Which topic did you find the hardest in Level 1?

hairyfairy

Vote for your toughest Level 1 topic here, and why too!:)

christine

Financial Reporting & Analysis

I just dislike accounting of any kind.

jimmyg

Derivatives

I was always confused by the long-short-put-call questions.

Sarah

Equity Investments

@christine lol - so true
can I just say I dislike studying and wish I could spend my days pleasure reading but alas I need a paying job and therefore need a useful skill I can trade to live...

christine

Financial Reporting & Analysis

Diya said:

@christine lol - so true
can I just say I dislike studying and wish I could spend my days pleasure reading but alas I need a paying job and therefore need a useful skill I can trade to live...

You can always find a more relevant industry closer to your passions!

Sarah

Equity Investments

@christine my passion just isn't very profitable and I don't mind finance. But who likes to study

christine

Financial Reporting & Analysis

@diya I dunno... I know some people who "chain-studies". A mate has done engineering, economics, and is about to become a fully qualified MD. Now SHE likes studying.

Sarah

Equity Investments

@christine given enough life to live I might just end up like her since I am best at studying...
Even though I complain about studying I still really want my ph.d

christine

Financial Reporting & Analysis

@diya you do seem super well read! So you're currently working towards a PhD?

Sarah

Equity Investments

@christine no it is currently just a dream stuck somewhere between becoming a lawyer and switching to behavioral economics. My first concern is to become employed so I can finance studying more or have the financial freedom to buy more books and ponder life and write papers like Clifford Asness. Whenever I read Warren Bufett's letter to the shareholder it reminds me that I have still much to read!

AjFinance

Derivatives

I did well in most of the topics on the exam. However, I found some parts of derivatives really confusing. Guess its because you get the complete picture after you cover Level 2 ( I comprehend better looking at the entire picture instead of pieces :P )

policedog

Financial Reporting & Analysis

@ajfinance like @Jimmyg said, derivative questions can be confusing. Just got pwned by the EOCs...

imdnextbuffet

Quantitative Methods

Undoubtedly Quants! I still seem to struggle with it lol.

Snippy

Economics

I guess Eco because i failed in it >_>

fabian

Derivatives

SidMenon said:

I guess Eco because i failed in it >_>

I liked economics in Level 1...

MattyJ

Portfolio Management

Portfolio management...followed by economics!

Snippy

Economics

@fabian Eco has always been my weakpoint. Since high school. :-S

christine

Financial Reporting & Analysis

What do you find challenging about it @sidmenon?

Sarah

Equity Investments

@SidMenon any questions in particular regarding economics? I am rather fond of economics.

christine

Financial Reporting & Analysis

Diya said:

@SidMenon any questions in particular regarding economics? I am rather fond of economics.

Me too, actually. As a non-finance educated person I found it fascinating.

Sophie

Ethical & Professional Standards

I'm a bit of an odd one. I literally ignored Ethics (not knowing how important it was then) - the rest felt relatively easier as I had backgrounds in Econ, worked in corporate finance/derivatives that had exposure to FRA too.

Snippy

Economics

@christine I'm not sure if its understanding certain concepts or if it is the fact that i forget the concepts that i understood earlier. How do i figure what i'm doing wrong? @Diya That sounds great, thanks! If i have any difficulties, imma shoot 'em right at you and @christine!

christine

Financial Reporting & Analysis

Go right ahead @SidMenon B-)

vincentt

Financial Reporting & Analysis

FRA hands down, when I first started looking at FRA in level 1, it doesn't make sense at all and I couldn't memorise blindly (without understanding the logics). I remember doing one practice question in schweser which is to identify which accounting item (e.g. receivables, retained earnings, dividends, etc) belongs to which financial statement.

At that time, B/S and I/S all looked the same to me. :-B

After awhile and lots of practice, you'll get it eventually.

MattyJ

Portfolio Management

@vincentt I imagine that if you have never looked at accounting before then FRA would be exceptionally difficult. Luckily I had that issue when I first joined the bank and so had to spend ages getting to grips with accounts. By the time I took Level 1 I had been working with accounts for a good few years and so it actually wasn't that hard (albeit there were still some tough bits to crack!)

MattyJ

Portfolio Management

It's interesting looking at the spread of results so far. I'm not surprised that Alternatives doesn't feature, however I'm quite surprised that Fixed Income is a no show as I imagine some could have found this a challenge!

vincentt

Financial Reporting & Analysis

@mattjupiter yup without prior experience with accounting.
Fixed income is hard as well (since we are only allowed to pick one and FRA is way heavier weighted) but till you grasped the concept of interest goes up price goes down and coupon vs YTM? You'll be fine. At least from my experience with no financial background.

mcricky

Quants! does not interest me at all!

Zee

Financial Reporting & Analysis

I found FRA the toughest in Level 1 - I'd never done any accounting before that.

apoolla13

Quantitative Methods

I find statistics kinda tough nut to crack. But then again, I come from a non-finance, non-mathematical background... Probably expected

policedog

Financial Reporting & Analysis

Me too @apoolla13. Statistics has always been a sore point with me...but I think FRA slightly worse. :P