I've been getting a lot of help from this sub, so I thought I would share my "journey" so far in case it helps anyone benchmark themselves when doing mocks.

Quick background: I double majored in finance and accounting and graduated in 2015. I've been in corporate finance and got bored 2 years ago, so I started studying for CFA with a goal to pass one exam per year. I passed CPA in 2016 but have been inactive since 2018 since I don't practice public accounting anymore.

For each exam, I studied 1hr per day during the week and about 5hr on weekends over 7-8 months period (usually took a month off during Christmas). I was also going to the gym 4-5 times a week for 2hr (incl. going and coming back). In my opinion, I believe extreme discipline (I was more disciplined than the time I served in the military) and finding time to do non-CFA activities was key to passing all two exams on my first trial. Looking forward to finishing my journey next year!

Edit: Also what worked for me was to take L1 in May, take summer off, take L2 again in May following year, and take summer off. Unfortunately this does not work for L3 since L3 is only in Feb and Aug.

Level 1 mocks:

Level 1 exam result (score 1745):

Level 2 mocks:

Level 2 exam results (score 2750):

Edit: did not expect the negative responses. I am leaving it up for someone who might find it useful to crunch formulas this way. Good luck to everyone :)

Okay, it’s not the most environmentally friendly thing to do, but it really helped me! I used a free online tool to make a catchy song about the ratios used in FSA and it came out surprisingly well!

I'm going to work out more, hike a lot more, never feel guilty about skiing, and I recently joined my towns finance committee.

I have completed my portion, and i m solving UWorld constructed response questions. I'm feeling helpless seeing people have done 4 mocks, and I have only done one mock with49% accuracy. I'm just overwhelmed by this; I don't know how I will survive the next few days, with less than 25 days left. Please give me any suggestions on how to approach it, targeting doing 3 more mocks and completing UWorld 2 times

Basically the title.

Took the prem mock 1 (first mock, havent taken the free ones yet) and scored ~65% so just wondering

Honestly a bit hard to conclude anything with this considering the structure of the exam. Have flagged 6-8 topics as requiring heavy revision. Namely Employee compensation, Multinational ops, both eco growth and exchange rates, hedge fund strategies, ETFs and maybe CDS & dividends and share repurchases. Some of these readings are genuine weaknesses, whether it is because of having studied it a long time ago or rushing through the first pass kr just not getting it

One of these readings, employee compensation, I'm just too weak at. I got all 4 questions wrong. I'm just not getting it

Any suggestions on how to go from here would be nice

Exam is on 27th August

I have noticed in the LES practice questions I took a lot of time scrolling back up and down while attempting vignette questions. Will it be the same for the exam? My exam is on August 27th

guys, thank your reading. About three weeks later, i will take my L3 exam. Honestly, I thought I have fully prepared the exam, but i just done two CFAI mocks, the socres were only about 65%. Assume the MPS is the about 70%, I don‘t know how to increase the probablity of passing the L3 exam. I was so frustrated for my mock scores. Yeah I know different people should have different level of understanding and competence, but it is cruel for me that I will fail the L3 exam...In all, hope all you guys get a high score in the actual exam

Hi, 31M here. Currently living in Toronto, which is the highest CFA dense city in the world. I have completed CFA Level 1, but here it essentially the equivalent of a guy writing "this guy knows what a bond is" on a bathroom napkin. As I am preparing for L2, I'm beginning to wonder if a life in Toronto is really worth it, as I don't see any real benefit to having L2 here, especially with the market being so competitive and opportunities are scarce.

I am essentially wondering if it is looked upon favourably in Cambodia or can even give you a leg up against other candidates. Here in Toronto as I mentioned, even a full CFA charter is not that valuable relatively due to the high saturation of CFAs here.

Just as an FYI, I was born in Canada, but have dual citizenship in Cambodia, and can fluently speak both languages. Just adding the info in case someone can shed some light on how it is for expats/new citizens.

Does the computer software allow you to:

1. Control F - for example, people's names... there are just so many to keep track of. I sometimes find it helpful to Control F to see the highlight.

2. Control C+P - whether it is to grab content from the vignette or from my answer typed in a different textbox, or earlier in the same text box... it just seems faster if I can copy paste then edit, as opposed to creating from scratch.

3. See typos - does it automatically highlight your typos like Word/Chrome would?

So I took my first mock this past weekend (Kaplan) and apologies if these are silly questions.

1. Noticed that constructed response questions are worth more than multiple choice (4pts versus 3pts). Is this true on the actual exam? How do the total amount of points split between all MC and all constructed response?

2. For CR questions that only ask you to calculate, will you receive full points if you only provide the answer and no calculations (assuming you are right)?

Any recommendations for formula sheets for CFA level 3 in 2026? I have the exam in august and i have trouble remembering formulas, niche subjects etc. I have constructed a well detailed notes set but it takes me a while to search through all of it to find the formulas. Would mean the world to me if you guys could recommend your favourite formula/cheat/quick sheet.

Hi everyone
I’m scheduled to sit for the CFA Level II exam on August 25. I’m currently on holiday before starting my Master’s in Finance in September at IESE, so I have the whole month to study.

I was in a very similar situation last year before taking Level I, and I managed to pass. However, I’m starting to have some doubts this time around.
I still have four topics left to finish(fixed income, portfolio management, alternatives & ethics), I haven’t done any mock exams yet, and although I’m practicing questions, I feel like I don’t remember much of what I’ve studied. If I had to estimate where I am right now, I’d say I’m scoring well below 60%.

