CFA , CAIA, & FRM Blog

When Should You Start Studying for the CFA?

Posted by Mark Skoskiewicz on Jun 12, 2017 3:32:07 PM

One of the most frustrating situations for a CFA tutor is to be connected with a nice, capable, seemingly committed CFA student who simply started studying for the exam too late. The rule of thumb for level 1 of the CFA is that it should take you about 300 hours of preparation. I believe that the pure amount of material covered on the CFA is why most CFA prep solutions are classroom and video based. There is just so much material, it’s far easier to help people work through it as efficiently as possible by explaining the key concepts clearly and providing extra practice. In that sense, the most valuable tool in your toolkit when it comes to CFA preparation is time. Just begin the process far enough in advance and, generally speaking, you’ll be OK.
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Tags: CFA, defined benefit plans, CFA study skills, CFA tutoring

Preparing for the CFA exam: Financial reporting of defined benefit pension plans

Posted by Mark Skoskiewicz on Mar 3, 2017 3:18:27 PM


The financial reporting and analysis section is one of the more heavily weighted topics on levels 1 and 2, making up 20% and 15-20% of each exam, respectively.

Therefore, it is very important to spend a considerable amount of time on this entire section in order to have success on exam day.

The employee compensation reading falls within the scope of financial reporting and analysis and is one of the more challenging sub-topics for many students. The reading is separated into two further sub-topics: pensions and other post-employment benefits, and share-based compensation. The former topic is much more difficult for students and will be the focus of this blog post.

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Tags: CFA, defined benefit plans