First, congrats to those who passed
For those who failed, I hope you fill better than i do now.
I failed too, and this is my AM score
Q# Topic Max Pts <=50% 51%-70% >70%
1 Portfolio Management - Individual 36 * - -
2 Portfolio Management - Individual 9 * - -
3 Portfolio Management - Institutional 36 * - -
4 Portfolio Management - Asset Allocation 17 * - -
5 Fixed Income Investments 13 * - -
6 Alternative Investments 11 - * -
7 Portfolio Management - Risk Management 17 * - -
8 Portfolio Management - Execution 14 * - -
9 Portfolio Management - Monitor&Rebalance 9 - * -
10 Portfolio Management – Performance Eval. 9 - * -
11 Portfolio Management 9 * -
It looks so bad that I start to think that is something very wrong with these results.
What do you think is it possible that my AM paper is only partially graded, or something else, i do now what, went wrong and I got so unexpectedly, and in comparison with my expectation, unbelievably poor results?
do you think it is possible that you made a transcription error on your bubble sheet and then carried the error through the other questions, that is, each successive question was off by one. That would create a mess like that.
that is AM, no bubble sheet
That wouldn’t be possible for the written part of the exam.
You want a quote? Haven’t I written enough already???
AFter reading your post, no offense, but it seems your written english is weak. The grader may have a hard time trying to understand what you are saying.
There are only two tragedies in life: one is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it - Oscar Wilde
Brant, thank you for the message,
we agree in one, these results are complete mess.
I do not know what could i have done to make such disaster, but i know that i left AM pretty satisfied..
needhelp, yes, english is not my native language, but do you think it is so bad that grader would not want grade my paper?
I don’t think they refused to grade your paper or anything but perhaps you were unclear in your points.
May I suggest that instead of constructing sentences you learn how to construct bullet points. Bullets are easier to write and don’t need a lot of grammar.
There are only two tragedies in life: one is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it - Oscar Wilde
stalla said the average ppl got 50% for the morning session, and it’s important to get good mc marks. if i were u, my strategy will be only focusing on the questions i know how to answer for the morning session, if ur issue was time or stress. but it is another story if u did not study enough or u just don’t get it… but i guess ur handwriting would be important as well, cos even i passed, i felt i should have got the last two AM questions (but i didn’t get good marks). i blamed my handwriting…
rachel.li52 Wrote:
——————————————————-
> stalla said the average ppl got 50% for the
> morning session, and it’s important to get good mc
> marks. if i were u, my strategy will be only
> focusing on the questions i know how to answer for
> the morning session, if ur issue was time or
> stress. but it is another story if u did not study
> enough or u just don’t get it… but i guess ur
> handwriting would be important as well, cos even i
> passed, i felt i should have got the last two AM
> questions (but i didn’t get good marks). i blamed
> my handwriting…
did stalla say what average PM score was?
OK, my english is disadvantage, but some questions did not ask for one signle word,
I remeber BF question, it was only to circle an option, and I am almost sure I did it 100%. In results i got below 50%!
some other question required only a word: below, average, above, and i strongly believe i did them well too.
Regarding handwriting, i remember i read somewhere something like “grader will do everything is possible to decipher every handwriting”..
Sorry i still cannot believe this is true
After you circle the answer, you have to specify why
Just go take an English 101 course and you will pass next year for sure.
It is hard to remember now, three months after, but I think that BF question did not ask for any explanation.
There were three very simple cases with given answers, like overconfidence, representativeness and some third options , with no explanations required,
I think i could not miss that question anyhow
BTW these are my complete results
Q# Topic Max Pts <=50% 51%-70% >70%
1 Portfolio Management - Individual 36 * - -
2 Portfolio Management - Individual 9 * - -
3 Portfolio Management - Institutional 36 * - -
4 Portfolio Management - Asset Allocation 17 * - -
5 Fixed Income Investments 13 * - -
6 Alternative Investments 11 - * -
7 Portfolio Management - Risk Management 17 * - -
8 Portfolio Management - Execution 14 * - -
9 Portfolio Management - Monitor&Rebalance 9 - * -
10 Portfolio Management – Performance Eval. 9 - * -
11 Portfolio Management 9 *
Q# Topic Max Pts <=50% 51%-70% >70%
- Alternative Investments 18 - - *
- Derivatives 18 - * -
- Economics 18 * - -
- Equity Investments 36 - - *
- Ethical & Professional Standards 36 - * -
- Fixed Income Investments 36 - * -
- Portfolio Management 18 - - *
V&I Wrote:
——————————————————-
> It is hard to remember now, three months after,
> but I think that BF question did not ask for any
> explanation.
>
> There were three very simple cases with given
> answers, like overconfidence, representativeness
> and some third options , with no explanations
> required
I’m 99% certain that the behavioral finance question did require explanation.
Questions 1-5 were your problem, especially the IPS stuff.
Your morning paper was graded by 11 different initial graders (although you can make up a story that it was a few less). Then it is likely that at least a couple of problems were regraded by a senior grader. It’s just not the grader’s fault and graders try very hard not to penalize people for poor grammar, writing, punctuation, etc.. I would do very poorly on this exam in any language besides English.
I’m Da Church of the faithful, I’m Liao Fengyi, clergywoman mother should have to introduce you to me, I have seen you twice, in which time you are more impressed with everyone I guess in the back of the church at noon to eat noodle face!
