Appearing for CFA Exam? Here Are the Best Preparation Tips to Ace the CFA Exam Level 1

What is the CFA Programme?

Before diving into the exam preparation tips, let us discuss what the CFA programme is all about. This course is offered by the CFA Institute. This institute, located in Charlottesville, is empowered to teach the banking and investment professionals the CBOK or the Candidate Body of Knowledge. The CBOK is designed to test the applicants on different aspects of investment namely economics, corporate finance, financial statement analysis, portfolio analysis, quantitative analysis, investment ethics, alternative investments, etc.

The CFA exam is conducted at three levels. It is after clearing the first level, can the candidate prepare for the other two levels. After clearing all these levels and with four years of experience in professional investment, the candidate is offered the designation of the Chartered accountant or the Chartered Financial analyst.  

Syllabus of the CFA Program

The Level-I CFA exam syllabus of the CFA program features two exams of approximately three hours duration each. In each of these examinations, about 120 multiple-choice questions will be asked. Though the exact passing percentage is not evident, anecdotal data reveals that the candidate can score more than 67% in the examination, as the minimum pass score. The topics on which the student will be tested are given in the table below:

Also Read: What to Expect of CFA Level 1 Exam

According to the CFA Institute and experts, students must dedicate at least 300 hours per level to CFA exam preparation. The CFA Level 1 exam is an introduction to the CFA program and the consecutive levels and the exam is conducted four times a year.

Some of the important CFA examination preparation tips are:

• Study all the topics with due focus and do not omit any topic from the exam preparation list. It is important to leverage one’s efforts in tune with the curriculum of the CFA Institute. Students who focus on too many materials other than the curriculum tend to make mistakes.
• It is important to keep up-to-date with the changing concepts of the financial world and have a keen eye for details.
• Understand the format of all three levels of the CFA examinations. While the Level-I exam is on multiple-choice questions, the Level-II exam has case studies and item-set questions. The Level-III examination has short essay-type questions involving calculations along with item-set questions to be asked in the afternoon session.
• Aspirants have to practice a lot of writing as Level II and III examinations demand a lot of writing by hand.
• As always practice can land you with perfect scores. It is important to repeatedly study every single topic of the curriculum by making a clear timetable. Students have to clear doubt and confusion then and there and revise all the topics before the examination.
• Take a lot of mock tests that are available online and practice with previous years’ papers to approach the examination with confidence and to develop time management skills.
• Students should work on strengthening their memory power and concentration skills as the exam is all about figures and formulas. Studying with concentration along with enough periods of rest and rejuvenation is the key to success in any competitive examination.

Read More: How Hard is the CFA Exam?