Above 70 in 8 subjects but still FAILED:(

Hey guys,

ya all vl b shocked to hear dat one of my friend who gave L1 in December13 , flunked(band 10) despite getting 70 above in 8 subjects(Ethics,quant,corp.fin, FRA, FI, derivatives,portfolio, Eco), 50-70 in Alt. invst. & below 50 in Equity.

some of my friends who gave L1 passed by scoring 70 above in 3-4 subjects!! Howz that possible … Is there any possibility of CFAI making error ?

i can’t believe this result!! is there any way out to challenge the CFAI result? cuz i’ve never heard anything like that.

THIS IS WRITTEN IN CFAI WEBSITE in FAQs:

QUES:Do I have to pass each of the individual topic areas in order to pass an exam level?

ANS:No. As long as you achieve a total score above the minimum passing score (MPS) set by the CFA Institute Board of Governors, you would pass the exam regardless of your performance on any individual topic.

P.S: Equity-10% weightage & Alt. invst.- 3 % weightage, not substantial enuf to change result …

NEED your valuable suggestions.

THANX!!

He must have been very close, he should pass again next time.

^ What Palantir says. If you break it down there are ways your friend could have scored well in 8/10 and still failed. Equity constituted 10% weight on Dec. 2013 and Alt. Investments 3.33%. Assume that in all subjects your friend scored 71%, which would just put him/her in the >70% bracket. Since we don’t know what the MPS was, for the sake of testing, let’s say it is 70%. In Alt Investments. let’s say 51% since again that would put your friend just in that middle bracket. Solver says with the above scores a 67% correct percentage in equity would have gotten just below 70% overall. Since his bracket for Equity was under 50% we can only guess as how the other areas were. Very rough way of doing it, but if your friend is adamant, ask for a retabulation.

Youre friend could have gotten something like 10% in equity and 71% in all of his above 70’s and 51 in alt inv…that would likely lead him to fail.

People with only 3-4 above 70’s could have gotten 90’s in those sections and they could have been the most heavily weighted like Equity, FRA, Ethics, etc.

Wow, that’s a tough break. You can ask for a retab but I haven’t heard of anyone that got their results changed.

It’s a mystery always with CFAI grading system.

And as about the pass rate of 43% for Dec 2013, I am a little bit surprised cuz I thought it would be around 38-39% only. Does it mean anything like the exam this time is more difficult?

Mean reversion. Usually when the pass rate is higher than the norm, it gets back to where it should be the next year.

I would personally go for a retab if these were my scores. The Ethics adjustment ought to work in your favor here.

As others have pointed out, this is definitely possible and not overly surprising but still a tough break. Always a chance CFA did make an error though and if you have money to blow, CFAI will regrade it for $100 i think it is.

Wow that’s rough. I would not recommend retabing though.

No…higher pass rate in Dec is usually because there are a lot of June retakers.

oh man. I’m so upset right now. I failed with band:10 this december exam:(. I have all 5 of the subjects above 70% ; 4 was between 50 and 70 and fixed income invesment was below 50%. I do have some friends who passed with a worse table than me and I hit band 10. NOT FAIR.

Can someone help me with the following? What do I do different next time (Gonna take June 204 exam)?

I don’t see how this logic applies. You could make the same argument and say June is higher because there are a lot of Dec retakers. Could you not?

Do you think retakers have a higher pass rate than first timers? That would surprise me.

Wow, that’s harsh. Was probably lucky in June then judging by my grades. Only 5 were >70 FRA, Equity, Ethics, Econ, Portfolio Mgt, <50 for Derivatives, the rest 50 - 70 yet i passed.

Mathematically it is possible, just really hard to grasp with seemingly impressive results in your case.

He probably got in the low 50s for his 51-70 scores and barely above 70 in the >70 categories, that could still give him a pretty bad overall grade. Sucks but happens.

they tryna get that MMOONNNEEYYY!!!

i mean…geezz…if they let us all pass how would they make revenue =D

It’s impossible to know the breakdown of first timers in June vs December.

Why is it that everyone on these forums claim to fail band 10?