CFA Level 1 Exam — My Experience
“Congratulations! We are very pleased to inform you that you passed the February 2021 Level I CFA® exam. The pass rate for the February 2021 Level I CFA exam was 44%.”
April 13th 2021. The result for my CFA level 1 finally came out, and I passed!
I can’t seem to remember the last time since I really look forward for a test result, but this time is special. After all those question banks that I have solved to prepare for this exam, I really hope that I can overcome it. However, during the exam, the level of difficulty just crushed my confidence. I guess there are only two possibilities, whether my efforts were not enough, or most of the exam taker felt the same way as I did, which I hope is the latter.
I think one of the main reasons for this anxiety is because of the enormous preparation that I have made to cover all the bases, but I do not know whether it is enough or not. I just know that there are people who take more drastic measures than me. Now I know why my colleagues had been hinting that there would be many restless nights prior to the exam.
Luckily, I passed with the score above 70% for all subjects.
After passing this exam, I think it is a good idea to share what I have done to prepare for this exam.
For you who have not read my first article “ My First Step to be a Financial Professional — CFA Level 1 “, I registered for CFA level 1 exam in September 2019, which was for June 2020 schedule. In the end it was being postponed to February 2021.
The seemingly long preparation date does not mean that I have the luxury to prepare every day. There were more times when I was stressed out for not being able to spare times to study. So my preparation will generally be divided into 3 categories, as follows:
1. Introductory Period
It was the period when I tried to memorize all the subjects from SchweserNotes. To better understand the Notes, in February 2020, I also signed into a CFA preparation course hosted by Binus Business School.
This Introductory Period began in November 2019 and ended in September 2020, when I finished memorizing the curricula, but had not done any practice questions.
This period also coincided with one of the most challenging moment for me because of COVID-19 situation (for more details, you can visit my article “My First Step to be a Financial Professional — CFA Level 1”). With my exam postponed to February 2021, I got into the Hibernation Period.
2. Hibernation Period
It was the period when I lost focus on what is important to me. The long gap until the exam started to make me feel complacent. I used to be anxious when I had to work over the weekends, but during this period, I can stop the guilt of choosing work over study. Sometimes in the free time, I even chose to step back and do nothing. It felt as if part of my burden was lifted from my chest, but when October ends, I realized that something was not right. Workload was getting more and more intense, and I may not have the time to practice for my exams.
In November 2020, I decided to take drastic measures. I requested for an unpaid leave starting January 2021 to better prepare for my exams. It was a hard negotiation as I have only been working for one year here. Luckily, it was approved.
The Hibernation Period that began in October 2020, ended in December 2020, and finally it was time to Hit the Books.
3. ‘Hit the Books’ Period
It was the period when nothing is more important than preparing for the exam. I went to CFA® Program Learning Ecosystem for a fresh reading. I took the Structured Study Plan to take me through the entire curriculum in a sequential order, from the first to the last curriculum reading.
There were times when I wanted to slack-off, but the learning ecosystem really helped with the daily knowledge goal. Therefore, we know how much we should learn each day. After the reading ends, I immediately went through all three mock exams from CFA Institute and got an average score of 72%. Based on the score, it should be enough to pass the CFA level 1 exam, but there were still lots of subjects that I was not really contained. That was when I should thank CFA Society Indonesia for reaching out with another Mock Exam, which is Wiley’s CFA® Level I Mock Exam. My score was also around 75%, which really calmed me down. In the last week before the exam, I also managed to finish most of the questions in SchweserPro™ Qbank.
On February 22nd, 2021, I finally took the CFA level 1 exam. There were only 2 candidates at the time, but I really like how the Prometric staff was being professional to host the exam. It was the first batch of Computer-Based Testing for CFA, it was also my first experience with CFA exam, but it was definitely a good one.
According to CFA institute website, on average, candidates report investing over 300 hours of study in advance of successfully passing each level. I was fortunate to be granted a long leave from my company to invest more than 300 hours of study, but it does not have to be the same with everyone. The most important thing is to dedicate some of your time every day, especially in the last 2 or 3 months.
My tips for preparing the exam is simple, it is to practice as much questions as possible. There is no shortcut. It may be boring and tiring but bear with it. Exam questions are tricky, and without enough practices, reading alone may not save you from passing the minimum score.
Now that my result is out, I can’t wait to prepare for my level 2 exam. This time, however, I think it is better to wait until the COVID-19 situation stabilized.
Hope this article helps. Good luck!