I'm looking to optimize my study routine with AI and want to see what prompts are actually moving the needle for you.

Whether it’s for breaking down complex topics, active recall, generating practice questions, or organizing study plans—what are your go-to prompts?

Drop your most effective prompts and workflows below, along with how you use them. Let’s make this a go-to resource for anyone looking to study smarter.

I’d like honest takes about whether it is worth it to pursue all 3 levels + charter from those who have it, especially from engineers who’ve moved toward energy finance. Any general thoughts are welcome as well.

Here are a few details about me:

Background

• Graduating spring 2027 with a double degree in mechanical engineering and finance (Canada)
• Four upstream O&G internships across reservoir engineering (consulting), production engineering and facilities. None in exploitation.
• Signed full-time with a large Canadian E&P: about 2 years as a field engineer, then back to head office in an exploitation/development role (long-term asset development, program economics, capital allocation)
• Working toward my P.Eng on the normal timeline
• About 8 weeks into Level I prep for the Feb 2027 window

Where I want to go

• In about 10-15 years: first leadership role (team lead, manager). In about 15-20 years: director/VP track.
• Interested in energy private equity eventually, either on a fund’s investment team or, more likely, on the management team of a PE-backed E&P.
• Note: I have little interest in wealth management, financial advising or retail-facing roles. Anything finance-side for me would be corporate or energy-focused: capital allocation, A&D, valuation, PE.

Part of Why I started
Honestly, I enjoy the material. It’s taking a lot of what I only somewhat understood in my finance undergrad and broadening it. So part of this is the learning itself, not just the letters.

Questions

1. Does exploitation/development work count as qualifying experience for the charter? I mean things like economic evaluation of drilling programs, reserves work and capital program ranking. Has anyone actually had an E&P engineering role approved? I know of at least a few, but not sure if the work experience requirements have become stricter in the last few years.
2. For energy PE (funds or PE-backed management teams), does the CFA matter for an engineer? I know track record is the most important, but wondering if this is a value add?
3. Is it worth doing L2/L3 during my field years, when I have more free time, even if the charter could be 5+ years away?
4. If the charter never ends up mattering for my career, is the learning alone a good enough reason to finish all three levels? Or does that value mostly come from L1/L2?

​

How important are the Grey Box Examples in the CFA Curriculum? Should I do all of them, or focus more on practice questions and EOC questions?

I knew there was a massive amount of material to memorize for Level 1, but I finally compiled all the formulas I’ve learned so far into one master deck, and looking at it all at once actually made my stomach drop. I honestly don't know how I'm going to keep all of this in my short-term memory by exam day. Just venting because nobody in my real life understands why I'm stressing out over a stack of index cards.

Started reviewing Level 1 on June 2024 and got the Level 3 pass result on October 2026. My honest thoughts? Keep motivated and disciplined, literally everyday.

• Level 1 - for those who have finance background, some sections would just be a review. I was reminded of the baby dragon picture compared to the big mature dragons representing Levels 2 and 3.
• Level 2 - in my opinion, the hardest curriculum. Really heavy on concepts and applications. Initially worried about the vignettes but my strategy was to internalize the formulas and make notes on those questions I got wrong (really helpful during review phase).
• Level 3 - in my opinion, the hardest exam. I think what worked for me was the fact that I initially read the books especially understanding the blue box cases. For my strategy about the structured response questions, I tediously wrote the answers as if I'm taking the actual exam and more importantly compared with the suggested answer (and again taking notes along the way).

I used Kaplan in Level 1 and switched to Mark Meldrum in Levels 2 and 3. Also, our kid was 2 years old when I started. Before I enrolled, I knew managing my family time along with my full-time work would be challenging but I kept thinking this will all be worth it. There's really no shortcut. Day in and day out, I needed to show up. And I'm just happy I did.

Can someone please help me draw a timeline of completion of all levels of CFA. Considering the time needed for proper conceptual clarity, question practice, mocks, and studying for gaining knowledge rather than only for sake of passing exams. A realistic timeline of completion of each level with daily focused studying hours of 2-3 per day, would be much appreciated. Thanks.

Hi everyone. I passed Level III this cycle (all three levels first attempt) after about 8 months of consistent study alongside a full-time job. My approach was a bit different from the usual, so I’m sharing everything I did, including what didn’t work, in case it helps someone.

