The SECRET to Passing the CFA Exams
Summary
TLDRThis video emphasizes the critical role of memorizing formulas in the final week before the CFA Level 1 exam, which the speaker believes is the 'secret sauce' for success. The speaker shares a method passed down from Mark Meldrum, involving intensive handwriting of each formula multiple times to commit them to memory. The process is detailed, including creating a comprehensive formula list, practicing with chunks of 10 formulas, self-quizzing, and highlighting and re-memorizing those that are difficult. The speaker recommends taking two full days for this process and the day before the exam off to review, which they claim can significantly boost confidence and exam performance.
Takeaways
- 📅 The final week process is crucial for passing the CFA Level One exam.
- 🔑 Memorizing formulas is the secret to boosting exam preparation in the final days.
- 🧠 Formula memorization is particularly important for Level One due to its simpler mathematical nature.
- 📝 A comprehensive list of formulas is essential, which can be compiled from practice questions throughout the study period.
- ✍️ Handwriting formulas multiple times is an effective method for memorization.
- 🕒 Allocating 24 hours over 3 days for intensive formula memorization can significantly enhance exam readiness.
- 🚫 Avoiding over-reliance on formula derivations and focusing on memorization for quick recall is advised.
- 🔄 Re-testing oneself after memorizing each formula set helps reinforce learning.
- ⭐ Highlighting and re-memorizing formulas that were difficult during the first review is key for exam day.
- 🛑 Taking a break before the exam can help in mental preparation and reduce exam day anxiety.
Q & A
What is considered the secret to passing the CFA Level One exam according to the speaker?
-The speaker believes that the secret to passing the CFA Level One exam is memorizing formulas, especially in the final week leading up to the exam.
Why are formulas so important for the CFA Level One exam?
-Formulas are crucial for the CFA Level One exam because it has the most simplistic mathematics compared to other levels, and knowing the formulas can help quickly solve questions with provided information.
What is the speaker's recommendation for creating a list of formulas to memorize?
-The speaker suggests creating a formula sheet by writing down every formula needed to answer questions correctly during study sessions, or purchasing formula sheets from test prep providers, but condensing them to the most relevant ones.
How does the speaker suggest memorizing the formulas effectively?
-The speaker recommends handwriting each formula 10 times, then quizzing oneself to memorize them. If a formula is not remembered correctly, it should be written out additional times.
Why does the speaker suggest taking a day off before the exam?
-The speaker suggests taking a day off before the exam to allow the brain to rest and to prevent burnout, which can be beneficial for exam performance.
What is the significance of the final 24 hours before the exam according to the speaker?
-The speaker implies that the final 24 hours before the exam are crucial and should be spent reviewing, but does not detail this in the provided script, suggesting that it is covered in other videos.
How does the speaker suggest using the formula sheet on the day of the exam?
-The speaker advises reviewing the formulas, especially the ones that were difficult to memorize, on the morning of the exam or during the commute to reinforce memory.
What is the role of memorizing formulas in boosting confidence during the exam?
-Memorizing formulas can significantly boost confidence during the exam as it allows考生 to quickly recall and apply them to answer questions, which can lead to a higher score.
What is the speaker's personal experience with the formula memorization process?
-The speaker personally followed the formula memorization process for all their CFA exams and believes it was instrumental in passing, especially the Level One exam.
Why does the speaker attribute the success of formula memorization to Mark Meldrum?
-The speaker attributes the success of the formula memorization process to Mark Meldrum because he received the tip from a video by Meldrum and found it to be extremely effective.
Outlines
📚 The Secret to Passing CFA Level One: Memorizing Formulas
This paragraph introduces the 'secret' to passing the CFA Level One exam, which is the final week process of memorizing formulas. The speaker attributes this tip to Mark Meldrum and emphasizes its importance in the last few days before the exam. The speaker believes that this process is crucial for those who are time-crunched and have not done extensive mock exam practice. The paragraph highlights the significance of formulas in the Level One exam due to its simplistic math compared to higher levels, and the ease of answering questions once the formula is known. The speaker also suggests creating a comprehensive formula list throughout the study process and mentions the option of purchasing formula sheets, including their own on Patreon.
