CFA Level 1 Schweser Vol 1 Exam 2 AM score

I scored 86%. I felt it was too easy. I am getting worried that the Schweser's exam is too easy as compared to the real thing.

9 days left & counting

Today receive the last newsletter from CFA before the exam. Wearing mask is permitted now in view of the Swine Flu. There are now 4 cases of Swine Flu in Singapore. Hope that this has no impact on this exam.

10 days left & counting

Classical, Keynesian, Monetarist View

I need to download the following into my brain:

Classical view:

* Economy self-regulating and always at full employment

* Aggregate demand/supply flunctuations: technology is the most significant influence

* Money wage that lies behind the short-run aggregate supply is instantly & completely flexible

Keynesian view:

* Economy if left alone would rarely operate at full employment

* Active help from fiscal policy & monetary policy is required

* Expectations are the most significant influence on aggregate demand

* Money wage that lies behind the short-run aggregate supply is extremely stick in the downward direction

Monetarist view:

* Economy is self-regulating and normally operate at full employment provided that monetary policy is not erratic and that the pace ofmoney growth is kept steady

* The quantity of money is the most significant influence on aggregate demand

* Money wage that lies behind the short-run aggregate supply is sticky

To do more questions or review text?

I am not sure whether should I continue to do questions or should I now concentrate to review text. It seems there are just too many kind of questions that can come up with.

11 days left & counting

I am running out of steam. I cannot wait for the exam to be over to get back to life.

CFA Level 1 Mock Exam PM

The above supplied by CFAI was horrible. I scored 77.5%! It is a terrible score for me. Either I have forgotten many concepts or it was really difficult. One particular calculation was not required (or at least the LOS did not say "compute") came out. And than the mock exam answer inserted a comment saying that the review board argued among themselves and decided that it should be tested ... and even say it could even come out on the LIVE exam! Aiyo...

Not many trick questions

After doing so many sample questions, i found that there aren't many trick questions. Many CFA questions are straight forward - either you know or do not know. Most of the questions are derived from the text and so it is not that you need a lot of extra help. For example, one question in the cfai level 1 mock exam i took is the question on how the short term and long term Philips Curve will change when the natural unemployment change. The answer is quite straight forward - both curves shifts! Those who did not study it will not know the answer.

However, I do realised that the FSA's Income Tax is one of the Readings that are the worst written. Some external help is required to understand Income Tax for FSA. The mock exam tested on deferred taxes. If you do not have external help, you can never answer it.

Body ache & pain

I think I am coming down with a flu. Body is ached and my leg is in pain. Seems to be swelling. Urgg!! Must be the "exam fever"!!

15 days left & counting

I think I am fully prepared for the exam. However, my health isn't. My foot and knee are painful. Not sure is it because I sat down in one position for too long or that I am coming down with a flu. My son just recovered for a nasty flu (after taking that flu jab!)

2009 Level 1 Mock Exam AM

Scored 87% !! Yeepee. The questions are mostly very easy. Like chicken. So far my week points are related to taxes in FSA. So will need to revise.

Also always fall into those trick questions which are usually double or even triple negatives. Here is a question with a triple negatives "least likely... unrealiability... anomaly" In one sentence there is 3 negatives!

For those who are not aware, this mock exam is provided by the CFAI itself and is meant to represent the same level of difficulty as the actual exam.

17 days left & counting

My son has a high fever. Looks like I am not able to practice as many quesions as I wanted.

Schweser Vol 1 Exam 1 PM

Scored 82%. This time seems that failed on the "Financial Reporting and Analysis: Techniques, Applications, and International Standards Convergence" part. Looks like I need to re-read this section.

18 days left & counting

As I completed the Schweser Vol 1 Exam 1 AM, I noticed that I am frequently trick by double negative questions such as

"... least likely more problematic"

Also am still grasping the effects on the cashflows & ratios for Finance type lease and operating lease for lessee and lessor.

Schweser Exam Vol. 1 Exam 1 AM score

I scored 77.5% over 120 questions. Will revised tonight the weak subjects and hopefully can do better tomorrow.

19 days left & counting

Previously I did the 60 samples questions from CFAI.

I noticed it tested on normalization of P/E with company size adjustments using BVPS. The Schweser Notes did not provide a detail example on how to do this. Had to refer to the main CFAI text. It looks to me that there are cases which the notes did not cover. I think I better look through the text thoroughly again.

Another area is the Working Capital for LOS 46.d. The question asked about the mismatching strategy but the Schweser Notes offer nothing on this area.

Still on another area is pertaining to the LOS 9.g which the latest errata from CFAI says that "construct and interpret a confidence level interval for a normally distributed random variable." has been deleted. Yet the sample question asked about the interpretation of the confidence level for normal distribution. How like this?

One frustrating thing about the sample questions is not able to view the question again after taking it. I can have all the answers and explanationatory notes but cannot review the question again. So it is almost as good as rubbish. Fortunately while I was taking the sample question test, I noted down which questions are problematic for me.

20 days left & counting

I just completed the CFAI's 60 sample questions. I scored 83%!! Yeah!

21 days left & counting

22 days left & counting

30 days Countdown to CFA Level 1

There are 30 days left to the CFA Level 1 exam. I have been studying everyday. I think I'll pass but I am having problem retaining memory. Thank goodness that I don't have much work to do since we are having one of the worst economic crisis. Singapore's GDP growth is projected to be -10% this year - looks like the economy is more like an emerging market country than a developed one!

