What is relevant from past Level III essay exams...

CFA Level III
#1

Past Level III essay exams are a wonderful source of practice. However you need to be careful as some questions/parts from past papers are not relevant for 2015.

The table below helps you identify what is still relevant (for 2015) and what is not…

I hope this helps.

Regards,

Arif Irfanullah

Note: There is no gurantee that the information presented here is 100% accurate. Feel free to share any comments or suggestions you might have.

| Year | Question | Relevant | Comment |
| | | | |
| 2008 | 1 | Yes | Individual IPS, constraints, risk ability |
| 2008 | 2 | Yes | Behavioral biases |
| 2008 | 3 | Yes | Pension fund IPS, constraints, risk factors |
| 2008 | 4 | Yes | Corner portfolios, Sharpe ratio, Asset allocation, ALM approach |
| 2008 | 5 | Yes | Sector rotation trades, interest rate convexity, spread duration |
| 2008 | 6 | No | Cash and carry arbitrage |
| 2008 | 7 | Yes | Types of risk, stress testing methods |
| 2008 | 8 | Yes | Trading tactics, VWAP |
| 2008 | 9 | Yes | CPPI, constant mix, buy and hold strategies |
| 2008 | 10 | Yes | Performance attribution analysis |
| 2008 | 11 | Yes | |
| 2009 | 1 | Yes | Individual IPS, constraints, risk ability |
| 2009 | 2 | Yes | Life cycle investing |
| 2009 | 3 | Yes | Pension fund IPS, constraints, risk factors, spending rule |
| 2009 | 4 | No | Not relevant |
| 2009 | 5 | Yes | Grinold-Kroner, Taylor Rule |
| 2009 | 6 | Yes | Strategic asset allocation, whether investments are suitable |
| 2009 | 7 | Yes | Active and passive equity investments, portfolio construction methods, investment styles |
| 2009 | 8 | Yes | Commodities, swaps |
| 2009 | 9 | Yes | Options, counterparty risk, credit risk in a swap |
| 2009 | 10 | Yes | Corridor widths, rebalancing strategies |
| 2009 | 11 | Yes | Benchmark selection, performance measures (Sharpe, M2, Treynor, etc) |
| 2010 | 1 | Yes | Individual investor portfolios, TDA and taxable accounts |
| 2010 | 2 | Yes | Insurance company IPS, behavioral biases |
| 2010 | 3 | Yes | Pension funds |
| 2010 | 4 | Yes | Economics. Capital market expectations. |
| 2010 | 5 | Yes | Corner portfolios, Sharpe ratio, currency return and risk |
| 2010 | 6 | Yes | Immunization portfolio, dollar safety margin |
| 2010 | 7 | Yes | Option strategies (butterfly, straddle etc.) Target beta using futures |
| 2010 | 8 | Yes | VWAP, Implementation shortfall, corridor widths |
| 2010 | 9 | Yes | Evaluating portfolio performance |
| 2011 | 1 | Yes | Behavioral biases, estate planning |
| 2011 | 2 | Yes | Individual investor portfolios |
| 2011 | 3 | Yes | Institutional investor portfolios |
| 2011 | 4 | Yes | Cobb douglas, H Model, Fed Model, Yardeni Model |
| 2011 | 5 | Yes | ALM, Black Litterman, Resampled frontier, Monte Carlo |
| 2011 | 6 | Yes | Dollar duration, rebalancing, trade types, |
| 2011 | 7 | No | |
| 2011 | 8 | Yes | Historical and Analytical VAR, Hedge currency risk using futures |
| 2011 | 9 | Yes | Performance attribution, sector allocation returns |
| 2012 | 1 | Yes | Individual PM (IPS and Human Capital) |
| 2012 | 2 | Yes | Individual PM (Taxes) |
| 2012 | 3 | Yes | Execution/Monitoring/Rebalancing |
| 2012 | 4 | Yes | Behavioral |
| 2012 | 5 | Yes | Economics |
| 2012 | 6 | Yes | Institutional Portfolio Management |
| 2012 | 7 | Partial | Part E is not relevant. |
| 2012 | 8 | Yes | Derivatives |
| 2012 | 9 | Yes | Derivatives |
| 2013 | 1 | Yes | Individual PM |
| 2013 | 2 | Yes | Individual PM (Estate Planning) |
| 2013 | 3 | Yes | PM - Behavioral |
| 2013 | 4 | Yes | Equity |
| 2013 | 5 | Yes | Economics. Solution makes a referece to the BRICS reading which has been removed; however, the concept is still valid. |
| 2013 | 6 | Yes | Institutional PM |
| 2013 | 7 | Partial | Part C and D are not relevant. |
| 2013 | 8 | Yes | Fixed Income. |
| 2013 | 9 | Yes | Fixed Income. |
| 2013 | 10 | Yes | Risk Management |
| 2013 | 11 | Yes | Performance Evaluation |
| 2014 | | | Entire exam is relevant |

#2

this is fantastic…thank you very much for your effort!

#3

This is great info. Thanks so much for updating it.

#4

Thank you so much

#5

so as per this thread http://www.analystforum.com/forums/cfa-forums/cfa-level-iii-forum/91342260 the 2008 AM qn 11 is not relevant…

#6

Great info, txs for taking the time.

#7

Perfect.

#8

I have my doubts about 2012 - Q 6-c : I think that the question about Funding Shortfall relates to the “Allocating Shareholder Capital to Pension Assets” reading that is now removed.

Thoughts anyone ?

#9

May I know if the 2008AM on mortgage pass through (high or low coupon) bond and its convexity question is still relevant?

#10

2008 Question 5B isn’t relevant anymore. The curriculum doesn’t state that liquidity and trading costs are disadvantages of sector rotation trades in bonds vs equities anymore. In fact, it states that with enhanced global liquidity in the bond market and lower transaction costs, sector rotation trades should become more prevalent in the future.

#11

do you also do one for multiple choice tests by chance particularly 2011, 2013 and 2014?

#12

Solved 2009. The most ambiguous, outdated AM paper so far. There were so complicated tricky questions and am even not sure how some of guideline answers should be reached. 2010 was fair related to 2009.

#13

Maybe that is why Kaplan only provides the video instructions beginning at 2010 paper. Sill, the instructor recommended to focus on the most recent three years’.

#14

I thought topics test is already based on previous mocks. With close to 70 item sets, that is already 7 mock exams’ multiple choices on top of the 6 from Kaplan. I think we probably practice the most amount of mocks/exams this time among all three levels :slight_smile: