Adding Structure to Your CFA® Study Plan
”A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” —Laozi
Obtaining your CFA charter is a long journey, taking place over a minimum of 18 months—but likely longer for most charterholders. One of the biggest hurdles for candidates is coming up with and sticking to a study plan. We’re all familiar with the 300 hours mantra, but that little phrase doesn’t provide much guidance in terms of how to achieve that number or how to allocate those hours.
Here, I’m going to outline some techniques I used to help get ready for the exam each year. One small caveat: the following is a highly structured approach that worked for me. It may or may not be suited to your particular learning style. Everyone learns differently, and you should find a study approach that works best for your individual style and schedule.
Step One: Allocate Your Time Appropriately
“All great achievements require time.” —Maya Angelou
Each CFA exam is made up of questions from 10 subjects. The subjects, weights, and question types vary by exam, but the material required to answer these questions is structured in the same manner for each test: six long program curriculum books.
You have a limited amount of time to cover these materials and you know the weight attached to each subject, so you can calculate the number of days you should spend on each subject. I always began studying on January 2 (too much football to watch on January 1), so we’ll use that as our study start date.
Your review schedule should exclude May, but I’ll touch more on that later. We’ll use May 1 as the last day of covering new material, which gives us 119 days to prepare.
Here’s the number of days allocated to each subject for Level I 2017:
| Topic Area | Weight | Days Allocated |
|---|---|---|
| Ethical and Professional Standards | 15 | 18 |
| Quantitative Methods | 12 | 14 |
| Economics | 10 | 12 |
| Financial Reporting and Analysis | 20 | 24 |
| Corporate Finance | 7 | 8 |
| Equity Investments | 10 | 12 |
| Fixed Income | 10 | 12 |
| Derivatives | 5 | 6 |
| Alternative Investments | 4 | 5 |
| Portfolio Management and Wealth Planning | 7 | 8 |
| TOTAL | 100 | 119 |
Now you know how many days to allocate to each subject.
I actually added each section as a multi-day event in my calendar so I would know exactly what I should be studying on any given day. I then determined the number of CFA readings per section and created calendar events for those readings on days that worked best for me (typically Tuesdays and Saturdays for reading, since those readings could take longer than a normal study session).
Step Two: Determine Your Schedule
“The key is in not spending time, but in investing it.” —Stephen R. Covey
You need to figure out a way to reach the 300 hours (or get close), and you know your own schedule best. Only you can determine the ideal way to achieve the amount of study time you need.
In my case, I took each of the three levels of the CFA while I was working; I figured I could study a moderate amount on weekdays and larger amounts on weekends. I would try to fit in two hours of studying Monday through Thursday, with larger blocks on Saturday and Sunday. I gave myself Friday off because you need some kind of break or you’ll burn out.
If you study for two hours a day, four days a week, from January until May, that gives you about 160 hours of study time. The other 140 will take place on weekends and in the week you take off from work prior to the exam.
What worked for me was to study for one hour per weekend day in January, increasing that by one hour per day each month: two hours per weekend day in February, three hours per weekend day in March, etc. I’m not proud of the amount of mental math required for my approach, but I really did feel like the escalating number of hours ensured that my studying increased alongside the likelihood I would remember the material.
If you follow the above schedule and take a week off from work prior to the exam to study, you’ll end up close to 300 hours.
Step Three: Stick to It
“What gets measured, gets managed.” —Peter Drucker
After the calculations and calendar work, all that’s left is to follow the plan you’ve created.
I began each section with the reading, spending the days in between readings working practice problems, creating flashcards for terms and formulas, and even re-reading sections if necessary. Some sections were more compressed than others, but allocating your time beforehand ensures you don’t spend too much time on any one subject.
Once you finish reviewing and May arrives, you need to do as many practice tests as feasible. I did one each Saturday, reviewing my errors on Sunday and problem sections during the week.
If you take the week off work prior to the exam (which I highly recommend), you can take practice tests every other day at that point. That should give you a total of six or seven practice tests (four weekends and two or three during your week off). No surprise, those practice tests ended up on my calendar as well.
Hopefully, using the framework above will eliminate some of the mental work associated with approaching the test each year, allowing you to focus on studying.
My only other recommendation would be to take a spring break in March. I took a week off from studying each year to clear my head before the final sprint in April and May, months where it felt like studying consumed my entire life. Time away allowed me to refocus and make sure I continued to be diligent as the test approached.
Good luck!
About the Author
Kirby Francis, CFA, is a senior manager research analyst for RVK, Inc., an investment consulting firm located in Portland, Oregon. Kirby is a member of RVK's alternatives research team and is involved in sourcing and conducting due diligence on private equity and private real assets investment opportunities. He also provides private markets research and education to RVK's clients and consulting teams. Kirby previously worked for a private equity-owned cleantech firm, also in Portland. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and is a member of the CFA Society of Portland.