How does that 89 degree angle make you feel? Do you want to take it off the page and move it upright, to be squared off at the bottom? Complete somehow, perfect?

Ambitious, successful, driven CFA candidates often are also perfectionists. That characteristic can be the death knell for prepping for the CFA exam. Learning every bit of every piece of this curriculum can bury a candidate.

The key is to learn how not to be perfect at this game — but to learn just the angle that will how to master enough knowledge to be good.   We’re not alone in seeking perfection. All high achievers suffer from the same malady. So much so that an influencer over on Medium felt compelled to write out recommendations for the antidote to perfectionism — aiming to fail.  

How This Advice Applies to Candidate Success  

Being perfect for the CFA exam could mean quitting everything else in life, and just studying. The scope and depth of the material is such that to completely master you would likely have to study far more than the average 300 hours.   So what is the Good?   A passing grade. Usually around 70%.   Here’s where the advice comes in: if the prospect of just making a 70% score gives you a stomach flip then you may be afflicted with Perfectionism. That will make it harder for you to prepare and to take the exam.  

Being Good  

What we mean here by Being Good is preparing successfully and passing on each level.   Some tips on how to do that:

1) Set your goal for the exam — To Pass. (Not to be perfect).

2) Intend to fail — on as many mocks and chapter quizzes as you can. For each failure — renew the study on that topic.

3) Break down the study prep into small and discrete steps  

Breaking Things Down  

A study plan can be based on numbers of pages per week, or numbers of hours per week, or weighted to topics you find easy — or hard.   The key to being Good rather than perfect is to break down your study into the discrete sections however you define them. Let each section succeed on its own.

Yes, the hours accumulate over the months.   To be Good, let each week or topic or number of pages stand on its own. Focus just on that goal in that time frame. Let the rest happen on its own.  

Read the original post, thanks to author Rae Nudson.  

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