You are now 3 days into your CFA Level 1 preparation.
You’re building your August 2026 CFA
Level I study rhythm one focused day at a time. This post is a practical study
plan (not official CFA Institute curriculum material), designed to help you
master Time Value of Money basics with clean calculator work and a practice schedule.
Take 10 minutes to get things together and prepare a checklist for preparation
Checklist
Calculator
Cleared workdesk
Study material, notes, timer
Flash cards - filled out or empty ones
Question bank
Notebook, for logging progress and errors plus any other inputs.
Daily Ethics mini-block (10 minutes)
·
Read
the Code of Ethics once, slowly.
·
Then
do one reflection prompt: “Where
could I be tempted to ‘round’ or ‘massage’ numbers at work, and how would I
handle it?”
·
Finish
with 5 quick ethics warm-up questions
(any ethics Q-bank set).
Main study block: Time Value of Money foundations (55–65 minutes)
Focus on understanding inputs,
timing, and how rates behave.
·
Simple
vs compound growth (what changes when compounding is introduced)
·
Nominal
rate vs effective annual rate (EAR)
·
Compounding
frequency: annual, semiannual, monthly
·
Converting
between rates when compounding frequency changes
B. Discounting vs compounding
(direction matters)
·
Future
value intuition: “move money forward in time”
·
Present
value intuition: “bring money back to today”
·
Sign
conventions on the calculator (why PV and FV often have opposite signs)
C. Return measures you’ll see often
·
Holding
period return (HPR) concept and basic computation
·
Annualizing
intuition (don’t overcomplicate today—get the idea right)
4) 25-question practice target (30–40
minutes)
Do these closed-book. After each set, quickly review wrong answers before
moving on.
20
Quant (TVM) questions
·
8
× EAR vs nominal rate conversions
·
6
× PV/FV single cash flow (different
compounding frequencies)
·
6
× discounting/compounding direction +
sign convention
5
Ethics questions
·
2
× integrity/truthfulness scenario checks
·
3
× professional conduct “best action” questions
5) Mistake-log (write 3–5
bullets)
For every missed question, label it
as one of:
·
Concept gap
·
Formula gap
·
Calculator error
·
Reading error
If you miss an ethics question,
classify it mainly as Concept gap or
Reading error.
6) Five-question review checkpoint
(5–10 minutes)
Answer these from memory:
1. What’s the difference between a nominal rate and EAR?
2. If compounding frequency increases
(same nominal rate), does EAR go up or down?
3. What does “discounting” mean in plain
language?
4. Why do PV and FV often have opposite
signs on the calculator?
5. What is a holding period return
measuring?
·
Note:
this is a study plan, not official curriculum material
Important to do
·
20
TVM questions breakdown
·
5
Ethics warm-up questions
· Mistake-log categories
· Prepare flash cards from today's formulas
Finally
· Quick recap: rates, direction, calculator discipline
Tomorrow is Day 4, where you’ll push TVM further into annuities and cash-flow timing (PMT problems) and build speed with
repeatable calculator steps.
Did you find this useful> Can you please comment?
Were there many mistakes after your readings and QA session. Remember, its important to log your errors for future reference.
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