fbpixel Just took the Level I exam. Should I start preparing for Level II? | IFT World
Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors
Search in posts
Search in pages
Filter by Categories
101 concepts level I
101 concepts level II
2021 Level I Corporate Finance Full Videos
2021 Level I Economics Full Videos
2021 Level I Ethics Full Videos
2021 Level I FRA Full Videos
2021 Level I Portfolio Management Full Videos
2021 Level I Quantitative Methods Full Videos
Advice and How to Study Videos
All-Levels
Alternative Investments
Alternative Investments (AI)
BookLet Top Level
Corporate Issuers
Corporate Issuers (CI)
Demystified Videos
Derivatives
Derivatives (DV)
Economics
Economics (EC)
Equity
Equity Investments (EI)
Ethical and Professional Standards (ES)
Ethics
featured
Financial Reporting and Analysis
Financial Statement Analysis (FSA)
Fixed Income
Fixed Income (FI)
Level I
Level II
Level III
LM01 Alternative Investment Features, Methods, and Structures
LM01 Categories, Characteristics, and Compensation Structures of Alternative Investments
LM01 Corporate Structures and Ownership
LM01 Derivative Instrument and Derivative Market Features
LM01 Derivative Instrument and Derivative Market Features
LM01 Ethics and Trust in the Investment Profession
LM01 Ethics and Trust in the Investment Profession
LM01 Fixed-Income Instrument Features
LM01 Fixed-Income Securities: Defining Elements
LM01 Introduction to Financial Statement Analysis
LM01 Introduction to Financial Statement Analysis
LM01 Market Organization & Structure
LM01 Market Organization and Structure
LM01 Organizational Forms, Corporate Issuer Features, and Ownership
LM01 Portfolio Management Overview
LM01 Portfolio Management: An Overview
LM01 Rates and Returns
LM01 The Firm & Market Structures
LM01 Time Value of Money
LM01 Topics in Demand and Supply Analysis
LM02 Alternative Investment Performance and Returns
LM02 Analyzing Income Statements
LM02 Code of Ethics and Standards of Professional Conduct
LM02 Code of Ethics and Standards of Professional Conduct Profession
LM02 Financial Reporting Standards
LM02 Fixed Income Markets - Issuance Trading and Funding
LM02 Fixed-Income Cash Flows and Types
LM02 Forward Commitment and Contingent Claim Features and Instruments
LM02 Forward Commitment and Contingent Claim Features and Instruments
LM02 Introduction to Corporate Governance and Other ESG Considerations
LM02 Investors and Other Stakeholders
LM02 Organizing, Visualizing, and Describing Data
LM02 Performance Calculation and Appraisal of Alternative Investments
LM02 Portfolio Risk & Return: Part I
LM02 Portfolio Risk and Return Part I
LM02 Security Market Indexes
LM02 Security Market Indexes
LM02 The Firm and Market Structures
LM02 Time Value of Money in Finance
LM02 Understanding Business Cycles
LM03 Aggregate Output, Prices and Economic Growth
LM03 Analyzing Balance Sheets
LM03 Business Models & Risks
LM03 Corporate Governance: Conflicts, Mechanisms, Risks, and Benefits
LM03 Derivative Benefits, Risks, and Issuer and Investor Uses
LM03 Derivative Benefits, Risks, and Issuer and Investor Uses
LM03 Fiscal Policy
LM03 Fixed-Income Issuance and Trading
LM03 Guidance for Standards I-VII
LM03 Guidance for Standards I–VII
LM03 Introduction to Fixed Income Valuation
LM03 Investments in Private Capital: Equity and Debt
LM03 Market Efficiency
LM03 Market Efficiency
LM03 Portfolio Risk & Return: Part II
LM03 Portfolio Risk and Return Part II
LM03 Private Capital, Real Estate, Infrastructure, Natural Resources, and Hedge Funds
LM03 Probability Concepts
LM03 Statistical Measures of Asset Returns
LM03 Understanding Income Statements
LM04 An Introduction to Asset-Backed Securities
LM04 Analyzing Statements of Cash Flows I
LM04 Arbitrage, Replication, and the Cost of Carry in Pricing Derivatives
LM04 Arbitrage, Replication, and the Cost of Carry in Pricing Derivatives
LM04 Basics of Portfolio Planning & Construction
LM04 Basics of Portfolio Planning and Construction
LM04 Capital Investments
LM04 Common Probability Distributions
LM04 Fixed-Income Markets for Corporate Issuers
LM04 Introduction to the Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS)
LM04 Introduction to the Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS)
LM04 Monetary Policy
LM04 Overview of Equity Securities
LM04 Overview of Equity Securities
LM04 Probability Trees and Conditional Expectations
LM04 Real Estate and Infrastructure
LM04 Understanding Balance Sheets
LM04 Understanding Business Cycles
LM04 Working Capital and Liquidity.
LM05 Analyzing Statements of Cash Flows II
LM05 Capital Investments and Capital Allocation
LM05 Company Analysis: Past and Present
LM05 Fixed-Income Markets for Government Issuers
LM05 Introduction to Geopolitics
LM05 Introduction to Industry and Company Analysis
LM05 Monetary and Fiscal Policy
LM05 Natural Resources
LM05 Portfolio Mathematics
LM05 Pricing and Valuation of Forward Contracts and for an Underlying with Varying Maturities
LM05 Pricing and Valuation of Forward Contracts.
LM05 Sampling and Estimation
LM05 The Behavioral Biases of Individuals
LM05 The Behavioral Biases of Individuals
LM05 Understanding Cash Flow Statements
LM05 Understanding Fixed-Income Risk and Return
LM05 Working Capital & Liquidity
LM06 Analysis of Inventories
LM06 Capital Structure
LM06 Cost of Capital-Foundational Topics
LM06 Equity Valuation: Concepts and Basic Tools
LM06 Financial Analysis Techniques
LM06 Fixed-Income Bond Valuation: Prices and Yields
LM06 Fundamentals of Credit Analysis
LM06 Hedge Funds
LM06 Hypothesis Testing
LM06 Industry and Competitive Analysis
LM06 International Trade
LM06 Introduction to Geopolitics
LM06 Introduction to Risk Management
LM06 Introduction to Risk Management
LM06 Pricing and Valuation of Futures Contracts
LM06 Pricing and Valuation of Futures Contracts
LM06 Simulation Methods
LM07 Analysis of Long-Term Assets
LM07 Business Models
LM07 Capital Flows and the FX Market
LM07 Capital Structure
LM07 Company Analysis: Forecasting
LM07 Estimation and Inference
LM07 International Trade and Capital Flows
LM07 Introduction to Digital Assets
LM07 Introduction to Linear Regression
LM07 Inventories
LM07 Pricing and Valuation of Interest Rate and Other Swaps
LM07 Pricing and Valuation of Interest Rates and Other Swaps
LM07 Technical Analysis
LM07 Yield and Yield Spread Measures for Fixed-Rate Bonds.
LM08 Currency Exchange Rates
LM08 Equity Valuation: Concepts and Basic Tools
LM08 Exchange Rate Calculations
LM08 Fintech in Investment Management
LM08 Hypothesis Testing
LM08 Long Lived Assets
LM08 Measures of Leverage
LM08 Pricing and Valuation of Options
LM08 Pricing and Valuation of Options
LM08 Topics in Long-Term Liabilities and Equity
LM08 Yield and Yield Spread Measures for Floating-Rate Instruments
LM09 Analysis of Income Taxes
LM09 Income Taxes
LM09 Option Replication Using Put-Call Parity
LM09 Option Replication Using Put–Call Parity
LM09 Parametric and Non-Parametric Tests of Independence
LM09 The Term Structure of Interest Rates: Spot, Par, and Forward Curves
LM10 Financial Reporting Quality
LM10 Interest Rate Risk and Return
LM10 Non-current (Long-Term) Liabilities
LM10 Simple Linear Regression
LM10 Valuing a Derivative Using a One-Period Binomial Model
LM10 Valuing a Derivative Using a One-Period Binomial Model
LM11 Financial Analysis Techniques
LM11 Financial Reporting Quality
LM11 Introduction to Big Data Techniques
LM11 Yield-Based Bond Duration Measures and Properties
LM12 Applications of Financial Statement Analysis
LM12 Introduction to Financial Statement Modeling
LM12 Yield-Based Bond Convexity and Portfolio Properties
LM13 Curve-Based and Empirical Fixed-Income Risk Measures
LM14 Credit Risk
LM15 Credit Analysis for Government Issuers
LM16 Credit Analysis for Corporate Issuers
LM17 Fixed-Income Securitization
LM18 Asset-Backed Security (ABS) Instrument and Market Features
LM19 Mortgage-Backed Security (MBS) Instrument and Market Features
New Booklet Top level
Portfolio Management
Portfolio Management (PM)
Quantitative Methods
Quantitative Methods (QM)
Uncategorized

