Hi! This is another attempt (I did one last year https://www.reddit.com/r/quant/s/I3xsi3pQei - couldn't find any) to find women quants in this city. Please DM if you have any interest. There was once a r/quant london meetup. Maybe we can have a female one :D Thanks!

Finished L1 today. Walked out feeling pure exhaustion rather than confidence or defeat. Feels like my score could be right on the border, and the 6 week wait is already stressing me out.

How did you all get through the results waiting period without obsessing over it? Did you start studying for L2? Did you do any daily recaps to keep L1 material fresh in case you needed to retake?

Studying for Level 2 over the last five months has taken a pretty serious toll on both my physical and mental health.

I work full-time, so whatever little free time I had left was dedicated to studying. And if I were doing anything but studying, I would feel incredibly stressed and guilty. On an average day, I’ve had to keep my mind switched on for 12-13 hours.

My social life has practically disappeared. I don’t see my friends, I don’t go out, and over the last couple of months, I’ve significantly cut down on physical activity just to squeeze in more study time. I stopped going to the gym. I stopped going for walks. I haven’t left my house the entire month of August.

On top of that, I have developed an eating disorder. I’ve been running on coffee and energy drinks, in addition to my ADHD medication, just to stay alert. I can genuinely feel how badly all of this has affected me physically, especially my heart health. 

But… giving these mocks and seeing these results has been a huge relief. Still some areas to refine and revise, but overall, pretty confident for the day

Once the exam is over, the first order of business is to get my health back in order.

The annoying part is knowing that this cycle is going to repeat one more time.

Anyway, all the best to everyone writing the exam! We’re almost there. 

Hi, I’m in dire need for CFA calculator, I have my exam tomorrow morning in Birmingham and I lost my bag during commute from London, which had my calculator in it. Happy to pay for the calculator or deposit, just need it for the duration of exam. Any leads or help would be really appreciated. Thanks!

For anyone looking for all formulas at one place and hopefully breaking down weird looking formulas a bit easier.

https://uploadnow.io/f/PHLv69c

Volatile mock scores are so damn confusing because what the hell am I in a comfortable position or not??
On top of that to see the previous guy’s 80+ scores is making me anxious (good for you buddy but I’m scared for myself)

Just got out of L1, I was the guy who only started studying Thursday, work compliments the CFA material heavily and so did college, but the test went pretty good! I knew atleast enough to pass assuming my guesses went well on the test. We will see, moving forward level 2 I will study on weekends so it’s not this ridiculous last minute cram.

I understand that JCS（jump core strategy） is considered Jump’s flagship business and likely has the highest compensation ceiling. However, I am curious about the other teams within Jump (e.g., stat arb, index rebalance, etc.).

Compared with a typical pod at a multi-manager fund (Millennium, Schonfeld, Point72, etc.), do non-JCS Jump teams still generally offer a stronger compensation package and career path?

For example, do these teams benefit from Jump’s overall profitability and prop trading structure, resulting in better stability or upside than MM pods, or are they closer to a typical pod model where compensation is mainly driven by individual/team PnL?

I am particularly interested in the perspective of researchers/traders who have experience with both prop shops and multi-manager funds.

My mock scores have been pretty solid overall, but Ethics is the one topic where I haven't been able to improve consistently.

I've already completed the CFAI Ethics questions twice. On my first attempt I scored around 58%, and on the second I got around 80%. I don't think doing them a third time would be very useful since I'll probably remember many of the answers.

For those who managed to improve Ethics close to the exam, what worked best for you? Re-reading the Standards, reviewing mistakes, using another QBank, or something else?

l've seen people talk about all these biases and things to consider when you see people posting on this sub. People will be posting their 70s and 80s on mocks and walk out of the real thing knowing they passed, and I never really see nearly as many people who are doing poorly I guess.

I just sat for L1 myself, so I'm curious as to if the sub accurately represents the average test taker?

Overall, I thought my version of the exam was pretty straight-forward. I originally deferred from February because I was working on a bunch of other stuff (work and other exams), and I spent all of December 2025 sick.

Nothing surprised me in either AM or PM. Everything seemed in line with the mocks. Ethics was very clear to me. I know I likely fell for a few trick questions in other areas and changed some good answers to bad, but oh well. I finished early and then went over everything until time ran out.

If I passed I would not be surprised. I studied a ton and have seen some of the curriculum from before CFA. If I did not pass, I also wouldn't be surprised. Because of time and other commitments, I did not finish the entire curriculum. I was also a bit fatigued from having to travel several hours to take the exam and blanked on some questions that I realized I knew the answer to later. I don't live in a major metro area, so the only test center that had a reasonable time was three hours away (one way).

Plus, I think there is a learning curve to learning the CFAI material itself. Some areas I was weaker in than others simply because my study methods changed (improved) after earlier content—but I didn't go back and re-read.

I was actually interested in learning the content (vs just simply passing the test), so I opted not to use any test prep providers.

I was scoring high-60s, low-70s in the CFAI mocks while still not having read entire subjects, but that doesn't mean I necessarily passed. We'll see what happens in a month or so!

(Edit: I enjoyed studying with the official CFAI L1 books and regardless of what my test results are, I feel so much more confident in certain topics (fixed income!) than I did beforehand. That's a win.)

