I’m Officially Done the CSC

I just received my second exam results back, did much better on the second exam then the first one.  I have to say it was a sight of relief when I saw the “Complete” underneath the registration tab on my personal menu.  It’s just another thing complete, and it does feel good to have done.  I contacted CSC to see how long the certificate normally takes to ship out.  The estimated time was between 4 and 6 weeks, so I’m guessing around mid-April.  For those of you who may be ordering frames from CSI, you may be interested to know that they don’t ship with the diploma.  The CSI representative told me that the frames ship separately from the certificate, and the time frame for a frame to delivery is roughly 2 weeks.  They are charging around $70 for a $30 frame, not including shipping.

I am waiting until late June when I register for the Wealth Management Essentials (WME) course to order the updates CSC text.  There is a small story behind this.  I found out that CSC was finalizing a updated textbook to be released late January, early February.  These dates were way to late for me, so I studies off the online textbook instead, and decided to order the hard copy book when I signed up in later courses.  I like having reference materials in hard copy format, and the low cost of a book compared to printing it myself seems worthwhile.  I made sure to get the updated 2009 hard copy CPH materials, which I am currently going through.

Overall, I found the CSC to be an excellent introductory course into finance, that exposed me to a variety of different sections in the financial services industry.  While this was an advantage for those seeking general knowledge of the industries primary component, I also found this approach to be quite arbitrary, vague and narrow in scope.  The first volume of the book had essential components that will be required throughout your studies, and with the exception of chapter 12, were all extremely useful to me.  I did find that separating chapter 12 from 13 and 14 was perplexing, given that they both speak to the same specific component; financial statement analysis.  Also I found the second volumes chapters to be stretched out, as if they were trying to fill the information in to make it worthwhile.  The chapters on segregated funds and mutual funds could have easily been placed into a larger chapter with more streamlining of contents.  The same goes for hedge funds and other managed products.  I found a lot of this information was repetitive, or simply just taking up space.

Overall I did find the second exam easier than the first, but probably not in the way you think.  What did it for me was, by the time I had taken 1 CSC exam and read the first 12 chapters, I was way more acquainted with the CSC writing style and testing style, than I was the first go around.  So although the material was similar in difficulty throughout most of the key chapters, I think my technique improved causing me to believe the second exam was easier.  Overall, I think both exams are challenging and require a good degree of comprehension.

My advice for those enrolled or planning on enrolling in the Canadian Securities Course (CSC) is to focus on understanding the key concepts, and worry less about calculations and memorization of definitions.  The materials in the bonds and financial statement sections were pivotal to success in the second half of the course.  Furthermore, I felt economics for the time required of study, was far to undervalued on the exam and not worth considerable time.  Overall, if you commit to a study routine and exam content comprehension, you will have no trouble passing this exam.  Don’t confuse comprehension with the basic concept of “easy”, that is thrown around far to often in relation to this course.

Be diligent, prepared and focus on the material at hand and you will find that, although the exam is challenging, you can excel if you have prepared properly.  I highly advise against straight memorization or trying to “game” the exam.  This will just cost you time and money in the end.  I hope this blog can be of some use to people taking this exam in the future, as I have tried to pack as much content and information in here as I could in the short time I took this course.  I will now be moving over to the CPH blog (link in the sidebar) for two short weeks, at which point I will then move to a more permanent home on my CFA blog (link in sidebar).

It’s been fun,

– Steve

Is the CSC Really Worth the Money?

This is another one of those subjective questions.  To me, it wasn’t about the money at all.  Whatever the CSC charged, unfortunately, I would have to pay.  As I have said many times before, it is like a prerequisite to the finance industry in Canada.  Don’t think of it as an investment or a choice even.  If your sure you want to be in the securities industry, this course is a must have.  It’s not a commodity, its not even debatable.  The course is frankly, essential.

With that being said, the amount of money you have to fork out for the CSC is actually quite reasonable compared to other offerings.  Most study from home courses offer a huge amount of resources to its students, so its not just 100% profit.  Ignoring hardcover materials, the CSC has to provide web hosting space, pay its staff (including the forum moderators), develop resources such as tests, new CSC check questions, revisions to the textbook and so on.  So although I am sure CSC profits from these courses, there is a degree of cost associated to them.  I will talk further about the goals of the CSC and the for profit nature of security educators in Canada.

Is the CSC really worth the money? Straight and simple; yes it is. Register, learn a bunch and be prepared to take many courses that are much more difficult than this one in the future.

– Steve

Shoud You Take the CSC?

Its a basic question:

1. Do you enjoy dealing with numbers?

2. Do you enjoy continuously upgrading your knowledge on a wide variety of topics?

3. Do you have a huge ego?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, you are ready to take the CSC. The CSC is a Canadian regulatory requirement to trade mutual funds and a stepping stone to other CSI designations.

Take the CSC if you want to learn more about the securities industry, or if you wish to persue a rewarding career in the many industries of finance.

Ultimately if you want to differentiate yourself in this field you should focus on obtaining a chartered designation such as the Certified Financial Analyst (CFA) or Certified Financial Planner (CFP). These are internationally accepted and hold the equivalence of a graduate degree. Keep in mind that these designations are often extremely difficult to obtain, stretching over a number of years. Don’t let that discourage you, as many applicants each year become CFA’s, CFP’s and so forth.

Those little letters underyour name do have great value, but when balanced with work experience you become quite valuable to prospective employers. Present economic situation aside, many CFA’s find successful jobs across the world.

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