📝 The Formula Memorization Technique: Handwriting and Self-Quizzing
The speaker explains a detailed technique for memorizing formulas, which involves handwriting each formula 10 times to ingrain it into memory. After writing out a batch of 10 formulas, the speaker suggests self-quizzing by covering the formulas and trying to recall them from memory based on their titles. If a formula is not memorized, it is rewritten multiple times until it can be recited. The process is time-consuming and requires dedication, with the speaker allocating two full days for this task before the exam. The speaker also discusses the importance of reviewing the formulas that were difficult to memorize and highlights the benefits of this method for exam day confidence and performance.
🚀 Boosting Exam Confidence: Final Review and Exam Day Strategy
In the final paragraph, the speaker discusses the importance of the last review of formulas, especially those that were difficult to memorize, and the strategy for exam day. The speaker recommends taking the day before the exam off to rest but suggests reviewing the most challenging formulas on the morning of the exam. The paragraph concludes with a motivational note, emphasizing the impact of memorizing formulas on exam performance and confidence, and credits Mark Meldrum for the effective study strategy.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡CFA Exams
💡Secret to Passing
💡Final Week Process
💡Memorizing Formulas
💡Level One Exam
💡Mock Exams
💡Formula Sheet
💡Handwriting Formulas
💡Quizzing
💡Exam Day Preparation
💡Confidence Building
Highlights
The secret to passing any CFA exam, especially level one, is revealed to be a final week process.
Memorizing formulas is the key to boosting exam preparation in the final days before the exam.
Level one exam has the most simplistic math compared to level two or three.
Simple algebra equations are common in level one exams, making formula knowledge crucial.
Memorizing formulas is an easy way to pick up extra points just before the test.
A comprehensive formula list is essential for effective memorization.
Formula sheets from test prep providers may be too long and include unnecessary derivations.
The presenter's personal formula sheets are available on Patreon, updated as of 2021.
A methodical approach to memorizing formulas involves handwriting each one multiple times.
After writing, self-quizzing is crucial to ensure formula memorization.
Highlighting and re-writing difficult formulas is a strategy for reinforcing memory.
Taking a full day off before the exam aids in mental preparation.
Reviewing difficult formulas on the exam day morning boosts confidence.
Memorizing formulas can be the difference between passing and failing the exam.
The presenter attributes their CFA exam success partially to this memorization technique.
The memorization process is time-consuming but highly effective.
The presenter suggests allocating 24 hours over 3 days for this process.
The final review and re-testing of formulas is a critical step before the exam.
Transcripts
the next round of level one CFA exams is
coming up in just a couple of weeks as
of the release of this video which is
the perfect time to start talking about
what I've always called the secret to
passing any of the CFA exams especially
the level one exam this is the final
week process that I personally followed
for all of my exams I totally believe
this is the biggest differentiating
factor between those candidates who will
pass the exams and those who won't I
didn't come up with this myself this is
a tip that I received from a Mark
Meldrum video 7 or years ago right
before my first CFA exam I followed his
tips exactly in the 3 days 4 days
preceding that exam and I think it made
a world of a difference I know I
wouldn't have passed the level two or
level three exams without this but
especially if you've been on a time
crunch studying for your level one exam
the biggest Difference Maker that you
can make in the final few days is
memorizing formulas memorizing every
formula that you may need to know on any
of the questions that come up on the
test in this video we're going to talk
about the best way to memorize formulas
so that you can learn all the formulas
you're going to need to know as quickly
and as effectively as possible we'll
talk about why memorizing formulas is so
important why it's really the secret
sauce to boosting your level of
preparation in the final few days before
an exam and then basically why it's the
most important thing you can do with
your time in the last 3 days the reason
why memorizing formulas is so important
for the level one exam specifically is
because the level one exam actually has
the most simplistic mathematic in a lot
of the SE sections compared to the level
two or level three test so when you're
doing Simple algebra three or four
variable algebra equations come up all
the time on level one whether it be in
economics or Equity or other sections as
long as you know what the formula is
what the three or four variables are
it's not hard to pull the information
from the question that's being asked of
you in just you know literally 6 seconds
on a calculator to get the answer if
you're prepping for level one and you
haven't done a lot of mock exam style
practice questions yet then you may not
know this but there are a lot of simple
algebra type questions on these level
one tests so you have to know every
single formula that could potentially be
asked of you I think it's like the
easiest way to pick up extra points
again in the last few days before your
test it's a huge difference maker trust