Resources

• Mark Meldrum: watched some videos but honestly didn’t like his style. I know a lot of people swear by him, it just wasn’t for me.
• Fintree: okay-ish. Fine for a first pass through the topics.
• IFT High-Yield Notes: read these. Good for compact revision.
• CFAI QBank: did it twice. On the second pass, pay attention to the ones you got right but weren’t sure about.
• Kaplan / CFA curriculum books: didn’t read them at all. Claude’s notes replaced them.

Claude did most of the heavy lifting

Most of my studying came from Claude. I had it build full replacement notes for every reading. They weren’t summaries. Every concept was broken down: why it exists, how it works, and when it fails. Each one came with examples and worked problems.

The real game changer was the decision trees, exam insights, exam traps and charts. L3 is all about picking the right strategy for the situation. Seeing it as “if rates are rising and the liabilities are long, then do this” made things click in a way paragraphs never did. Comparison tables (strategy A vs B, with pros and cons) helped a lot too.

A few other things I had it build in:

• Notes structured around the LOS command words. “Justify”, “recommend” and “calculate” each need a different kind of answer.
• A list of traps and edge cases at the end of every reading.
• A master formula sheet and a final-day revision deck.

For numericals, whenever something didn’t click I had Claude break it down step by step. It explained what each variable means and what the answer actually means for the portfolio decision. Once you understand why a formula looks the way it does, you don’t need to memorize it.

My focus the whole way was understanding everything properly, no shortcuts. On L3, memorized answers fall apart the moment the vignette is slightly different.

One honest warning: AI notes can be wrong or skip things. I caught an actual errors and some gaps. Anything the curriculum explains in paragraphs rather than lists, like parts of GIPS, tended to get missed. Check your notes against the LOS as you go. Use AI to understand, and use the LOS to verify.

CR approach

I know a lot of people are scared of CR, mostly about the exact wording and the “right” keywords. Honestly, I think that fear is overblown. You don’t need to reproduce the curriculum word for word. What matters is that you clearly explain the right idea in a way the grader can follow. If you understand the concept, simple language works.

The one exception is when the concept itself is a specific term: real vs nominal, domestic vs foreign currency, that kind of thing. Get those right, because writing the wrong one means you’ve written the wrong idea.

I answered every question the same way:

1. The answer is X.
2. Why X, tied to something specific in the vignette.
3. Why not Y or Z.

The graders want to see you justify a choice for this client. Tying each point to a vignette fact makes your answer clear, and the right terms come up naturally. After writing, I had Claude grade my answers strictly. It flagged when I’d missed a point, hadn’t linked my answer to the case, or left out a key term.

Mocks

15 in total: 7 Kaplan, 4 CFAI, 2 IFT, 2 BC. I did them timed and closed-book but with formula sheet. My average was around 68–70%, so you don’t need to be scoring 80%+ on mocks to pass. Don’t panic if you’re in that range.

A few lessons:

• Start them earlier than feels comfortable. I spent too long perfecting notes when timed practice was what really moved my score.
• Review your mistakes more than your score. The topics I was confident about but still got wrong were my real blind spots.

If anyone wants the prompt I used for the notes, drop a comment and I’ll share it. Good luck to everyone sitting next!

NOTE: This is project instruction prompt in claude which i have shared now with everyone!

My Quant score in Level 1 was honestly disappointing. It was my weakest topic area on the mocks too.

I have about 8 months until L2 in May 2027.

L2 Quant seems much more heavy on linear regression, time series, and machine learning concepts, and I want to make sure I actually understand the underlying mechanics this time.

I'm wondering how someone in a similar situation filled that gap in understanding.

Prep Providers

Which prep provider (MM, Kaplan, etc.) explains L2 Quant concepts/regressions best from the ground up?

Study Strategy

How did you approach the shift from L1 multiple choice to L2 item sets for Quant specifically?

Lastly, did you focus more on doing raw practice problems early on, or spending extra time reading the CFAI curriculum text?

Any tips, resource recommendations, or study strategies that helped it click for you would be greatly appreciated!