I did found that ethics to be quite easy to pass. Just need to read the readings and notes a zillion times. No math involved and that's a good thing. I did not spent much time on it yet I could get above 70% on the Qbank. It consist of 15% in weightage and that's just second to FSA which is 20%. Indeed Ethics cannot be neglected as it is almost like a give away kind of topic.

By the way, couple of days ago I got up from sleep with a shock and it occured to me that I am in my final phase of the exam prepation.

Level 1 Ticket Received

Today the ticket for Level 1 exam is made available. That means that the cry for battle has started. The battle will be at Singapore Expo. I hope my brain can retain all the materials and also I hope the Swine Flu don't escalate.

The actual amount of time require to study CFA Level 1

The CFA's website recommends studying at least 250 hours for each level of CFA. Alternatively 10-15 hours each week for 18 weeks. This assumes 1 Study Session per week.

From my own experience that is not enough. Despite having some background in fixed income, equity and derivatives, quant, basic econs and basic accounting, the recommended amount isn't enough.


I think a more realistic schedule is to study 10-15 hours each week over 36 weeks. This is more realistic. Since an undergraduate degree is required to take the CFA, it implies that many people who take this exam isn't very very young. Thus, the brain is not as super as before.

For me, I found my own physical stamina to be the limiting factor. Thus, having a good health and physically strong is also an important factor.

Economics comments

I have found that the Schweser notes for Economics aren't good. Perhaps because the CFA's text for this topic was written by Parkin and that his textbook has evolved more than a decade. CFAI's text on Economics is quite well written. I did found that there is quite a number of repetition as especially with regard to the aggregate demand and aggregate supply.

It is about 1 month away from the exam. I've written to the CFA customer service whether will the exam be postpone if the Swine-flu gets worst. They say they will inform me if that happens. Looks like I've to buy the N95 facemask for the exam!

Monopoly, monopolistic competition and oligopoly

Found that the above topics were poorly written in the Schweser Notes. I have to summary and make my own notes for it.

Feel tired again

For the past two days I felt I cannot breathe properly. Feel so tired and lethargic. Yesterday I went for a swim over 16 laps but I still feel so tired. My concentration power has reduced significantly. This is terrible. Don’t know why. This CFA exam is such a torture. It is like claiming up a bottom – as you go higher the less oxygen. I sometime feel that as the oxygen gets less, it is possible to just “die” without even knowing it. Not so such whether such big sacrifices is worth it or not. Just notice that my son seems to have suddenly grown taller over the few months. It shows how much energy I have spent on the text. I know many clients don’t care about all these exams. Even I have achieve it, it doesn’t mean anything great for clients. So I really wonder what I am doing is sensible or not.

SelfTest FSA+Corporate Finance

I generated 120 questions from Q Bank on Financial Statement Analysis/Corporate Finance. My score was 84%. Not bad for a start. I hope to increase the score higher. I'll next move to Economics to review the topic in more in depth.

Careless mistake

I hate myself for making so many careless mistakes. Had being doing the MCQs and realised that most mistakes I made were careless mistakes. I knew the answer but somehow enter the wrong answer... urggg!!

Zombie like / Rojak

My wife complained to me that I am becoming like a zombie husband. I don't talk anymore and whenever she talks to me, I did not response. This exam is really getting on everybody's nerve! I had being studying very hard especially before my energy level goes down again due to sitting down too much. The sacrifice that I am making for sitting for this exam is very great. Firstly, I can't play with my two kids and they being growing up needed attention. Maybe when they grow up, they'll abandon me to the old folks home for neglecting them during these three years of being a zombie thanks to this exam. Secondly, I really wonder what is the exact opportunity cost of putting so much attention to this exam. I don't mind opportunity cost in terms of $$ for which I am prepared to sacrifice. But rather, what happens if life is taken away? My life, kids' life? Wife's life? Over the past weekends, were informed that my client's wife got cancer. Then yesterday, was informed one of my relative had cancer too and seem to be an advanced stage. Both are young people. Also in the hot news now is a massive food poisoning case in which hundreds of people felt ill after eating rojak at Gelang Serai. Two persons have died while another woman had a miscarriaged. I heard of people dying of illness and accidents but die due to eating rojak? I also heard of people having miscarriage due to accidents but due to eating rojak? Life is so precious. What is the exact opportunity cost of taking so much time for this exam? I don't know.

Let's don't think so much. I hope to complete one reading today.

Breaking another record

Today, I swam 24 lengths! OK, it is actually 10 laps, rested for a few minutes and followed by 14 lengths. This was within 45 mins. OK, I know it isn't fanatistic but for a person like me it is a remarkable achievement!

But now my body is aching all over the place. I hope I can complete one reading revision by tonight.

Free Cash Flow to Firm (FCFF) / Free Cash Flow to Equity (FCFE)

The FCFF is the cash flow available to debt suppliers and shareholders after all operating expenses have been paid and after necessary investment in working capital & fixed capital have been made.

FCFF = Net Income + Non-cash charges + InterestExpense (1 – tax rate) – Fixed investment – Working Capital Investment

OR

FCFF = Cash flow from operation + X – Fixed Investment

Where X = Interest Expense*(1-tax rate) for US.GAAP (because US GAAP always include Interest Expense as its operation)

X = Interest Expense*(1-tax rate) for IFRS if it classify Interest Expense as operating activity.

Also, X = Dividends paid for IFRS if it classify dividends payment as operating activity.

Recall: In IFRS, Dividends paid can be classified as operation or financing. Also in IFRS, interest expense can be classified as operation or financing too.

Free Cash Flow to Equity

FCFE = CFO + X – Net Borrowing – Net Debt Repayment – Fixed Investment

X = Dividends paid in IFRS if it is classified as operation