me follow this process you will have no
regrets that you spent the last 48 to 72
hours doing this and at the end of the
day this could be the difference between
you ultimately like never even passing
level one or becoming a CFA Charter
holder I truly believe it was for me
props to mark melum let's get into it
before you start memorizing anywhere
from like 100 to 200 or more formulas
you have to first have the list of
formulas that you are going to memorize
from there are a few ways to do this I
think the best way to do this and it may
sort of be too late if you haven't been
writing formulas along the way the best
way to have a list of formulas is to
throughout your prep process you know
over the last four five six plus months
every time you had to use a formula to
solve an equation you're then taking
that formula and writing it on a
separate formula sheet that's what I did
well technically I kept it in the same
notebook and I put um stars and circles
around the formulas and then later
rewrote those all into a new formula
sheet but the point is any formula that
I ever needed to apply to answer a
question correctly whether that have
been an online CFA practice question a
Wy practice question I used Wy test prep
whether it were on a mock exam or um a
blue box an end of chapter question or a
blue box example which I know they are
now gray box examples but any of those
types of practice questions you've done
over the past 6 months if a formula was
needed to answer a question there's a
chance that that formula will be needed
on your real C fa exam so you need a
very comprehensive list you can purchase
formula sheets from the major test spr
providers I know Wy and Kaplan both have
them in my opinion those lists are too
long they include sometimes even like
ways to derive other formulas into the
shorter versions of those formulas that
are easier to remember but you really
don't need to know how to derive these
formulas especially when we're just
talking about trying to memorize as many
things as you can over a 3-day window
and then regurgitate them on exam day so
you can buy those formula sheet they're
helpful I think they're a little bit too
long you're going to want to sort of
condense them another wonderful way to
do that as a Shameless plug for myself
is to purchase the real formula sheets
that I personally wrote hand wrote
Consolidated hand wrote again ended up
typing them out and I have now listed
them on my patreon page I re-updated
them as recently as 2021 so they're not
going to include formulas for the most
recent additions to the CFA curriculum
but they will include formulas that
apply to the majority of what is still
the CFA especially level one exam
curriculum so those are available on my
patreon page if if you did not keep
track of every formula you used over the
last 6 months like I just described I
did do that during my exam process I
would recommend you actually do that
prepping for level two or level three if
you're know one level before those exams
but I do have the actual formula sheets
that I personally studied from and used
past all the exams on my patreon link is
in the description the regiment that was
uh explained to me by again Dr Mark mm
love him is very simple very very boring
and very effective at getting the human
brain to put into medium-term memor a
bunch of random algebra equations or
formulas so that is you start with your
formula sheet probably take it into
chunks of like 10 different formulas
start with formula number one hand write
it 10 times then go to formula number
two hand write it 10 times then go to
formula number three from your formula
sheet hand write it 10 times your wrist
is going to be killing you it's probably
especially in today's age probably going
to be the most handwriting you've done
in years but something about taking a
pen to a paper and continuing especially
because like fifth 6th 7th e8th you
handr write it out you're probably not
needing to look at the formula on the
line right above that you just
previously handw wrote out you're
starting to remember it and so literally
writing it out like that that many times
is effective at jamming that formula
into your brain so that you're going to
have the information you need after you
have Rewritten 10 different formulas 10
times each you pause you sort of cover
them up and you quiz yourself go back to
well actually I forgot to mention you
want a name for that formula so it might
be Gordon growth model and then Dash and
then the formula so when you go to
requiz yourself you'll cover up all of
the formulas that you Rehand wrote and
just just look at the title that golden
growth model can you recite it out loud
or in your head either way if you can
recite it move on you've probably
basically memorized that formula if you
can't and for me there were usually two
or three out of any group of 10 formulas
that I was not able to regurgitate in my
head or out loud right after handwriting
them all then you write rewrite those
probably five or eight times each so
that's another 15 to 20 formula lines
that you're handwriting out in a
notebook pad you're going to want a
fresh notebook to do all of this writing
but the point is then you practice on
those three that you might have gotten
wrong after the first review at the end
of that process you will basically have
memorized 10 Formula then do it again
for the next 10 this is timec consuming
I'll talk about how you structure the
timing of this in just a moment but
again very effective at uh at pounding
these formulas into your head it will
make a massive difference on exam day
trust me on this so if you're following
