I did some quick calculation yesterday some new figures: -passing rate DEC 2006 Level I- 36% -passing rate JUNE 2006 Level II and III- 48% and 70% A- Lets say if 100 people enrolled for level I, just 36 people go to level 2 B- From 36 people enrolled in Level II, just 18 people go level III C- from 18 people enrolled in level III , 12 people pass These mean approximate 12% of candidate succeed to pass all three level in a row which is 2.5-3 year, which again depend when you apply ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Now CFA institute says minimum 250 hours study for each level. Remember, that's minimum is you are coming from very strong financial background. FYI CFA notes from various preparation courses (not original CFA text books) are usually in 6 volume (books) each around 250 pages. Total 1500 pages If you manage to study each page in 30 minutes (every page needs indepth reading), you need to do 750 hours of reading. CFA tests are getting harder also, there is no fixed passing score, it differ in every exam. They just take the average from top 10 scorer in each exam and then you have to get at least 70% of that score
No, there is just 69,000 charter holder today, manyof them retired or working in non-financial business. Just Top 10 CFA employers in US alone has nearly 10 times more employee than above given figure, aside from UK, germany, singapore, hongkong, japan,...so asian charter holder can choose to remain somewhere in asia too CFA charter holder still in very high demand
It's usually the same people taking the exams over so the percentage is way higher I think you can attempt the test 3 times, So usually people who get to third level end up passing it on the 2 or 3 try. Mike
Level I is a joke 36% passing rate is skewed On test day - 2 people sat next to me 1 of them finished the morning section in 2 hours - during break time I asked him how he finished so quickly He said his employer sponsored him for the exam - and he didn't bother studying - just tried to wing it - he didn't bother showing up for afternoon section This other guy told me he didn't prepare cause he was busy 'remodeling' the new house he moved into
Are you saying that many enroll for the Level I, but later don't show up on exam day for some reasons? How many hours you needed to put in to prepare for level I?
I have come to the conclusion through the act of globalizing the CFA designation, it has been watered down into an obstacle course of depreciated knowledge. After a 4 year journey my friend got his CFA Chartership, after which his employer asked him to look elsewhere as he was more "Mobile". Worse as he has become a performance analyst (no CFA needed) he helps Pension funds fire under performing managers. 100% of the managers are CFA who hold stocks way past loss levels and then claim "market forces" were to blame. He no longer states CFA after his name. And the Institute, it needs to only pass net 10% to maintain the "exclusivity" of the title CFA. .
Shehab Thanks for sharing that, it puts an interesting perspective on it. I've heard on and off recently about the watered-down effect of the CFA program. I'd say of those in my undergrad finance program, at least 2x-3x more ended up going the CFA route vs grad school. It's pretty much a prerequisite to attend any alumni functions. I'm still debating CFA vs MFE/MSCF (computational finance), though I'm strongly leaning towards the latter what with this watering down effect of the CFA. Plus, peruse any finance-related jobs site and you'll find 90% of the postings are looking for quant/C++/algorithmic gurus.
Yes - lots of players don't bother studying because the company sponsored them for the exam - they don't take it seriously Level I - I studied about 2 hours a day for 2 months = 120 hours Of course if you wait until there is only 1 month left you'll probably have to put in at least 150 hours (cramming the material is not very efficient)
I have the CFA Charter, and I am here to tell you that no one on ET has any business getting the Charter. Go for something useful like the CMT. The CFA will do nothing to enhance your trading ability.