How I Passed CFA Level 2 on the First Attempt

CFA level 2 is considered to be one of the toughest exams in the field of finance.

The latest passing rate was 46% which means that more than half of those capable enough to pass Level 1 didn’t make it through Level 2.

I passed CFA level 1 in December of 2019. At 30 years old, with a full time job and multiple professional and personal pursuits, I was pleasantly surprised with the result. Then I wondered if the study plan that worked for me then, could take me through level 2 as well.

And it did!!!

After multiple exam deferrals due to covid, I finally attempted level 2 in November 2021 and passed it on my first attempt.

This post is a detailed look at my study plan hoping that it’d help others like me in their CFA pursuits.

Exam Structure

The CFA Level 2 exam consists of case studies covering 88 multiple-choice questions in total.(4 to 6 questions per case study)

These are tested over two 2 hour 12 minutes sessions with 44 questions each. There’s an optional 30 minute break in between the two sessions.

The 10 topics tested and their weightages are as below

Topics	Weightages
Ethics	10-15%
Quantitative Methods	5-10%
Economics	5-10%
Financial Reporting and Analysis	10-15%
Corporate Finance	5-10%
Equity Investments	10-15%
Fixed Income Investments	10-15%
Derivative Investments	5-10%
Alternative Investments	5-10%
Portfolio Management	10-15%

The Study Plan

My study plan is for a duration of 6 months and is further divided into 4 phases.

Phase – 1

Duration – 30 days

Objective – Quick glance at the full curriculum

Study Time – 1 to 2 hours per day

Resources – Official CFA books, Kaplan Schweser Books, CFA Digital Platform Practice Problems

For the first month, I would do a quick read through the entire curriculum. I used the official CFA material for this phase.

The main objective is to understand which topics I could easily understand and which ones needed a more focussed approach.

Whenever I couldn’t understand or felt overwhelmed by the official material on a particular topic, I would refer to the Kaplan Schweser Notes, which tend to provide a simpler explanation.

I would try out a few practice problems too but it’s just to get a feel on the concepts being tested, without spending too much time on the solutions.

Key Learnings : I have learned that a combination of Kaplan Schweser books and practice problems on the CFA’s digital learning system worked best for me. I felt overwhelmed by the official CFA books and decided not to use them.

Phase – 2

Duration – 100 days

Objective – Comprehensive study of all topics and one round of attempting all practice problems (around 2000 of them) on the digital platform.

Study Time – 1 hour per day

Resources – Kaplan Schweser Books, CFA Digital Platform Practice Problems

During phase 2, I divided the total no.of pages in Kaplan books and the total practice problems available on the CFA learning ecosystem by 100.

This came down to around 25 pages and 20 practice problems per day. By breaking it down to a smaller daily target, I could focus on the task one day at a time without feeling overwhelmed by the volume and difficulty of the curriculum.

I spread out the 20 practice problems per day among all available topics.

So everyday, I’d do at least 2-3 problems from the entire curriculum and not just related to that day’s topic.

This was to avoid losing touch with earlier studied topics, and to have a better recall of the curriculum at any point of time.

Key Learnings – Based on the practice scores, I could figure out the topics and concepts I’m constantly getting wrong. I could then focus on them by going back to the CFA books or Kaplan notes for an in depth relearning.

Phase 3

Duration – 45 days

Objective – Revise all topics and redo all practice problems in a 45 day period

Study Time – 2 hours per day

Resources – Kaplan Schweser Books, CFA Digital Platform Practice Problems

Phase 3 starts around 2 months before the exam day. I basically redid phase 2 with double the efforts. This meant that I studied 1 sub topic and did around 60 problems in a day. As this was a revision, I could complete the day’s target in just 2 hours.

Key Learnings – By now, I had a list of concepts and problems which troubled me twice in a row. I kept a note of these problems for one final look in the last week before exam day.

Phase 4

Duration – 10 days before the exam

Objective – Final revision of 10 topics in 10 days and the trouble giving problems

Study Time – 3 to 4 hours per day

Resources – Kaplan Schweser Books, CFA Digital Platform Practice Problems

This is the final stretch. I would revise one entire topic per day and then revisit the problems in that particular topic, which I got wrong in the last two phases. My tougher topics would be planned towards the end of 10 days and easier ones in the first few days.

By now, I went through the curriculum four times!!!.

I would ignore any formulas or concepts that were still giving me trouble. I looked at them and tried to rote learn them once on the exam day.

Summary

My CFA Level 2 study plan is 6 months long and is divided into four phases

Phase 1 – 30 days of birds eye glance at the entire curriculum.
Phase 2 – 100 days of studying 25 pages (Kaplan books) and 20 practice problems per day across all topics.
Phase 3 – 45 days of revision with 1 chapter and 60 practice problems per day across topics.
Phase 4 – 10 days of studying 1 topic per day and revision of all the trouble giving practice problems.

This study plan works for everyone.

One month before the exam, I tested positive for COVID and lost one week of precious study time in the 3rd phase. But thanks to the effectiveness of my overall plan, I still cleared the exam!!!.

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