the process here you're going to be
handwriting maybe as many as 200
formulas at least 10 times each that's a
lot of handwriting right and certainly
more than that actually because you're
not always going to get every formula
right when you sort of mentally review
them so in in terms of the amount of
time that you need to allocate towards
this for me I took 3 days off of work
for each of my CFA exams I would spend
two full days usually 12 to 16 hours
each day just doing this handwriting and
retesting self um formula process I took
the final 24 hours for the exam
completely off I'm not going to talk
about why that is in this video I also
believe that is a very helpful aspect to
the last 3 days of CFA exam prep but I
talk about that in more depth in other
videos on my channel so if you want to
hear about that final 24 hours watch
those but basically we're allocating 24
total hours amongst those two days 12
and 12 maybe a little bit more towards
handwriting these formulas you will get
through handwriting even 200 formulas in
that period of time so once you've gone
through that entire process that I
described where you're kind of retesting
yourself for all 200 formulas then
you're going to pause maybe go eat a
steak dinner or something come back to
your formula sheet and then you're going
to go back and start retesting yourself
from formula number one top of the list
again because after you've been quizzing
yourself on formulas 160 to to 200
hypothetically maybe you have forgotten
back on formula number one so you're
going back to the start of the list
again this may be in the you know it was
always Wednesday Thursday that I was
doing this and then I'd take Friday off
an exam on Saturday so this may be like
Thursday afternoon Thursday evening when
you're finally in this process but it's
like the additional review but there's
an important step for this additional
review that you're going to want to note
down so when you go back to the top of
the list any of the formulas that you
don't get right you need to highlight
those put a big circle around those it's
going to be important for actually exam
day I'll talk about that in just a
moment but you highlight them Circle
them and then you're going to handr
write those formulas out again 10 times
now if I had to guess when I was
re-reviewing r PR reviewing those 200
formulas I probably didn't get 20 to 30
of them right um the final time around
so I was circling 20 or 30 formulas reh
handwriting 20 or 30 formulas either
five or 10 times each and then re
quizzing myself on those by the end of
Thursday the second day you're going to
be totally sick of this and really your
hand going to be exhausted your mind's
going to be exhausted but you will have
taken probably the single uh or the
greatest two-day leap in terms of your
CFA exam preparedness that you did
during the entire process many of the
formulas you're going to be familiar
with because you've done practice
questions hopefully over the past month
or two but some of them are just going
to require this level of memorization
which is why this is such a huge
difference maker so then you take Friday
off in my case it was a Friday but the
day before the exam totally off I
wouldn't look at formulas or anything
else but exam day that morning I'm
re-reviewing those 20 or 30 formulas
that I got wrong a second time around
during the final review and that's why
it was important to recircle those again
or reh highlight them uh in the final
afternoon or evening of this process
because those are the ones that you're
iffy on and you're going to want to
double down on again and then usually
like I would do this on the drive to the
exam Center I know it's a little bit
different now they're more accessible
with Prometric testing centers but I had
a 3-hour drive I would take those 3
hours and just practice all the formulas
again specifically the ones that I had
gotten wrong in the sort of final final
review in the evening of my last study
day you may want to go back over the
rest of them you're going to really
start to build a lot of confidence
during that two hours right before the
exam in my opinion because you'll
realize how many of these formulas you
actually know and man once you've done
that you're going to sit down at that
exam Center a question about about a GDP
calculation like the change in
population versus the change in
education I don't know I don't remember
any of them now or very few of them the
question will pop up and you'll go holy
smokes I just recited this formula and
handw wrote this formula like 40 times
over the last 3 days you're going to
instantly know which variables to plug
in and you're going to be able to answer
that question very quickly so this is
the secret I mean I literally believe
this is the a major major Difference
Maker it's probably the second single
most important factor the biggest factor
is just the time spent studying
memorizing formulas is not going to
outperform someone who studied three or
four months more than somebody else but
outside of just pure time spent studying
the biggest Difference Maker is if you
have formulas memorize versus if you
don't and this is my recommendation I
hope everyone watching this video can
allocate 24 hours in the in the 3 days
leading right up to the exam to do this
it will make uh I think you'll be
surprised at how much of a difference
it'll make and how much it's going to
boost your confidence going into that
exam Center best of luck studying props
to mark Meldrum for these ideas they
helped me a ton I hope they help
everyone else who good luck out there
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