The Smokin' Cracktuary
04-09-2008, 07:29 AM
I am putting together some documents to aid with studying. I am not sure how everyone's study manuals are set up, but I know mine is simply a summary of all the material by reading.
In any case, I am creating a few documents as I go. Thus far I have two that serve these purposes:
1) This one is developed from doing past exam questions and it consists of things they like to see in every answer, on specific topic. Just kind of a reminder of aspects to make sure you mention about different topics they like to test.
I know for me, while I know a good bit about a lot of the material, it is sometimes hard to regurgitate without more prompting. For example, if you ask me if a certain stock price model has volatility bunching, I could tell you. But if you just ask me to describe a specific model, I may or may not remember to say whether or not it allows for volatility bunching.
In any case, that is the purpose of the document. Just to help remind me what to talk about when they ask about certain things. And as I said, this is based on past exam questions and answers.
It also includes some core lists. For lists that appear in multiple readings and are all a bit different depending on the reading, most of them contain a set of core points that are on each list regardless of the reading. This is more for the cae were they may ask you about a certain list, but you can't quite remember which one to write. These are points you can write regardless of the list they want and will be correct.
2) The second document is more for keeping similar concepts straight that appear in mulitple places across the syllabus. Like hedge ratios for different methods, and the number of hedge instruments to buy. Or different performance evaluation methods. Some things like this appear in multiple places and may vary slightly depending on the application. I am simply trying to get all these things in one place side by side, so I can make sure I keep track of which one's are used in each circumstance.
In any case, I figured since I am taking the time to put these together, I'd share with people. Then at least if I fail, I know I will have possibly helped someone else pass, and the time and effort I put into keeping track of this stuff won;t have been wasted.
I do realize many of you probably already have done similar things already, but for those of you that don't have the time, I am happy to share.
Also, these documents are far from complete. They are in their fledgling stages right now, but do have some useful stuff. I just started them about the last 3rd of the way through this trip of the syllabus.
For the 1st document, that will continue to evolve probably up to the exam itself as I will keep doing more and more problems, and keeping track of more and more things to make sure to include in certain answers.
The second document, should be all but complete by mid next week. As I said, I just started it the last part of the syllabus, so a lot of stuff isn't incuded yet.
I will be going through the syllabus one more time thoroughly over the next week, and specifically keeping an eye out for things to include. Some additions may trickle in over the last 3 or 4 weeks, but it should be fairly all inclusive by mid next week.
I apologize for the long winded post. If anyone is interested in benefiting from the effort I am putting into this, just PM me. I will be happy to share what I have, and keep updating you as these documents evolve.
And don't worry, these aren't going to be 50 pages each that will just be more crap you have to spend time on. They will be concise, and more for the purpose of things you can read over in an hour the day or two before the exam to keep yourself fresh.
ETA: I should also mention things that may contradict eachother may appear in one or both of these, but I assure you they are straight from the syllabus. Any facts that appear to contradict eachother are in fact contradicting statements form two or more readings. I will try to point these out and where they are found in the syllabus ( I mention this because there is one that I can think of off the top of my head right now, and there may be more to come).
In any case, I am creating a few documents as I go. Thus far I have two that serve these purposes:
1) This one is developed from doing past exam questions and it consists of things they like to see in every answer, on specific topic. Just kind of a reminder of aspects to make sure you mention about different topics they like to test.
I know for me, while I know a good bit about a lot of the material, it is sometimes hard to regurgitate without more prompting. For example, if you ask me if a certain stock price model has volatility bunching, I could tell you. But if you just ask me to describe a specific model, I may or may not remember to say whether or not it allows for volatility bunching.
In any case, that is the purpose of the document. Just to help remind me what to talk about when they ask about certain things. And as I said, this is based on past exam questions and answers.
It also includes some core lists. For lists that appear in multiple readings and are all a bit different depending on the reading, most of them contain a set of core points that are on each list regardless of the reading. This is more for the cae were they may ask you about a certain list, but you can't quite remember which one to write. These are points you can write regardless of the list they want and will be correct.
2) The second document is more for keeping similar concepts straight that appear in mulitple places across the syllabus. Like hedge ratios for different methods, and the number of hedge instruments to buy. Or different performance evaluation methods. Some things like this appear in multiple places and may vary slightly depending on the application. I am simply trying to get all these things in one place side by side, so I can make sure I keep track of which one's are used in each circumstance.
In any case, I figured since I am taking the time to put these together, I'd share with people. Then at least if I fail, I know I will have possibly helped someone else pass, and the time and effort I put into keeping track of this stuff won;t have been wasted.
I do realize many of you probably already have done similar things already, but for those of you that don't have the time, I am happy to share.
Also, these documents are far from complete. They are in their fledgling stages right now, but do have some useful stuff. I just started them about the last 3rd of the way through this trip of the syllabus.
For the 1st document, that will continue to evolve probably up to the exam itself as I will keep doing more and more problems, and keeping track of more and more things to make sure to include in certain answers.
The second document, should be all but complete by mid next week. As I said, I just started it the last part of the syllabus, so a lot of stuff isn't incuded yet.
I will be going through the syllabus one more time thoroughly over the next week, and specifically keeping an eye out for things to include. Some additions may trickle in over the last 3 or 4 weeks, but it should be fairly all inclusive by mid next week.
I apologize for the long winded post. If anyone is interested in benefiting from the effort I am putting into this, just PM me. I will be happy to share what I have, and keep updating you as these documents evolve.
And don't worry, these aren't going to be 50 pages each that will just be more crap you have to spend time on. They will be concise, and more for the purpose of things you can read over in an hour the day or two before the exam to keep yourself fresh.
ETA: I should also mention things that may contradict eachother may appear in one or both of these, but I assure you they are straight from the syllabus. Any facts that appear to contradict eachother are in fact contradicting statements form two or more readings. I will try to point these out and where they are found in the syllabus ( I mention this because there is one that I can think of off the top of my head right now, and there may be more to come).