Tips for Cracking The CFA Level 1 Examination

The Chartered Financial Analyst exam is considered to be one of the toughest exams of the Finance world. This exam is conducted by the CFA Institute of America annually and is divided into 3 levels. After clearing all the three levels, a candidate is conferred with the prestigious designation of CFA. This designation not only reflects the expertise but also integrity and intellect of an individual. Once a professional successfully clears all the three levels, they become a member of the charter and are able to avail various benefits, most importantly great career growth. 

As this designation offers many perks including eliminating the need for further qualifying exams, it is also set to be very difficult to crack. Divided into three levels, the first level of this examination gets divided into two sublevels and is conducted twice a year. The eligibility criterion for this exam is that one needs to have around 3-4 years of professional experience with a finance firm. This is one of the reasons why candidates start preparing for the exam as soon as they receive placements. Apart from being extremely difficult to crack, this exam is also said to have very low passing rates; this generally leads to a lot of stress amongst candidates. 

Here are a few tips to crack the CFA level 1 exam with ease

• Ensure that you have all the study material that you would need: books as well as videos. 
• It is always considered to have around 300 hours to study before the exams; one can still crack it in 200 or less hours if they study methodically. Always ensure there is enough time on your side before you begin. 
• Make a detailed scheduled of all the subjects, time to study each subject, hard and easy concepts and then make sure that you stick to it. 
• While it is very important for you to study the rudimentary way (notebook and pen), it is also important to study using various other techniques. One can make use of audio-visuals, mnemonics, anagrams and many others ways to study. 
• As the time to study is lot longer, there are very high chances of one being demotivated or lose interest altogether. Hence it is important to be consistent, be perseverant and not lose focus throughout the months before the exam. 
• While it is important to not be flaky when it comes to studying, it is also important to not over stress oneself by studying continuously.
• There are a lot of institutes that offer short term courses for training candidates to crack the CFA exams. It is always a good choice to opt for course, if one isn’t sure of studying on their own. 
• Mock tests form a very important part of studying for the CFA exam, practice as many sums on the calculator you would use on the exam day. Keep reviewing the study material and don’t study new concepts in the last week towards the exam.
• Go and take a look at the exam centre, be relaxed and keep your mind calm in the last few days. 

Lastly, it is important to get as much rest as possible before the paper; one must be very comfortable about spending the long hours writing the examination. If all the things are done right, there is nothing that can stop you from cracking the exam. To know more about CFA exam visit our website