” you put those topics and readings in order of importance can be as different from one candidate to another as are the uniqueness of snowflakes.

What: 10 Topics

How: Organize Prioritize Implement

Steps to Refreshing Your CFA Prep

1. Answer some questions to personalize your prep: what are my strengths and weaknesses, am I organized and self-disciplined, what’s my learning style?

2. Do I work better under deadline or prefer a lower intensity prep?

3. What materials am I using and are they working and enough?

With these answers you design the rest of your year. If you need intensity, don’t start right away. Wait until August or even later if you were on track for June before the postponement. Play to your strengths; if you are organized and self-disciplined you can get this process started whenever you would like. If you are not either of those things you should start now with a structured plan.

Conflicts. If you have intense lifestyle and your study optimization is also high intensity do you need a study buddy, group, or coach to help you manage. If you have periods of conflict that you cannot reschedule like travel or a big event like a wedding or unusual disruptions because of the virus, can you plan intense study periods with breaks and still be able to retain what you’ve completed or do you need a tutor or coach to manage the starting and the stopping.

There are some wild cards with this year as well. The delay backs up against other deadlines for many candidates. Say you planned to start an MBA program in September or have a baby due in December. You definitely want to front load your study. Get done before your other event begins.

Whatever your program design choices become, this is an unusual year and may demand unusual approaches. Where you didn’t take classes or use videos, you may choose to do so. Where you didn’t seek assistance with planning, this may be the year you bring in the big guns to take off some of the burden. Where you figured out problems or sought help in forums, this year your schedule or level of distractions may be unburdened by the help of the individual attention of a skilled tutor.

(Want to know how effective your current study approach is? Take a 2-minute survey and get your score.)