Everyone studying for the CFA allocates a different amount of study time--both in hours spent studying and in the spacing out of those hours. If you've come this far, you already know that despite these differences, the reality is that there are no real shortcuts.

We could have also called this post 'Understanding the L3 Exam' because this post is all about breaking apart the L3 exam and talking about how it should be approached. By the end of this email you'll have a clear picture of two things.

IPS questions for both individual investors and institutional investors are GUARANTEED to be on the CFA Exam. Together they may make up to 10-15% of the overall points. But this post is NOT about tackling the IPS questions themselves (for more on that see this post).

There are two main camps when it comes to studying for the CFA exams. Either you read and study the full CFA Institute curriculum or you use third party study notes to cover the material. By this stage at Level 3, you’ve probably gotten comfortable with one approach or another.

CFA Level 3 test takers often dread the morning essay section of the test. Some of this is for good reason. After all, the morning section represents a clear departure from the multiple choice formats of both Level 1 and Level 2. Now for the first time the test takers are clearly asking for candidates to apply knowledge and link together different subject areas rather than looking for a specific answer. That makes it harder to fake knowledge or get partial points through guessing.

The 5 most important things you need to know in order to answer discounted cash flow problems on the CFA level one exam.

What CFA L1 material to cover, in what order, how quickly, and some tips for if you're playing catch-up.

The five most testable TVM concepts for the CFA L1 exam from the first reading in Quantitative Methods.

A review of L1 topic weights and an explanation of its differences relative to the other two exams.

It's hard to start studying for the CFA Level 1 exam. And it's hard to keep studying. Here's what it takes to start preparing for the exam.