CFA's

Gandalph

After googling the eligibility of sitting these exams I got the following;

• Hold a U.S. bachelor's (or equivalent) degree
  • or be in the final year of your bachelor's degree program
  • or have four years of qualified, professional work experience
  • or a combination of work and college experience that totals at least four years
• Meet the professional conduct admission criteria (during the application process, you will be asked to sign statements of Professional Conduct and Candidate Responsibility)
• Be prepared to take the exams in English
• Have a valid international travel passport (required for enrollment and exam registration)

As a Business student in my final year of a level 8 course is there any reason why I shouldnt/ wouldnt be able to sit the level 1 exams? I wish to go onto an Msc in Finance and was wondering is this advised?

soddy1979

Yes, you can sit the level 1 exam when you are in the final year of your degree.

Many people sit the CFA exams whilst studying for a Masters in Finance. There will be a lot of overlap.

In my opinion though, the CFA exam process gets into the minutiae of the curriculum in a way that a degree/masters will not. I have a friend who did very well on NCIRL's Master of Finance program, but failed level 1 twice. As long as you aren't under the illusion that your master of finance work will be sufficient for you to pass the CFA exams, and you are willing to put in the additional time commitment, you should be fine.

Best of luck.

Jim2007

Gandalph wrote: »

As a Business student in my final year of a level 8 course is there any reason why I shouldnt/ wouldnt be able to sit the level 1 exams? I wish to go onto an Msc in Finance and was wondering is this advised?

I'd strongly advise you to concentrate on your degree and leave the CFA for another day, if ever! The first filter firms use when recruiting graduates is your degree results and if you don't have at least a 2.1, you'll be on the reject list before they even get to consider anything else.

At the same time if you are going to MSc in Finance then you are going to cover most of the same material anyways and again you should concentrate on getting the best result in that, rather than spreading yourself too thin.

You can always go back and do the CFA any time you want, but right now the objective should be to make absolutely sure that you get past the first filter - a good degree result.

Another thing to remember in your final year is that job hunting will take a big chunk out of your study time as well, so be very careful that you don't spread yourself too thin.

Jim.

goodmand88

I did an MSc Finance degree last year and there was a significant amount of work involved. Balancing the work involved in an MSc course and the CFA may not be realistic. I am planning on sitting the first CFA in June and have been told that there is a considerable amount of work. If not in difficulty in quantity, though I have also heard from people who have sat it that the second and third exams are seriously difficult!

Work hard in the MSc course and worry about the CFAs when you are finished! Plenty of time!

Mr_Roger_Bongos

Very sound advice from Jim and Goodmand, strongly reccommend you heed it.

Getting a 1st for example opens so many doors, at least to get you an interview. Everything after that is up to you. A solid 2:1 (which i got) is still very acceptable and then you can think about adding to the academic qualifications.

krtom

Excuse me for raising this topic from the dead and for being slightly off topic.

May I ask what 2:1 means in this context? (I'm a foreigner so I have no idea.)

Okay, I googled it out and it appears to have to do with graduating with honours, such that 2:1 means that your grades are 66% or more of the maximum score. Am I correct?

I have a master's degree in BA and have passed CFA L1. I graduated in a foreign (SE Europe) country. Do these thresholds apply to foreign graduates as well? There's no such thing as graduating with distinction in my country unless you're in the top 10% of graduates. My grades in my master's programme were 4.5 (out of 5) on average, and 4.28 (out of 5) on average in my bachelor's programme.

Gandalph

Jaysus forgot I started this, t'was a little surprise on my evening I&M forum scan.

You'll all be delighted to know that I got both that degree and MSc out of the way (bummed a year out in Oz in between) and only registered for the CFA level 1 last week

krtom a 2.1 (can be referred to as an 'upper second class honours') in academics here is an average result of 60%+, it is the second highest result you can get after a 1.1 (or more commonly known as a 'First') which is an average result of 70%+. I'm guessing you got a 'First' but don't quote me on that, not sure about international transition of results.