hi Guys - so i know level 2 is 980345820394852345 times harder than level 1 so i know you guys are going thru alot… but i was hoping you guys can take 2 seconds to share your thoughts on this…
so i actually just took level 1. going into it i was very confident, scoring ~75% on CFA mocks prior to the exam. But after walking out of level 1, i feel like complete crap… and i feel like i definitely failed. but ive also been told that regardless of level, everyone comes out of these exams thinking they failed. so i was wondering if everyone also felt this way walking out of level 1. I was definitely prepared, put in the hours, but ended up guessing much more than i anticipated.
Regardless, you have a lot of room for error at L1 - you can get 72 questions wrong and score a 70% which is almost certainly a pass (this has been discussed on here ad nauseum). So don’t stress if you guessed on a fair number of questions, unless it was more than 100. However, I doubt this as you claim to have been prepared. It’s hard to fail L1 if you put in your time and felt prepared (provided you’re not deluding yourself). I would venture to say that scoring 75% on mocks and then failing the test is highly unlikely at L1 unless you crumble under pressure. At L2 and L3 it’s a different story as whole sections/readings that your strong in can be omitted from the exams and your biggest weaknesses emphasized.
Honestly, I did not feel the way you did walking out of L1 or L2 and I’m sorry to share that with you. However, the great majority of people in the general candidate pool, and on here, did feel that way. I’m not claiming to be a special snowflake, I just went nuts studying for all levels and put in a ridiculous amount of time preparing (L3 I’m far less confident about - but that’s relative).
Don’t stress too much, you’ve got 18 days til you should start to stress again. Go get laid. Read a book. Take a weekend trip. Repair your neglected relationships with friends and family.
You are probably just fine. I’d say relax a little. L1, L2, and L3 are all challenging. Feeling horrible after an exam is a personality trait. I’m in the same boat.
L2 is not infinitely harder than L1. It’s hard but you can do it, just put the time in.
Best of luck OP. Good for you for asking questions.
for me, the difference between 1 and 2 is the margin for error. For level 1 you can screw up a fair proportion of the exam and still pass pretty comfortably, that’s why it seems so easy in hindsight once you’ve tackled levels 2 and 3 where if you screw up even 1 item set you’ll find it hard to pass unless you nail a few other 6/6.
Don’t worry about it mate, its hard to tell how you did but the road ahead is long. enjoy the summer
in my opinion most people think they did far worse than they actually do so try not to stress. wish you the best.
for Level 1 I walked out knowing I passed and I did by a good margin. Level 2 I was borderline but did pass and Level 3 I feel again I will be borderline.
Not many people walk out of all 3 exams thinking they crushed them… this is hard *hit.
