I have failed

Hey guys, this topic has been created to know how many of us has failed in level-2 and also our feelings after failing (only if you want to share). Please put message in this topic only if you have failed and only one message. In the message u can express ur feelings, grades in different Items etc. The number of candidates who have failed can be known by the number of messages. To get accurate number please do not post more than one message. So let the counting starts from July 26,2011.

failed… band 1

failed, band 10. not retaking. put in the time and effort, don’t want to waste anymore of my life.

Failed Band 9: Topic Max Pts <=50% 51%-70% >70% Alternative Investments 18 - * - Corporate Finance 36 * - - Derivatives 36 - * - Economics 18 - - * Equity Investments 72 - - * Ethical & Professional Standards 36 - * - Financial Reporting & Analysis 72 * - - Fixed Income Investments 36 - * - Portfolio Management 18 * - - Quantitative Methods 18 * - -

I’m a band 10! Does anyone know if asking for retabulation has ever worked out?

Failed, again. Scored pretty well in Ethics, Equity and Financial Reporting & Analysis however, which is a good thing. Fell into band 7 which is an improvement from last year… I have been on this board a while and have never so far seen anyone posting about a successful retabulation, but I guess you, Panto, can be the first one to succeed.

Failed band 8. Definitely going in again in 2012.

Would love to know some retabulation experience. I’m so upset with this I know those guys are pretty accurate. I guess my curiosity it’s worth $100 right now…

Panto Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Would love to know some retabulation experience. > I’m so upset with this I know those guys are > pretty accurate. > I guess my curiosity it’s worth $100 right now… I think this is a great cash cow for the CFAI. They wait 2 months to release scores, then entice the poor souls who they arbitrarily deemed “fail” (band 10) with a potential remedy…only $100! I think for this racket to continue, there needs to be at least a few people online who have successfully had their scores re-tabulated to “pass”. Otherwise, who would buy into this idea?

The overall pass rate for Level II was 43%. Here are some historical pass rates to compare with. It looks like this year’s results were pretty average compared to the ten most recent years. It was different in the past. 2011 - 43% 2010 - 39% 2009 - 41% 2008 - 46% 2007 - 40% 2006 - 48% 2005 - 56% 2004 - 32% 2003 - 47% 2002 - 47% 2001 - 46% 1991 - 54% 1981 - 85% 1971 - 74% To what degree do you think retakers’ result will “lift” the average pass rate (43%) compared to the pass rate for the sub group consisting of first time takers only? Surely there must be quite a few retakers around in any given year and they ought to be overrepresented among those who have passed the exam, don’t you think?

Band 9 (which is better than expected) When I don’t make it through the material and glance over the last sections of Portfolio Management, Derivatives, and Alternative Investments I can’t be too upset that I end up <50 in those categories. Bottom line the test is extremely beatable if you spend the time on it. I was L1 Dec '10 and didn’t get going til late Feb. Another 2-3 weeks of hard studying and I would have been there. That thought is what’s going to kill me when I hit the thick of it next spring.

I failed Band 9. Over 70% in FRA, Equity and Ethics… Apparently wasn’t enough to have done well in those 2 key topics… I bombed Portfolio Management, Alternative Investments & Quant, which were the subject I felt the weakest (except PM, which I was neutral on). Very disappointing and not sure if I want to retake… I could be doing better things with my life and the worst part is that I was only doing the CFA designation as a “nice to have” and will not be doing any real security analysis as part of my business. I only wanted the prestige of having the designation and am re-evaluating if it’s worth the effort. I have some soul searching to do over the next few months to see if I re-enroll or not. To all the others I feel your pain, keep your head high and focus on the ultimate goal, it’s only an extra year and you are coming out of this failure smarter and battle-hardened. Best of luck!

2nd attempt at level 2, 2nd fail. Went from band 2 to band 10. Put in about 450 hours of study for the second attempt so I’m not in good spirits as you can imagine. I’m fairly sure I will step up to try again in 2012 (assuming I’m still breathing), I think I’ve learned some valuable things to implement upon a further attempt. I need to work smarter, not necessarily longer. I’m almost certain I could prepare myself better with 200 hours of smart preparation as opposed to what I had been doing. What I am 100% sure of is that this whole process is a racket. A nice money making exercise for the awarding body, how about making questions straight forward and non-ambiguous??! Might make things a bit fairer for us. If it wasn’t such a well regarded designation I wouldn’t bother trying again with this process and shelling out nearly $800 for a few books and one day of exams.

biffyfries Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Band 9 (which is better than expected) > > Bottom line the test is extremely beatable if you > spend the time on it. I was L1 Dec '10 and didn’t > get going til late Feb. Another 2-3 weeks of hard > studying and I would have been there. That thought > is what’s going to kill me when I hit the thick of > it *next spring.* This fall you mean.

EoghanLyons Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > 2nd attempt at level 2, 2nd fail. > > Went from band 2 to band 10. > > Put in about 450 hours of study for the second > attempt so I’m not in good spirits as you can > imagine. > … Same here, although I only made it to Band 7. I passed Level I in 2007 (second attempt) and FRM in 2008 (first attempt). Made my first attempt at Level II in 2010 and this second attempt in 2011.

2nd and final time, failed band 1. I almost made a perfect <=50% on everything - my imperfection was 51%-70% on Ethics. I barely cracked my books open, so this was no surprise. It would have taken a miracle to be Band 2. I get the Ted Baxter Award. Or maybe I get the Jessica “Chicken of the Sea” Simpson Award. I’m done with the exams. Unless I go to prison or get stranded with my CFAI books on a deserted island, I will never have the time to PROPERLY study for Level II.

Panto Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Would love to know some retabulation experience. > I’m so upset with this I know those guys are > pretty accurate. > I guess my curiosity it’s worth $100 right now… I made a thread about retabulation. Some people have had success, but I think most didn’t. I’m too lazy to look for the thread right now, sorry.

Band 8 first try. My efforts were clearly not good enough despite doing all I can after work every night months after month. I still haven’t paid off the friend I borrowed money from for the schweser materials!! Will give it a second try. I’ll start studying in January

Panto Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I’m a band 10! Does anyone know if asking for > retabulation has ever worked out? Dont ever do it. it is just wasting of $ 100

Panto, don’t waste $100 on a retab simply because you were in band 10. Being in band 10, by definition, means your score was in the top 50% of all test-takers. I would assume that since you’re in the top half, that your answers were accounted for correctly by the machine. In my opinion the chances of you magically finding another correct answer or two by getting a manual recount is very very slim. That is unless you can think of some answers where your eraser did a less than stellar job. I also believe I read somewhere that CFA hand marks a significant number of tests (like 10 or 20% or something), and compares to the results produced by the machines, to ensure the machines are accurate.