Attempt first, then reverse-engineer
CFA Drill is built for people who already know how to read a textbook and still miss items under time. The failure mode is familiar: you open an explanation, nod along, and never force a choice. Reverse engineering here is not a shortcut. It is a sequence that keeps the key hidden until you have committed.
This page is a public process note. It does not replace the curriculum. It explains how the app sequences attention so practice time converts into fewer repeated mistakes.
1. Commit to A, B, or C
A Level I stem is usually a small model: a cash-flow timing, a ratio definition, or an ethics fact pattern. If you skip the click, you skip the model. The app asks for a choice first so the later explanation has something to contradict. A wrong answer is useful; a skipped stem is not.
Practical tip: read the question line at the end of the stem before the story. Many candidates build a beautiful analysis of the wrong target. Another tip: when two choices are numerically close, assume you used the wrong clock, the wrong n, or the wrong statement—not that CFA Drill “rounded strangely.”
2. Grade the attempt, not your mood
After you choose, mark the item as learning, blindspot, or mastered. Mastered is not “I got lucky once.” It is a deliberate state after a correct attempt, or a pattern of correct repeats. Blindspots are items you quarantine on purpose—fragile ethics scenarios, signs on duration, inventory methods you keep swapping. The blind-spot pool is global so a weak topic cannot hide behind a subject filter.
If you guessed correctly, still open the reverse panel. A lucky click without a reconstructable reason belongs in learning, not mastered.
3. Only then open the reverse panel
The reverse-engineering panel is written to work backwards from the keyed choice: which formula, which timing convention, which duty in the Code. Read it as a reconstruction of the trap, not as a second textbook. If the panel still feels opaque, leave the item in learning and come back after a night—not after rereading the same paragraph five times in ten minutes.
Write one concrete miss note. Examples that help later review: “I treated ordinary annuity as due,” “I equated legal with ethical,” “I read NI as cash.” Vague notes like “need to review FSA” do not change the next attempt.
4. A 25-minute session template
- Five items attempt-only (no reverse panel yet).
- Grade all five.
- Open reverse panels only for misses and fragile correct guesses.
- Write one sentence per miss: “I used end-of-period when it was due,” or “I optimized firm revenue.”
- Stop. Sleep beats a second identical block.
Twice a week, run a mixed-subject block so filters cannot hide weak areas. Once a week, reopen only the blindspot pool—no new stems until those duties or identities stabilize.
5. Common sequence failures
- Reading the reverse panel first, then “confirming” a choice you never made under pressure.
- Marking mastered after one lucky correct click without reconstructing the trap.
- Staying inside one subject filter for weeks while a blindspot sits elsewhere.
- Grinding past fatigue; accuracy collapses and you teach yourself noise.
6. What free and Pro change
Free accounts get a fixed sample per subject from the current bank edition so you can test the workflow. Pro unlocks the full bank for the edition stamped at checkout and removes ads beside drill content. Later editions and other exam levels, if offered, are sold separately. See Refund & Purchase Policy.
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7. What this is not
These notes and the app are original study materials from EonDigi Inc. They are not CFA Institute curriculum, mocks, or an endorsement. Nothing here is investment, legal, or career advice. Personal on-screen study only—Terms.
Next: full study guide, Ethics, Quant, FSA, or the practice app.