Hi Guys,

I've just been selected for an interview for the CFA Malaysia Bursary - Scholarship 2012.
Can anyone please share with me the questions that would be normally asked during this interview session? As in, will they asked for technical /financial terminology and stuff?
The scholarship would really mean alot to me.

If anyone had received this scholarship, please share with me. Thank you.

Does any one have Stalla CFA Level 2 tutorial videos (CD)?

Level 3 as well.

I would like to buy a used one.

Tq. Please PM me if u have.

Seriously, I tend to see many people taking CFA thinking it will be their ticket to a investment banking/fund management/analyst/private equity job. Let me burst this myth for you. No Such Things.

You will be better off applying as a fresh graduate entree position i.e. bottom tier and start all over again and pray you get selected. Or better still, network your way into a job above. Seriously, it will be more beneficial cos very,very,very rarely will these companies take totally fresh guys/gals irregardless of whatever CFA or qualification you have....

Then people take CFA, you ask? CFA is usually for those already in the industry and wants to either be a fund manager, an equity analyst or just a tool to secure that senior management position and to lend more credibility to their name in the market.....

So guys my advise is pls DO NOT consider CFA if you are NOT in a finance line or you are in backroom/operations thinking it will be a ticket to join the finance field.....

mercury, what if they want to start from bottom again but they don't wanna take another degree with that requires another 3 years?

since they can study and work at the same time while taking CFA

Hmmm.can I ask after I fnish double degree accounting and finance, can I further study to CFA ? And if can, how many yrs is needed ?

3 years

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Added on January 6, 2012, 3:29 amEdit : The fastest route is 2 years, however most people take about 4 years on average..

If you don't fail any exams, it should take you about 2 and the half years

This post has been edited by gooni3: Jan 6 2012, 03:29 AM

Double degree account and finance? I thought it could be done in single degree with double major in accounting and finance.

As long as you attain your degree, irregard of what you studied in your degree, you are eligible to sit for all the CFA exams.

Normally CFA candidates will take an average of 4 years to finish the exams (which means a lot of candidates fail 1 to 2 times) or they are just not able to complete the program.

If you are very smart in studying, you could register at the last deadline at September 2012 in order to sit Level I at December 2012, pass Level II exam at June 2013, and then sit for the Level III exam at June 2014 and get to know the result for Level III at Augut 2014, then the program will cost you 24 months in studying.

Good luck to you anyway.

This post has been edited by kinwing: Jan 6 2012, 11:18 AM

Hi all, I have an inquiry. I'm currently pursuing my 4-year bachelor's degree program in USM. Is it against the rules if I register CFA level 1 exam for December 2012 now since I'm not a final year student officially yet (my final year starts around September 2012)? I can enjoy greater discount if I register before March and get textbooks earlier. I'm already in final year of study at the time I sit for the exam. My program consists of 8 semesters, however the whole eighth semester is meant for industrial training/internship, so do my sixth and seventh semesters count as final year of my program to meet the requirement for registration of CFA level 1 exam. I'll start my sixth semester this coming February so I still able to register before the 1st deadline of March. Please advice.



P.S. I did email to CFA organization but the reply (as shown below) is somehow not so specific to my question
"As long as you are in your final year of your degree program, then you can register for the CFA Exam. As for the discount please see the link below on the reates and deadlines imposed by CFA institute.
http://www.cfainstitute.org/cfaprogram/pro...ndex.aspx"


Thank you.

I believe there is no problem as long as you are a final year student at the time of sitting for the CFA exams. Maybe you can download the books online (*ahem* version) and start reading now and to see whether you really want to proceed with it. At least you wont have any commitments until after you register.

Guys, Im wondering if i ca take the dec 2012 lvl 1 exam and then take lvl 2 after 1-2 years later?

^ of course u can

Yes you can always take the exam of next level few years after you have passed the exam of the initial level.

The email has clarified clearly that you are only eligible for registration when you are in the final year of the degree program. However, when you want to register the CFA exam at March 2012, you are not final year degreem student yet as you mentioned that your final year degree programme will only commence in September 2012. Again, it mentioned that you should be final-year degree student when you want to register for the CFA exam, not when you want to sit for the exam.