I just took the Level I exam. Should I start preparing for Level II?

By Arif Irfanullah, CFA

Posted on 11-12-18 at 12:30 pm

If you recently took the Level I exam in December, and are reasonably confident that you’ll pass, and want to take the Level II exam in June, this blog is for you.

Let’s start with a quick Level II introduction. The ten topics are the same as Level I, but the weights are different.

Ethics: 10 – 15%, Quant: 5 – 10%, Econ: 5 – 10%, CF: 5 – 10%, FRA: 10 – 15%, Equity: 10 – 15%, Alt: 5 – 10%, FI: 10 – 15%, Der: 5 – 10%, PM: 5 – 15%.

At Level I, you were tested on basic concepts.  Level II, however, “emphasizes the application of investment tools and concepts with a focus on the valuation of all types of assets”.  Most candidates find Level II significantly harder than Level I and hence requires more preparation time.

In terms of exam format, we have two three-hour sessions.  The questions are in MCQ format, but based on case studies (vignettes).  A case study generally spans one or two readings from a particular topic.  Each three-hour session has ten case studies with six questions which means a total of 60 questions. You’ll have an average of 18 minutes per case study and 3 minutes per question.  This is twice the time you had at Level I but now you must read and understand the case which takes time; in addition, some questions involve a fair amount of calculation.

Coming now to study advice.  I’ve already pointed out that Level II is generally considered harder than Level I and hence requires more study time. I’d therefor suggest that you start your studies as soon as possible. The best topic to start with is Financial Reporting and Analysis (FRA) followed by Equity.  These topics are relatively easy and represent a significant percentage of the Level II curriculum.

IFT offers a full set of products to help you crack the Level II exam. Please visit this link to view the options available. You can either choose a prep package or individual topic videos. If you purchase before the Level I results are out and then find out that you have not passed, then IFT can adjust your purchase to an equivalent Level I offering.

Also, as a special offer till the results are out in January, if you buy a Level II topic video we will provide the IFT Study Notes and IFT Topic Exam for that topic for free.

Good luck on the upcoming results!

Arif Irfanullah, CFA

 

CFA Institute does not endorse, promote, or warrant the accuracy or quality of the products or services offered by IFT. CFA®, Chartered Financial Analyst® are trademarks owned by CFA Institute. McAfee SECURE sites help keep you safe from identity theft, credit card fraud, spyware, spam, viruses and online scams