Source
r/CFA•
Fermit

L3 Note Taking - I didn't think it could get worse than for L2

But Jesus tapdancing Christ, note taking (I do it by hand so I remember it better, I can just type things on autopilot so it does absolutely nothing for me) is hugely increasing how much time it takes for me to cover material. I'm assuming other people have run into this problem, anybody have any helpful tips? I don't really see any way around it because of just how in-depth your knowledge needs to be in L3 for free response Q's, have any of you genuises come up with some way to streamline note taking at all? I've never been good at it in the first place so even more basic suggestions might help me out, who knows.

For the record, I took fairly in-depth notes for L2 as well, it just feels worse this time around.

Posted Apr 23, 2019, 4:31 PM UTC

56
re_meCFA•

i did't take notes.

Too much material to go through. Paid a prep provider for their notes and/or videos, and went through them several times.

5
SuperiorReturnsYoLevel 3 Candidate•

I found writing notes for the whole program to be useless because guess what... you need to know everything, everything is fair game.

Flash cards for the really important notes you need.

1
YellowUmbrellaGuyCFA•

I took notes, but for L3, I only took notes for things that I know for sure I don’t know. Unlike L2 in which there is a huge volume of formulas, L3 is more understanding the material than straight memorizing it. My L3 notes were easily half the height of my L2 notes.

2
ornamental_stripeLevel 3 Candidate•

I took hand written notes for L3 also... definitely increased the review time but I think it definitely helps with the retention. Just put in more hours and get it done.

I've since transitioned to using Quizlet to help quiz myself on key areas i've taken with my notes

1
CanadotaLevel 3 Candidate•

I took notes. I am just finishing them up now. My notes are about 30-50% longer than L2. For me this is pretty key for retention so I don’t regret it. No shortcuts here.

1
Nate_DevLevel 3 Candidate•

I found myself wasting too much time re-writing the book. My process is now: Read the chapter, don’t worry about retention / full understanding just get what I can at normal reading speed —> Go back to each LOS, highlight what I want to write for my notes to answer the LOS only. —> Write an outline of my highlights —> Watch MM videos

This is much faster for me and I get more repetition of the key points. I realized that I don’t remember pages and paragraphs of written English, I remember small chunks, key words, and ideas.

1