Yes, 1-5 i got nothing, that’s very strage to me.
Aside from BF, instutional IPS was also ok and simple.
Individual IPS also was doable, i checked numbers on AF and I was ok.
Though, now i would agree with scores on all other questions if i would be 100% sure that comments were required on BF question. Than i could blame my English and my handwriting and forget that I will ever pass L3.
BTW i was much more satisfied after AM than after PM
I am aslo a non-English speaker and I think my writing skill is not good either.
However I pass this exam for 3/3.
My advice is to make more efforts on PM, because that is easier to handle.
Good luck for next year !
JDV, thank you for the post
JDV you think that omission that half of my AM paper was completely overlooked is impossible and therefore retabulation would not change my score significantly?
I am 99% sure that you only get 1 point for picking the right answer and the rest of the points on offering correct explanation.
I am also confused by the graders! Q2 is almost exactly the same as one of 2005s and I am confident that I did it. But the score is below 50%! I dont have clues about Q10, but I got >70%. What a joke!!! Well, though it sounds like a loser, it would be better if CFA can help explain…
V&I – it is far more likely that you did poorly than that somebody forgot to add up half your test. Your PM scores were also not amazing, they seem pretty typical for borderline passers this year. I think retab would be a waste of your money. Keep your chin up and beat this thing next year!
V&I, have a look at past exams and learn how the answers should be structured. I dont think your English is the cause for the poor results. The CFA exams will lose their charm if the graders mark your paper based on your English skill. The difference between passers and failers in level III exam is not the knowledge but the skill to answer sharp and short. Use bullet points is a good strategy.
You should study the past exams, move on and forget about retab - A waste of your money. Good luck.
I think the bigger problem for non-native English speaking test takers is not the writing of the answers, but the comprehension of the problems. The two IPS questions each told a story about a page in length; even a native speaker like myself needs to take some time to understand the problem and sort through the extraneous information before forming a response. And non-native speakers have to do that in the same amount of time as the natives. I don’t envy their challenge.
BTW, I thought there was a lot of extraneous information in the institutional question (airline pension plan). Since I got 70+ on that, I suppose I was right.
One other thing: did you answer the question they asked? For example on the behavioral finance question, you circled which bias they exhibited, but the “explanation” box wasn’t asking you to explain why you circled that particular choice. It asked you a different question. I suspect many people didn’t notice that.
Knowing how to structure your answers in the AM session is the most important skill for L3. Two years ago, I thought I did very well in the exam and ended getting 7 out of 10 or 11 sections below 50% in the AM. I had discussed the test with a few other people and we all came up with the same answers so I felt confident after the exam. When the results came, I couldn’t believe it. I, too, thought something must have happened to my exam because there was no way I did that bad. I didn’t learn from my mistakes and did poorly again last year. This year, I really focused on “the CFA way” of answering the questions and did very well in the AM. That would be my advice to you.
I highly doubt anything happened to your exam. Also, just because you got <50% on a section doesn’t mean you got zero points. You may have got 4 out of 9 or 17 out of 36. If your failure band was a 1 or 2, then I would question their grading procedures. If your band was an 8, 9, or 10, you got a lot of partial credit, but not enough.
Thank you guys for helping me explain my AM results to myself.
Regarding BF question unfortunately i can remember anything about the explanation, but i remember very well that i had absolutely no doubt which option to circle.
I read past exam papers, i went through all CR IPSs, and until tuersday i believed i know what CFAI asked for. Now i am far from that.
Hezagenious, your comments about band is very useful.
I am in the band 4, and my minimum PM score is 66%. (It is also fair to assume that i had 68%, but the 70% is also only 2 points far from the minimum score of 66%)
So this is the calculation:
Assuming:
1st band < 25%
10th band < 68%
gives the bend width of:
(68-25)/10 = 4,3
than the band 4 is in between
33,6 < band 4 < 37,9
Taking into account my PM result of 66%, and fairly assuming it is 33% of overall exam on AM i got
0,6% < AM result < 4,9%
BINGO, This is next to impossible or even impossible!
Either they made mistake or i have been heavily punished for something, i have no clue what for!
Please, i would appreciate if you could check the logic and the calculation, it is hard to be calm and to do this math
I think you’re assuming a uniform distribution for all failed candidates, and that may not be the case. Say, hypothetically, the MPS is 68. Band 10 could be 67.2 - 67.9. Band 9 could be 65.2 to 67.2….etc. etc.
I believe that the score range for each band is tighter as you go from 1 to 10, but the first band is probably significantly above the 25% that you mentioned.
Channel the anger into energy, and use that energy to eviscerate this test next year. The folks at AF will be here to cheer you on.
W^2
V&I
english is not my native language. before the result came out, i was contantly worriing about a nightmare scenario that my written answers got little or no scores. i think i would have the same reaction as you do if similar situation happen to me.
i would do a retabulation, no doubt. the chance is remote, you have to recognize that. but i would not let go the slightest chance of finding out what happened. but at the same time, i would aslo assume that it would not change the result and would start preparing for next year’s exam.
next year’s LOS’s are almost the same as this year’s. so you should pass it surely.
hezagenius, can you please explain the “CFA way” for the AM exam?
Study the “official answer” of the AM exam published by CFAI, you can downloan them from CFAI.
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