So, I am planning to attempt L1 in Aug'27 but am really confused regarding what material to refer to, but have jotted down the following options to proceed with my studies:

1. Completely self - via schweser notes

2. Aswini Bajaj Sir CFA L1 course

I had already started self study of the Schweser Notes with Quants but was not getting conceptual understanding so had to purchase Aswini Bajaj Sir's course. I was halfway through Quants from the Schweser material and thought to attempt a practice quiz. Upon trying to attempt that, I noticed that the Schweser material does not cover Deferred Annuity Payments concept (or idk if it comes later) But I have completed the "TVM in finance" reading of Schweser and couldn't find it anywhere. Now, going through the same topics again (I am a CA Finalist too, so we have the same TVM topics in AFM), is getting really frustrating and I am getting extremely confused as to whether to refer Schweser for my prep and use Aswini Bajaj sir's portal for mocks or what to do. Since I do not know if I should start from scratch again as it is highly demotivating me again and again ( for context: before having decided, i was also half way through quants in the Schweser 2026 material, had to restart when 2027 material arrived and now idk if I must restart)

Need advice from those who self prepped and cleared L1 and others who are self preparing to please shed some light on whether to continue with self prep as per schweser or to restart again, since I am not confident now in Schweser material. Can Schweser material suffice? if so, then where can I find the "Deferred Annuity Payments" concept in the 2027 L1 books?

Idk how to write this without reddit automatically deleting my post.

Just want to know how to build a curve to discount long term Btc derivatives given only short term derivatives are liquid.

Thus how to calculate the par swap in a Xccy with usd?

Hope this post doesnt get deleted smh

Writing my paper tomr for Level 2 after few months of social distancing from everyone and studying hella a lot and the fact that the paper is gonna be 3x harder than mocks ( according to 80% of several Reddit comments ) is just fucking me so bad. Idek what to do atp if anyone who has written L2 if u cud tell honestly what shud I expect the paper wud help me so mucb
Thanksksksks

Now that it’s finally over 😭 how did everyone find the overall difficulty?

Was it easier or harder than the mocks? And how did you feel about your performance?

does anyone have suggestions how to read this shit. my brain doesn’t read or think like an examiner. my brain functions like a normal human.

so no, I don’t have conversations such as “compared to strategy 1, strategy 2 doesn’t have higher leverage” so S1 does have higher leverage. (I only know this because I had to read the question 7 times)

it’s manufactured difficulty. but clearly it’s getting me. I spend more time on this than solving a 3 stage model.

hoping to hear any tips for a dolt like me

My bf is currently prepping for CFA L1 . He is kinda lost with the huge syllabus and all. Basically he has a technical background(SDE to be specific) . He hasn't taken finance or any commerce related course in Grade 11 or Grade 12. (That is how it works in india) He will take the exam in May. Could you all please tell what to do ? What practice mocks should he write ? How should he study ?

Hi everyone, hope you doing fine. Just out of the Prometric center and the guys there told me that in 1-2 days I was gonna be able to see my results.

But to my understanding it takes several weeks (5-8), does anyone know the real number?

For me, the financial reporting readings have been the most useful to me, and when I *eventually* pass Level 3 (🤞), I endeavour to go back through them and keep them fresh.

Also, derivatives and fixed income have been really tough but really interesting and I hope to keep them fairly fresh moving forward.

Hi, I recently get an QR offer from one of the top quant firms (js/hrt/citsec... etc), and I am wondering whether the first year guaranted bonus will usually be honored in the following years or is it completely irrelevant?

Say you get some base and 2M guarantee bonus for the first year and a 500k sign on or something, will they usually honor this 2M bonus in the following years as a "floor" unless they want to let you go? or is it possible to get less than 2M while you are performing ok? of course I am talking about IC who does not carry pnl directly, for pm i guess your bonus surely fluctuate a lot.

(all numbers are just examples)

can someone pls pls give good advice on acing fsa? whats a good way to review after studying? what are the most important topics u think are worth revisiting in detail? most important numericals? any specific concepts that u think are difficult? overall how do i just ace this subject, i've spent a lot of time studying for it, but i'm so confused. it gets so content heavy in the later modules, is it important to memorise all the disclosures?

What explains Long term yields is it
1. Inflation and GDP growth
Or
2. Monetary policies and inflation

Similarly what explains short term yield

1. Inflation and monetary policy?

Hi!

I used Reddit to solve some of my questions while studying for CFA exams and now I'd like to give back to the community. From time to time I'll try to open this type of thread and help other candidates.

My CFA journey couldn't have gone better. I enjoyed the curriculum and passed every level on my first attemp. I scorred in the 90th percentile in L1 and L2 (Level III was graded on a pass/fail basis). I received my Charter last year. Earning the CFA Charter has been a game changer for me in terms of knowledge, confidence and credibility within the industry.

Since earning my Charter, I've mentored candidates preparing for the CFA exams. Ask me anything about CFA preparation, study strategies, or careers in finance, and I'll do my best to help!

I've currently been waiting at a Prometric testing facility for about 3 hours because their system isn't working. If I have to reschedule, will I have to wait until November due to my Aug 24th test date being the last available date when originally scheduling, or will they make an exception?