Essay breadth/depth

CFA Level III
#1

Have been reviewing the old level 3 constructed response Q/As from CFAI, and the level of detail even for 2-3 min questions appears to be quite deep.

After doing some research, it appears those answers are ‘long winded’ because they are meant to be informative. If this is the case, then why would the CFAI explicitly say the answers they provided are full point answers? My concern is around those saying ‘bullet points are fine’. Does anyone have clarity here beyond ‘be concise’? What do graders view as acceptable?

Thanks

#2

I have a modern approach. Do you use twitter?

140 characters is the benchmark. If you can’t score a point in 140 characters then you are wasting your time.

#truestory

#3

Two things… one is to write based on the number of points. For example, if its 1 point, than one bullet point might be sufficient. If its a 5 pointer, than 5 bullet points might be needed. But do what is needed to answer the question without being wordy.

Here is a video of how wiley recommends

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSHIjxAINqI

Notice they dont go for all the points, but they want to make it short and go on to the next problem.

In short, write what you know, but dont over write because if you write wrong, it will count against you.

#4

Here is the best answer you are going to get… directly from the head of CFAI Exam Development. For some reason this video is hard to find, but someone had sent this to me after I failed last year from my struggles with the Essay. For me personally this was a huge wake up call that I had been grading myself incorrectly on Essays. I probably violated every bias known to man lol. Hope this helps

http://finance.yahoo.com/video/cfa-exam-writer-crazy-recommendation-110000891.html