So don't try get the early-bird discount by cheating the CFA Institue and the consequences will be more serious than what you have saved from the discount.

This post has been edited by kinwing: Jan 16 2012, 10:13 PM

i completely agree with kinwing

Thanks all for the advice. It's better to adhere to the stated requirements. I understand the consequences can be disastrous if get caught for cheating. I can be labelled as unethical and unprofessional

Guys, I'm keen to enroll CFA and have some clarifications:-

(1) Will I have sufficient study time if I enroll now for Dec 2012 Exam on level 1? I have no idea on the volume of the study materials.

(2) Does the passed subjects have an "expiry date"? Eg. If I passed Level 1 and decided to take Level 2, say 10 years later, surely the institute will ask me to retake Level 1, no?

(3) How do I make withdrawal from EPF for the fees? I understand that EPF require certain documentation for the submission. Does such documentation be generated automatically once I register under CFA website?

(4) I live in Penang and there are 2 choices which I can attend classes on CFA: one by Ooi from MRR and another via videoconference from Noesis. For those in Penang, which one is better? MRR would provide better personal coaching but I would think a larger setup like Noesis would have better updated materials.

(5) The CFA website stated that the e-book will "void" after 5 years. Does it refer only to the on-line version or even the pdf version will not be accesible from my computer after 5 years? Wouldn't that mean it's better to buy the paperback version? Or should I just buy the e-book version, which is cheaper, and get it printed by 3rd parties.

Thanks alot fellas!

(1) Typical question, so come with typical answer: "Don't know your background such as if you are stupid or smart, if you are a finance graduate or not, if you are working or not, if you are working in the financial related sector or not so on and so forth, so no comment."

(2) There is no "expiry date". But look, if you cannot passed the program within certain time frame, let say 3 to 5 years, why you want to take the program to begin with?

(3) No idea, last time I paid the fees through credit card.

(4) No idea since I am not from Penang.

(5) No idea, last time I was reading curriculum books, as reading e-book will make me headache . Anyway, if the CFA website will void the e-book after 5 years, why not save the e-book into your own PC ?

(1) What about yourself? How much study time did you dedicate for Level 1 average per day and how many days you took for the exam? I'm a Commerce graduate, a CPA Australia and 10-years corporate finance experience. I just wish to get a gauge to balance my work-life.

(2) On "expiry" issue, what I meant is that if I decide to take the next step much later after passing the first, due to reason such as work/family/financial commitment etc, and not because I have failed after repeated takes (none to begin with). Will the institute say that since the materials get refreshed regularly, I am required to re-do level 1 if I decide to register for my level 2, say, 7 years later. Has this occur before?

(3) Do you attend classes? Or do you think these classes are "passable", ie you can manage the same without them.

(1) I did Level I and II each in a time span of 4 months, and I spent at least 1,000 hours (exclude time for tuition class) for each level, so I spent about 8 to 8.5 hours each day in studying for Level I and II. For level III, I also took at least 1,000 hours to study (exclude time for tuition class), but it took me 10 months to complete the study, so in average I spent 2.5 to 3 hours in study each day.

(2) As far to my concern, there is no restriction imposed by the CFA Institute on how many times, how frequent or how long you could take the program.

(3) I attended tuition class for Level II and III. For my opinion, if you have time to study, self-study is more than enough. However, the most effiecient way to study is to form a study group (in my opinion anyway). Of course, to find a group of friends who are taking the same level as you will normally from the tuition class.

I took around 250 hours self studying and practicing Level 1 using the Schweser study notes. Schweser has around 70-80% of the curriculum of the official CFA book but only 50% of it's total pages, ie 1.5k pages as compared to 3k. Since you have 10 years of CF experience, there shouldn't be much problems.

I don't think there's an expiry date. But if you delay your sittings, certain chapters from the higher levels will be brought down a level since new theories etc will be introduced. After a 7 years gap, I think the entire level 2 might end up to be the same difficulty as level 3 7 years ago.

I have a senior who self studied all 3 levels. He passed 2 levels without fail, but this is now his 3rd attempt at level 3.

The thing I find about self studying is that you are all alone. If the book can't explain it to you, and you can't get a suitable alternative explanation, you are in deep trouble. Attending classes help in these situations.