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Expect ~$1,000 USD per exam for the exam fees and the CFA Institute books. Most people will also use a third-party self-study packages, which include practice exams, condensed books (the CFA ones are 2x+ longer), study tips, online question banks, etc. Factor in an additional $500-1,000 USD per exam for these. Schweser is the most popular study package: http://www.schweser.com/cfa/. No matter how diligent you think you are, most people I know took an additional 5-10 days holiday in the run-up to the exam.
The material in CFA Level 1 is not difficult to understand, but the difficulty is in the sheer volume of the material to understand and memorize. Some guides may tell you to target 250 hours, but on average this will not be enough.im to start about 5/6 months before exam day at the latest. I generally recommend January if you're taking the June exams, and June if you're taking the December exams. Ease into it and slowly ramp up-remember the 300 hours rule-don't jump in all guns blazing or you'll burn out long before the exam arrives.