How to Become a Level 2 CFA Exam Passer

You just finished CFA Level I and are pleased with your results. Your fears for the next stage, though, are lurking in the back of your mind, behind all of your big ambitions for Level I's success. CFA Level II is without a doubt the most hardest.

The majority of students who passed it had to retake it several times. Over the last ten years, roughly 40% of students have passed Level I. As a result, just 40 people out of every 100 who take the exam pass. For Level II, reduce this to 16 to 18% of individuals who passed the first level.

It is, however, just another exam at the end of the day. If you plan ahead and follow some basic principles, you may relax and focus on studying instead of being afraid. Here are a few strategies for getting a head start on CFA level II:

1. Adopt a Novel Approach

To pass Level I, you had to remember facts for around 100 of the 240 questions. However, remembering won't help much at the Second Level, thus the approach to the subject should be more about analyzing, understanding, and applying than merely remembering. The most important thing to remember in this situation is to analyze, comprehend, and apply.

2. Begin as soon as possible.

The CFA Level II exams have been postponed until December 2020, but that does not mean you can rest easy. Many students make the mistake of underestimating the amount of time they will need to prepare.

Begin familiarizing yourself with the Level II study material as soon as feasible. There's a lot to cover here: 17 study sessions, 6 volumes, plus a lot of supplementary material. As a result, if you start early, you will have a better understanding of the content. You can determine the subjects you excel at and focus on the rest.

3. Learn about the many forms of queries.

The format of CFA Level II will be considerably different from that of CFA Level I, thus familiarizing yourself with it is a good idea.

This level's questions are separated into item sets. These sets can be centered on a single topic or a group of related themes. There's no way to be certain. Each set comprises six questions as well as a vignette or "short narrative" or essay. (Do you remember how well you did on your English comprehension exam?)

4. Make a strategy.

Level II CFA covers a variety of topics, some of which have a lesser weighting than others. The majority of the people we spoke with suggested that you start with the lightest items. Topics with a weightage of around 5% or 10%, for example. Once they've completed or mastered these, they can go on to the more harder topics.

5. Choose your tutorials wisely

You'll need all the help you can get, so if you're getting it from a third party, choose wisely.

On sites like Udemy and Coursera, you may find a variety of courses to help you navigate the complicated world of CFA Level II. These are courses designed by experienced professors and corporate employees to assist you in comprehending and applying what you've learned.

6. Take it apart!

Everyone would tell you that this level has a lot more material to study than the prior. If you try to deal with everything at once, you'll become dizzy. Another approach is to break down your task into little, manageable pieces.

7. Don't Underestimate the Importance of Mock Exams

We've put this at the bottom of the list for a reason.

This level requires you to understand and analyze the subjects rather than memorize them, thus going over them at the start is worthless. Mock exams, on the other hand, become a crucial tool as you get closer to the exam. They can assist you in getting a sense for the types of questions you'll be asked as well as, perhaps more importantly, revising.