As an auditor and an accounting graduate I find the FRA section relatively easier than economics (I didn't get much exposure to economics other than introduction to econ classes in university) lmao
My take after sitting the Level 1 exam in Feb, regarding studying: Ethics - ALWAYS a gray area for me. I infrequently felt like these questions were black or white, but just practicing as many as possible made you more prone to pick the right answer. Doesn’t mean it’ll make any more sense though. Makes less sense the more you think about it at times. QM - stats, time value of money, hardest part was actually memorizing the different hypothesis tests and test statistics for me. Tough starting off actually. Econ - very doable. Inefficient in terms of amount of content to study vs questions on the exam, but quite straightforward. FRA - quite long, difficult, detailed. Hardest for me. Mentally draining to study. Never felt like I grasped enough of it, felt like I’d have to make up for this in other sections. Corporate Finance - pretty straightforward, I didn’t feel too phased once getting the NPV/IRR problems down pat. Equities - similar vibe to Corp fin feeling, but different content of course. Fixed Income - frustrating at first, but very doable once you get the formulas memorized. Felt most accomplishing doing these right consistently. Derivatives - a bit easier or harder depending on the day than fixed income but similar feeling. Not as satisfying because a bit easier towards the end of studying. Alts - this was very tricky because it was so random. Seems to be very little flow, rhyme or reason. Can’t say much more about it. The joker. PM - very applicable and useful, can throw a curveball at you though. Best study habits: practice practice practice, if you don’t understand something watch a video on it rather than try to understand it yourself and memorize formulas in last 2 days.
I recently started studying the CFA, I've been spending a long time on Quantitative Methods and was hoping other sections would be easier. You ranked it the 3rd hardest! I feel more encouraged to keep going. Thanks for the video!
Been patiently waiting until I cleared all 3 levels before I give this one a go, passed level 3 in May so here's my take. 1. Corporate Finance- shouldn't give any major trouble, concepts and calculations rather straightforward. 2. Quants- again pretty straightforward (especially for level 1), does get trickier at level 2 but it's by no means impossible and the lack of it at level 3 means this takes second spot. 3. Equity- this one is a bit frustrating tbh, material isn't overly difficult but the more theoretical questions on indexes etc can get tricky and it was actually in my weaker topics at level 1 and 2. 4. *FRA- if you get to grips with the workings of financial statements and how things are tied together, and can differentiate between GAAP and IFRS, this is not the beast it's made out to be (has an asterisk for a reason, see at the end) 5 Alts/Ethics- yes bit of a cop out I know being unable to separate these two, but my reasoning is to liken them to one of those surveys you fill out where answers range from strongly agree to strongly disagree with don't know in the middle. These two would both fall in the middle for different reasons. Alts was described in one comment as the joker and I don't think I can improve on this take. the topics are so random and seem so disconnected from everything else that it is hard to study for and master. Ethics on the other hand is something which should really be lower down on the list, it's at all 3 levels and much of the material stays the same. The subjectivity of the answers are what makes this one tricky imo, many of them you can find your way going either way between answers so for that reason it's stuck in the middle and not considered easier. 7. Fixed income- can definitely be tricky to get your head around, all the durations etc, it's something I practiced A LOT and whilst it was always one of my stronger subjects, I feel this had a lot to do with the amount of time I dedicated to it as opposed to how easy the subject is. 8. Derivatives- again the concepts can be pretty tricky, valuing all the types of contracts can melt ones brain at first but with practice comes the ability to smash the questions. Same story here with it being one of my stronger subjects but like with FI the amount of time I dedicated to the subjects means I can't really place it further up the list with the easier ones. 9. PM- at levels 1 and 2 this is reasonably straightforward, but for level 3 it encompasses so much of the curriculum, as said before everything seems to be captured through the lens of a PM, for this reason and the fact that the PM for individuals or wealth management or whatever it was called, was simultaneously one of the hardest and definitely most boring topics across all 3 levels this one gets 9th spot. 10. **Economics- this will probably surprise many people but for me it was definitely the hardest topic, so many theories to learn throughout the levels (many of them not holding up at all in the real world), so many times I'd answer a question based off of one economic theory or rationale to find that in the answer they were referencing something completely different, probably the one subject I felt I didn't master, to be honest I don't think I came close to mastering it! *FRA- Have to admit my accounting degree, tied in with the fact I always just seemed to get accounting throughout my school days definitely helps me here. For anyone who has no background in Accounting I can certainly see how this would feature higher up in their list, even with this advantage I had some moments when practicing where I'd be get multiple FRA questions wrong and end up in a rather foul mood! **Economics, here my lack of a background in the subject, tied in with the fact I felt my Prep provider at level 1 didn't do a great job with it definitely put me on the back foot! Perhaps had I used a different provider and maybe mastered it at level 1 it would be different, but I can't be sure I'd ever master the subject to be honest! Also being the only subject I didn't get above 70% at across levels 1 and 2 means I have developed a bit of a disliking to this one! Best of luck everyone!