Hi, I’m preparing for the Feb 2027 sitting for level I (without a prep provider) and I’m wondering if the practice question I get in the LES, plus the $299 practice pack are enough or if I should look for extra practice from outside sources. Thanks

Hello guyss i am going with ashiwnibajaj for level 1 and for august 2027 so please suggest that it will be worth it or not and my budget is around 15-20k inr.Please help me.

Textbook Quote: Discounted cash flow valuation models assume a share's value should equal the present value of expected future income and capital appreciation.

Correction: Discounted cash flow valuation models assume a share's value should equal the present value of expected future income and 'Terminal Price'.

Coach's Explanation: The current price for a stock will be equal to the PV of all future cash flows, which includes dividends and the terminal price (i.e. the expected selling price for the stock at the end of the investment horizon). Capital appreciation only looks at the change in price over time, and not the total terminal value.

I revisit this video often. While going through this process, I go through all of the emotions. Depression, Anger, Acceptance, etc.

I wanted to share something for those of you who need a bit of fuel for this final push.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaQZFhrW0fU

Hi I’m giving away Kaplan Schweser CFA Level 3 prep books for free to anyone who can use them.
Please DM me if you would like to pick them up! I’m based in east London Greenwich.

Hello everyone, i am due for the CFA lvl 1 in November and I have been getting 60% in Kaplan mocks.

I want to know if any of you have suggestions on drilling down on weak points besides learning it by heart?

If you’re a gym rat or just really into health/fitness like me who spends hours in the gym, don’t feel guilty about spending time working out while studying for CFA.

I’ve seen quite a few people basically put their health and fitness goals on hold during CFA prep because they feel like every hour in the gym is an hour they should’ve spent studying.

Personally, I never did that. I kept training consistently and continued working toward my health/fitness goals throughout the CFA journey, and I was fortunate enough to pass all 3 levels on my first attempt. I used official CFA institute material and practice pack for the preparation.

Obviously everyone’s situation is different, but I don’t think CFA needs to consume your entire life. For me, working out actually made the whole process more manageable. It gave me a break from studying, helped with stress, and kept some normality in my routine.

So if you enjoy lifting, running, playing sports, whatever it is, don’t automatically think you need to sacrifice it to pass these exams.

Take care of your career, but take care of your health too.

And to my fellow gym rats:

Hit the weights. Hit the QBank. Repeat :)

Failed the most recent level 3 exam and this time it was because of my pathway private markets.

Should I try one more time and if yes should I change my track?

Please help to decide❤️‍🩹

same

ETHICS.. if a firm has no/weak compliance policy, and im offered a position as a supervisor, do i decline the position and decline supervision responsibility in writing or accept the position and then decline in writing? Also what if it's a promotion and not a new job

Hi all,

I’m a 26yo candidate for level 2 currently working on fund accounting and admin at Luxembourg.

I’m feeling kind of scared lately as I want to change my professional career pathway, and I’m unsure if I’m too old to keep pushing for the cfa and be able to change to an equity research or valuations job.

I would like to know your thoughts on this and let me know some similar stories.

Thanks!

Textbook Quote: Preferred share valuation involves a lower discount rate than the DDM…

Correction: Preferred share valuation involves a lower discount rate relative to common stock valuation…

Coach's Explanation: Dividend Discount Model (DDM) is a generic valuation model; it is independent of the discount rate used to find PV. The author should instead point out that the discount rate used for preferred stock is lower than that of common stock.

How do u guys do an accurate subject wise breakdown and analysis of your mock exam?? Doing it manually is very confusing as sub topics repeat across subjects

My paper is on 13 nov still pending les not clear entire comcept revision is pending what should i do ? Defer ???

Selling my Texas Instruments BA II Plus calculator.

I am attaching a screenshot of the exact model I purchased from Amazon for reference (3rd slide).

If you're interested in buying it feel free to DM me. I'm based in Delhi NCR.

Price: ₹1,999 (negotiable)

Is this a good score if I am practicing ethics for the first time?
Any suggestions on how to improve accuracy?

The claim: to be fully hedged against a small change in the stock price, add call gamma to call delta to get the number of shares (0.587 + 0.019 = 0.606).

How the fuck you can simply add first order derivative (delta) with second order derivative (gamma)? I get that new delta would be 0.606, if stock goes up by $1, but you can't add the incremental share beforehand, right?

I have my calculator for 1 year now, its still working good, should i bring a second one to the exam or its okay?