Just curious as to what all the Level III posters think about this:
What was the most difficult level to study for? Why?
What level took you the longest?
Also, I’d like to know if you need to know Level I material to pass Level II, Level I & II material to pass Level III, etc.
L3 is the hardest because of the format of the exam.
They all took equally long to complete…
Obviously you should understand the basics from L1 and L2, but nothing is going to get tested besides the L3 curriculum.
McLeod81 Wrote:
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> L3 is the hardest because of the format of the
> exam.
>
> They all took equally long to complete…
>
> Obviously you should understand the basics from L1
> and L2, but nothing is going to get tested besides
> the L3 curriculum.
I couldn’t agree with you more on this.
I have to argue that getting this far (by being a level 3 candidate), the past hrs of study and examinations have prepared your brain to tackle level 3. Your brain and body has been nurtured and cultured into sitting down for two 3 hr sessions in one day without getting DVT and getting taken out by an ambulance during the exam.
When you look at the large number of candidates that don’t make it to level 3 and look at the still-low pass rates (49% this year), level 3 certainly looks hard on paper.
I agree the exam format is a major issue and it seems time management in the morning is crucial.
No doubt level 3
You have to really master the material+ loads of practice( relevant ones- i.e EOC+ past exams).
L3 is hardest by factor of 10……. L2 is a just a bunch of formulae to a certain degree. i spent the last 2 weeks of L3 trying learn a whole bunch of lists and remembering the institutional investor characteristics section (which most year’s won’t be on the exam, but you never know)
i think there’s people i know who got their charter 10 years ago or never tried who could do marginally OK on the multiple choice of L2 without studying. the written section of L3 is completely different.
EDIT: i do know charterholders who thought L2 was the hardest , so i don’t think that my opinion is anywhere near fact or anything……… probably has somewhat to do with your affinity for numbers.
Doing the morning section of L3 was the only time I was somewhat worried during my CFA run.. I definitely was a little uneasy during that lunch break. The other 5 sections of the exams I felt like I was cruising, more or less.
I took L2 in 2006, so memory has faded, but I would say the study demands are roughly equal.. Although I studied a lot for L1 and was super prepared, so L2 felt like it was downhill to a degree.
I passed Level 3, it si twice harder than L2 and 3 times than L1
Level III has gotten a lot harder over the past 5 years. This will become evident to you all once you start to look at the prior year AM sessions (and by looking at the pass rates).
Studying With
^ Agree. Much harder than it seems.
L3, for all the reasons stated above.
Preparing for L3 starts to feel like you are getting ready for 2 exams, with AM and PM being separate animals.
In terms of material, level II. So much to read!
Exam wise, Level III by far
My complexity grade (10-scale): L1 - 5, L2 - 8, L3 - 9
Level 3 is the most interesting material and less material than level 2 or level 1.
The exam made me feel better about myself than either level 2 or level 1 did.
Then… on result day I turned out to have passed only MARGINALLY and lots of candidates who felt equally good about their performance turned out to have failed the exam.
So I can’t quite explain but I think level 3 is easier to study, easier to write but harder to pass.
McPass, CFA
I thought that L3 was the hardest to study for by far because of the subjective nature of the material, and the fact that you are basically studying for 2 different exams. Preparing for the essay session (especially the IPS ?’s), took up an incredible amount of time.
Agree, level III was the hardest one to study for because the material is very subjective AND it seems sooooo easy when you read it. Then you start doing questions, and for some reason you get them all wrong….
Interesting. Judging only by the comments made, Level II used to be considered the most difficult, hands down. It looks like that view has changed in the past several years.
I was hoping that Level III might be easier. I guess not. I wonder what the stats for how many candidates still did not make it after reaching Level III.
Hopefully.. pass Level III before I retire…
agree L3 is the hardest by far
what happened to “L2 is the hardest,” gonna go start studying now for L3 then.
Going into L1 in Dec 06 my understanding was that L2 was the big cull and that once you had completed that L3 wasn’t a big deal. L1 may eliminate more people but it gets rid of those that would have no real chance in the programme anyway. L2 was a killer but when you got through that pass rates shoot up to around 65%. Then with hard work you would back yourself to get into the top 2/3.
