Similar to recent posts related to Level I, just want to get some feedback regarding how everyone is doing so far with Level II preparation. With the exam very close, what are the best tips so maximizing study time after the practice exams ? Especially related to the constructed response, how has the self-grading been and how much effort do you recommend spending on the Current and Integrated topics ? It seems almost counter productive to spend too much time on all of them considering that only one of the ten topics will actually be tested and is worth 10%.
Feeling decent. Not great, but think i’m on the right pace. Path was to clear curriculum, then exhaust qbank, then exhaust constructed response in qbank, then mock it up until exam day. Two mocks in; 72% first stab and 78% yesterday. Lots of room to tighten up, as per usual. With the constructed response, i tend to lean on my method for clearing CFA LIII and go with short answer/bullet point format where appropriate. Give clear, articulate responses without writing a novel. I tend to grade absolutely harshly to temper expectation and as such, have been getting between 55%-75% on most questions. Given the 30% total weighting to essay portion, i don’t think that’s the worst spot to be in. MCQ’s are just rote memorization in most cases, up to this point. Just continuing to grind for the next 2 weeks and will hopefully be up to the challenge on exam day. Best of luck to everyone!!!
I was under the impression that the CIT constructed response question could refer to multiple readings. Regardless, I’m focusing on the ones that have been a part of the curriculum for a long time, such as long-term portfolio guide and dynamic strategies for asset allocation. I would expect to see part of a question asking to calculate portfolio value and rebalancing for each of the strategies.
I’ve finished Kaplan QBank and am entering mock exam territory (my exam date is 11 days away). I’m just reviewing Kaplan Secret Sauce, LOs, and my personal notes. Will do the Kaplan mocks this week and do CAIA mock this weekend.
I’m trying not to panic (as I did before Level 1). I’ve read the CAIA book, read all of Kaplan, finished QBank… heck, I even read the entire CFA Ethics and Professional Standards book. My quiz scores aren’t as high as I’d like, but I just have to remind myself that I’ve read and understand the material and to “trust the training.” Good luck to all!
Completely aligned with you, exams in 14 days. Finished all Qbank and will do mock this week end next week together with reading both my notes ans Secret Sauce…hope it pays.
Just wondering about this CIT issue (1 or more readings?!)
i believe the constructed response section in the PM is comprised of 3 main questions (one focusing on ethics, one on CIT, and one covering curriculum) all with multiple sub-questions. The weight of the PM section is 30% of the total grade.
Thanks everyone ! These are really helpful tips. Grading more harshly is a good idea that I will start to implement. Trying not to panic and trusting the training are all great reminders (though easier said than done!). I have a lot of room for improvement, but these are good tips to maximize the final weeks and keep grinding away. Thanks for the encouragement.
Completed all the material and quizzes today. I’m planning 2 mock exams this weekend and 2 mocks next weekend with 12 days to go. During the week, I’ll review one to topics per night and focus on weaknesses.
Is Secret Sauce worth it? I have the flash cards and wondered if it is the same material.
Is it worth making flash cards and memorizing all of these formulas? Or better to just memorize the ones from quizzes and exams only.
What about online videos? I haven’t had time until now and wondered if it’s worth the 27 hours in the last two weeks before the exam.
Any guidance on where to spend my time would be great.
Took the official CAIA mock yesterday…with some pretty big whiffs and a few left blank due to time constraint, ended up with a 75%. Definitely know my weak areas now and think with a week left, I can tighten up considerably. Hope everyone is hitting their stride in the final days!!!
i believe its a crapshoot with respect to which CIT reading is tested; from all practice exams that i’ve taken, they’ve only focused on one CIT reading and asked a few constructed response questions on each, instead of peppering the field across multiple readings.
Crushed all mock exams, surprisingly has good self grading notes on the essay. Final scores around 72-73 all in, expecting to crush the official CAIA mock saturday, and light review on sunday before D day Monday.
good stuff adlh88, but i would be careful about subjectivity here, especially considering the essay self grading. CAIA mock is no joke compared to schweser. i wouldn’t “expect” anything as given with these exams, just to be cautious.
feeling ok over here, though. been through qbank 2x, essay reviews 2x, and all mocks outside of last schweser exam. scores range from 75-80 all-in, but i keep getting caught up by random dark corners of curriculum that i’ve failed to pay much attention to in my prep.
slightly terrified of the CIT and curriculum essay questions, but we’ll just have to roll with the punches.
good luck to all participating and we’ll reconvene next week with thoughts.
Thanks for your feedback. agreed with you on CIT self grading. The problem with those qbank is that at the end of the day you know all the answers. For CIT, I tried to learn by heart the most of it, same for Ethics…it ends up with how lucky we will be to have a topic we well manage (or not).
Ultimately, I would be very curious to know what grade we need to have, under 70, to pass…that’s the issue !
I took the Level II exam this morning. Hooo-boy… Berchtesgaden was right - those CIT questions are no joke.
The worst thing is not being able to recall something and then after the exam you look it up and you’re like, OMG I can’t believe I forgot that. So after I looked up that one thing, I stopped. I put all my books and notes away because reviewing them ex post is only going to make me feel terrible.
I studied 260 hours for this one. I felt like I knew and understood the material. But, I think I’m on the bubble on this one. It’s gonna be close for me. If 70% is guaranteed pass, then I’m squarely in the 60s. Then again, I was sure I failed Level I and I ended up passing well (stronger/higher in most categories). Who knows - at this point there’s nothing I can do now except wait and pray for a generous grading curve!
So good luck, everyone. Remember - don’t panic! Trust your training (studying). I’ll relay what a former professor told me - if you’ve read all the material and you understand the material and you’ve put in the study time, then you deserve to pass.
Just took it… high level thoughts while I drink my scotch: felt pretty good about first half MCQs; fair questions and played well into my wheelhouse. Got done with 35 mins to spare and got to review a few oddballs.
Second half was kinda a mess for me. Definitely not prepared for a few and was on my heels the whole time. Actually took the entire 2 hrs as I backtracked through my thoughts and dug through mental clutter. Thinking back, I actually was able to put together coherent responses that aligned somewhat with what was being asked… go me! Totally whiffed on two sub parts but in the grand scheme of things, amounted to only 1% of total points. I can live with that.
All in all, hoping to sneak by given strong first half and avg to sub par second half.
I have been assuming that all questions (including essay) are the same for each candidate, although not sure how to verify. In addition to the unreasonable amount of extra work for the examiners as you mentioned, I would imagine that establishing a curve would also be more challenging and less representative. Either way, all we can do is focus on what is thrown at us on test day.
Nice job govt_cheese ! Good to hear that you thought MCQ was fair… some of these practice questions have not seemed fair so hopefully they are a good preparation tool. Granted you are already a CFA so that is not fair to begin with : ) Did you think the essay and CIT was fair ? You said you were on your heels, which has me a bit concerned.
I appreciate the compliment! MCQs I felt were on par with official CAIA mock. Essays were tough, but if you know the fundamentals, you can muster points through brute force in some cases. My strategy was to fill in answers in brief, then back fill for further clarity once I made my first pass. Was one question that I simply could not pull out from the dark corners of my brain, but that’s to be expected. On LIII CFA exam, I super biffed a few here and there, but you have to just keep chugging. Just trust in the process and you’ll do just fine as long as you put the requisite work in. Best of luck and let us know what you think once you make it through!