PM is my most favorite part too, and I really like fixed income and equity. The most difficult subjects for me are FRA and quants :) I agree with your ranking though.
From me, I didnot score well on Ethics both L1 and L2, others are fine. I am on L3 now and found Derivatives took me a month to study, it's not difficult, but a lot to read
Currently CFA L1 candidate With less background on accounting, finding FRA challenging to understand. Agreed it is in the high spectrum of difficulty. Need to dial it down really well. Also for ethics the questions tested are so different than study material but with more practice I am understanding the question structure and how one should think while answering. Thanks AJ for providing all the aspirant with great content. :)
I hate the way CFA asks the econ questions. I took much more advanced econ classes during my undergrad but did the worst on the econ section for my first level 1 attempt while I did much better on ethics, FRA, equity, and PM.
Great video AJ. I took Level 1 in 2017 and my best to worst scores were as follows: Equity Ethics Alt/Derivatives Fixed Econ Quant FRA Corporate Portfolio Interesting the difference from what you felt--we all have our individual strengths and weaknesses for sure but also interests--I like portfolio but like derivatives and alt better--points to ease of learning? It's hard to learn stuff you find uninteresting or of course, hard. Appreciate this and all your other videos!!!! Thanks. Chip
Went to a non-target yet competitive program and every subject besides some of alts/derivatives overlapped with the curriculum and was presented the same way.
So RFA is one of the most difficult topics. Interesting because that is basically Accouting and that's my career. The future is telling me something :")
Right. An accounting background can help. But I have heard CPAs say the material in FRA is a bit different from public accounting, Mostly because you need to know bits from both USGAAP and IFRS.
Hey! I’m a Finance Sophomore at a non-target Mexican university, I want to eventually work towards getting the CFA certification. Do you recommend that I start studying now even if I can’t do the exams for 2 more years? If so, what do you think I should focus on? Thanks btw, love your content!
Hey Emiliano, thanks for the kind words! No I don't think you should start towards the CFA now. Maybe in your final year of university though. For now focus on making the highest grades that you can because employers will care about this a lot after university.
I have to respectfully disagree about your derivatives take, but otherwise great video 🎉 you can make the “already available information” argument for FRA and Equity information as well - Bloomberg has forward / trailing Multiples available, but you still have to understand the input to this information and the nuances in the accounting. Same with fixed income durations and binomial trees. If you are going to be working in options trading, hedging, etc, it’s important to understand.
I am a chem eng graduate who went into academia after graduating. I have 3 years experience as a lead research associate in an electrical engineering school. Academia is horrible and I want to leverage my research and technical skills in a financial research role. Any advice on career change and getting in the door so to speak?
Have you taken CFA practice exams or looked through the curriculum since the CBT conversion? The curriculum MAY have changed slightly since you passed.
For me as a finance grad the easiest were FI, Equity, Alternatives, Derivatives and ethics. I failed Feb exam but scored above 70% in those with FI way above 70%. FI was the easiest because the course I took in uni was much difficult and the FI in CFA level I came as a breeze no Tranches calculations or MBS.
Hi, I recently saw another of your videos in which you explained a little bit of the long term investment strategy. Actually, I already read The Intelligent Investor Graham and the Warrent Buffet Way. During all my time spent reading I was wondering about 1 fact. What does exactly a trader does? And why so many banks have these position? Maybe they operate only on common stocks...? dunno... hopefully you will enlighten me! Thank you for your time.
Struggled through some college courses, is it best to get FINRA & series licenses before taking CFA courses & CFA exam? Just to be familiar with some information & exam won't be as difficult.
@@straighttalks-ajsrmek323, I understand but isn't the material the same and of course CFA being more in depth. I only want a head start on the difficult CFA exam. Study twice, instead of once...
@@wholesalingtony1588 Not really no. The only overlap is the options section which is a pretty big chuck of the series 7 but only a very small piece of the L1 CFA exam.