Then CFAI moved the goalposts big time by slashing the L3 pass rate. I am very thankful that I got through first try but it was marginal, and that was after putting in 8 months of very hard work. L3 2008 morning exam was just about impossible to complete and I even contemplated going home at lunchtime. Thankfully the PM multi-choice was not difficult and I managed to scrape through on those results.
But conclusion is that L3 is the new L2, morning session is really tough. But no matter how hard it goes for you in the morning don’t give up as the afternoon is not so bad and with a bit of luck you can redeem yourself.
Studying With
golfer Wrote:
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> I was hoping that Level III might be easier. I
> guess not. I wonder what the stats for how many
> candidates still did not make it after reaching
> Level III.
http://www.cfainstitute.org/cfaprog/pdf/candidate_results.pdf
~274k have ever passed L1 (taking out June 2009 candidates)
~161k have passed L2 (59%)
~118k have passed L3 (43%)
Rough estimates. Also looks like ~145k had passed L2 as of June 2008, and ~118k passed L3 ever, so about 80% of L2 passers eventually pass L3.
L3 - easier material, significantly harder exam
L2 - more challenging material, easier exam
L3 you need to know your $hit. All of it. Cold and in great depth. The MCs are trickier and set up for you to make mistakes.
It just comes down to the individual. LI (12/07) was super hard because I’d never done anything like it before and didn’t know what to expect. I’d only had 1 finance, 1 stat and 2 accounting classes in undergrad and I had to retake the stat and 1 of the accounting because I failed (I used to be very irresponsible). So the material was all new and a job change only left me 6 weeks to study. Barely scraped by LI with a Herculean 450 hour effort in that short stretch.
LII (6/08) was in my mind the hardest. I think the day before the LII exam represents my academic high water mark in terms of detailed memory storage, I thought my head would explode and there were definitely major highs and lows along the way. The breadth and depth were intense and I probably sunk 700 hours over 4 months. I did kill what turned out to be a soft test and in hindsight my perspective may have been skewed by over preparation.
LIII (6/09) was also very hard due to the foreign and ambigous format. I probably owe the most to the forum on this level and can’t emphasize the importance of the CFAi sample and mock exams enough. I thought LIII was somewhere between LII and LI in difficulty with LII being my personal hardest. However, I’ve seen people much smarter than me fail both so it makes it difficult to render any reliable judgement. I studied about 450 hours in 1 month for LIII to pass (full time in the month following grad school) and killed it, which is something I doubt I could have done for LII.
In the end it really doesn’t matter though, just take it seriously and leave every thing you’ve got out on the field. CFAi has taken the last two years of your life, something you will never get back. You’ve already beaten the CFAi twice, there is no room for fear in the final round, send a message and decisively take what’s yours.
I used to smoke pot and go to class.
Sneak in ten minutes late with a bullsh*t excuse.
Slink down low at my desk.
Pray to god nobody asked me any questions.
I was the best teacher ever.
L1 - not that hard
L2 - very hard (many formulas)
L3 - very hard (less formulas, but new way of thinking and memorizing)
-----------------------------
Mr. Rasmussen, CFA
If I recall correctly (I don’t have the data in front of me) the pass rates on L3 tests tend to deviate a bit more than L2. Didn’t L3 have something like a 70% - 75% pass rate only a couple of years ago? I think it will vary from year to year; most of the opinions in this thread are from people who took the 2009 L3.
SmokeyJoeWood Wrote:
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> year; most of the opinions in this thread are from
> people who took the 2009 L3.
And most of these people have taken every one of the CFAI essays going back to 2004 or so (since they are publicly available).
Pretty obvious that L2 is much harder than L1 when you take the L2 test. Of course, at least by then you are expecting it. L1 can definately take you by surprise.
L3 is harder still than L2 (just look at this year’s pass rate as evidence). But L3 would probably be the easier than L2 to “fake” as in not study for.
I enjoyed the L3 material the most which made it the easiest to study for though.
They are all damn hard, but I’d rank them 3,2,1 from hardest to “easiest.”
I still always like to point out that none of the material in the program is all that tough (I’m sure that if i had to take a test on a single study session, I could probably ace any of them), but the breadth of material is what makes it so tough…and worthwhile.
Don’t worry though. If you can pass L1, you can finish the program. You just have to prepare.
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