Do you think it’s realistic to grind for the next month and have a good chance of passing, or should I consider deferring? Has anyone been in a similar situation for Level II?

Hey everyone I have registered for the November 2026 exam tbh I didn't start my prep seriously as I'm a full time student I plan to finish my portion by aug last week with les September is for les 2nd time revision, October and November mocks and revision for my prep I have Kaplan notes, secret sauce and les with these resources is this doable also can anyone tell me free mocks and qb

Thanks for reading

Hi everyone! I'm a female CFA L1 candidate based in Qatar, coming from a non-finance background, and I'm hoping to connect with a fellow female candidate here who might be interested in becoming study buddies or simply having someone to discuss finance-related questions and thoughts with.

I don't currently have a peer group in finance, and I think having someone on a similar journey would make the process a little less isolating and help keep each other motivated.

If you're based in Qatar and would be interested, feel free to comment or DM me! 😊

Hii, so I have my exam in November 2026 and I feel so lost. I have no idea if I am on the right path or not.

A little background: I took Aswini bajaj sir's coaching. Umm yeah... And he teaches good no doubt but the lectures are SOOOO LONG AND OVERWHELMING. I made a mistake and I won't take his lectures for L2 ofc. But nvm ..

So here I'll tell you how much syllabus I'm done with and I need y'all to tell me that is it okay or I'm soo behind.

Quants complete

Fixed income complete

Equity complete

Alternative investments complete

Derivatives - currently doing, about 70% complete

FSA - half done

Corporate finance, economics, portfolio mgt, and ethics are completely left...

And yeah the one's I've completed as completed, actually there lectures are completed and yeah obviously I've made notes aswell from the lectures but I still need to revise them and practice questions (I haven't practiced questions yet except for quants)

So yeah that was pretty much it, I just wanted to let it all out.

I'm open for criticism or any advice that y'all want to give me :))

I will be giving my CFA level 1 exam on Nov 15 and I still have around 6 subjects left
I study using schweser books and have a LME subscription
i am currently on FSA and have completed Quants, corporate issuers and alternative Investments.
I plan to complete my syllabus up until the end of september
During the remaining weeks i plan on giving mocks and revise all topics again
These are my scores of the subjects i have done
QUANTS - 60%
ALTERNATIVE INVESTMENTS-66%
CORPORATE ISSUERS-80%

if anyone have any tips on how to cover syllabus fast please do let me know

Almost everyone on this reddit seems to have given mocks for their exam😭😭 am i behind???

I finished syllabus and am currently revising all subjects once like reading schwezer n resolving LES questions and premium pack. My exam is on 23rd august.. i will finish revision by 30th

Is it too late to give mock that time

Strategy 1 is the most profitable. The calculations are as follows: 

Strategy 1      

[Collar = Buy an ATM $60 strike put and sell an OTM $65 strike call]()

Total premium = $3.11 – $0.84 = $2.27

At expiration, the price of WBIT is $47.50. The $60 put option is in the money (ITM) and the $65 call option expires worthless. The total profit on the collar is: 

Profit on the put option – Total premium = ($60 – $47.50) – $2.27 = $12.50 – $2.27 = $10.23

My question is why the collar are not included the stock. As I know collar is made by a long put option, a long stock and short call option. Did I miss something? Need your advice. thanks. :D

I might have gotten it wrong on the actual exam if I hadn’t seen this type of question today.

I know I know, I should have done some mocks by now, but I only started studying in May when I was sure I would have 2-4 hours of childfree time each day. Doing the PM pathway, and I have relevant work experience to help me with 60% of the material.

I really need to pass this exam on the first go so that 1) I never have to do it again, and 2) avoid feeling guilty for spending time with LES and MM instead of my only child.

On the plus side, I am on mat leave so I do have the mental capacity (don't have to think about work/deal with work stress), on the MAJOR down side I am sleep deprived and my brain has physically shrunken (its a real thing for moms, look it up).

So now that I have three weeks left and wrapping up the last reading of PM, I'm definitely freaking the f out.

Any recommended strategies? Should I tackle more CFAI questions now (done about 30%) or save that for working on my weak topics?

I should dive straight into mocks, right?

Sincerely,

Sleepy and synaptically challenged

I have one month to go

Revision is done

Giving my first mock

How must i plan my schedule? Can anyone tell me what are the most important things to keep in mind

How must i revise going forward

Please help

So I have completed my syllabus once and have completed the LES questions on the portal with average 75% accuracy.

I have my exam on 27th August and have a full time job as well.

How to practically revise in this last leg as I want to revise once before attempt a mock ?? Like I’m feeling the burnout

Plz provide tips and share your experiences.

Thank you 🙏

Hello folks,

I have gone through the material and done all the practice questions of CFAI.

I am now in the learning and memorisation phase and doing mocks. I have 4 mocks from the CFAI Institute and purchased two mocks from Bill Campbell. I will take his marking sessions.

What else would you recommend me to pass this exam? Thanks

Hello,

I failed my May exam with a 1565 score and am now retaking in November. Could someone advise on how they went about studying again? I know my poor subjects (FSA), everything else was well above or just at average. Is it worth going through readings or should i just hammer mixed review for the next 4 months?