CFA CFA Level 1 Breakdown of L1 exam as study guide?

Breakdown of L1 exam as study guide?

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    • Avatar of erik_321erik_321
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        Hi!

        I believed I saw a discussion here about the breakdown and weighting of the topic for the level 1 exam. Can I ask for a link if anybody saved a copy of it?

        Also what are your thoughts on skipping/doing less effort on those topics where the weightings are low in the exam but the difficulty is hard. I think one of it was portfolio management? I plan to skip those when I ran out of time to study. But I want to know if on level 2, they would become more common as a question.

        Haha. It may turn out a gain in level 1 but a backlog of study in level 2!

        Thanks!

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        I would not recommend you to skip topics… you skip in L1..and you will find them in L2, L3. What worked for me, when I did not had time on some readings/topics with low weight.. I skipped the curriculum books and moved to Schweser Notes for them

      • Avatar of erik_321erik_321
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          Btw, it is hypothetical only that I will not study those. Not really planning to skip. it is just a option when I need to cut some losses so I won’t be in burnout state while taking the exam.

        • Avatar of Scipio_AcademyScipio_Academy
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            • CFA Level 2
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            Below are the weights of each topic in percentages.

            Topic
            Area

            Level 1 Level 2
            Ethical and Professional Standards
            15
            10-15
            Quantitative  Methods
            12
            5-10
            Economics
            10
            5-10
            Financial Reporting and Analysis
            20
            15-20
            Corporate Finance
            7
            5-15
            Equity Investments
            10
            15-25
            Fixed Income
            10
            10-20
            Derivatives
            5
            5-15
            Alternative Investments
            4
            5-10
            Portfolio Management and Wealth Planning
            7
            5-10

            https://www.cfainstitute.org/programs/cfaprogram/exams/Pages/exam_topic_area_weights.aspx

            To answer your question, I would say that it’s not a good idea to plan to skip any sections, as you have stated in your follow-up comment. Focusing on your strengths is a key factor to moving through the exam at a steady pace. What you may find is that as you focus on your strengths you will be able to answer questions in those sections a lot easier giving you more time to spend on the topic areas that are more difficult.

            You may consider making a strategy where you take your strongest sections first, which would cause some jumping around, and then working towards your weaker areas. According to the recent weightings of topic areas its possible that Portfolio Management will become more important when you take Level 2.

            I hope this was helpful!

          • Avatar of taratara
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              CFA level I exam consists of following topics with weight –

              1. Ethical and Professional Standards –15%
              2. Quantitative Methods –12%
              3. Economics –10%
              4. Financial Reporting and Analysis –20%
              5. Corporate Finance –7%
              6. Portfolio Management –7%
              7. Equity –10%
              8. Fixed Income –10%
              9. Derivatives –5%
              10. Alternative Investments –4%

              A free webinar on how to crack CFA level I exam, provide deep insight on each topic and tricks to crack CFA level 1 exam.

            • Avatar of dollfacedollface
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                • CFA Level 2
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                erik_321 said:
                Hi!

                Also what are your thoughts on skipping/doing less effort on those topics where the weightings are low in the exam but the difficulty is hard. I think one of it was portfolio management? I plan to skip those when I ran out of time to study. But I want to know if on level 2, they would become more common as a question.

                Haha. It may turn out a gain in level 1 but a backlog of study in level 2!

                Thanks!

                It’s not that it’s a problem to skip ‘small but difficult’ topics. But if you’re already doing this in Level 1 it doesn’t look good for your L2 and L3 prospects, they are waaay harder.

                Suggest to stick to all of them, small or big, hard or not, if just to build your study skills for the higher levels.

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