Any feedbacks?
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Was pretty ok really…barely used my calculator. ;-(
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anybody in dubai going to write level 1 in march 10 ? manavecplan was there a huge change in the 08 vs 09 exam ?
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Just curious, is everyone has the exact same questions at the exam (maybe in different order)??
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The questions are randomly selected from a (huge) database, so almost nobody has the exact same exam.
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Tell me, compared to the CFA L1 exam now much harder/easier is it in terms of percentages? Like 75% of the CFA L1 or more or 50%…whatever you guys think. Everybody is saying it’s much easier and I’m afraid I’m going to totally underestimate it and blow it. I would be happy not sad to not have to use my calculator…hahaha Thanks!
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I’m a lot less concerned about the calculations than the random or arcane questions. I’m almost relieved when I get a calculation. I can’t seem to cram in my head answers to questions like “which strategy has the larger kurtosis?” and other material that references large tables/grids of summary information. Or some of the “listy” material.
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manavecplan, was the test on par with the practice exam provided by CAIA on their website? I had been studying primarily using UpperMark’s TestBank questions and then decided to do the 100-question CAIA exam last night. Man, what a difference – the mock was a lot easier IMHO. I’m assuming (for study purposes) that the actual exam will be harder so I don’t get lulled to sleep by false confidence!
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I forgot about these CAIA questions on the website. Thanks for the reminder. If they are like the CFA L2 mocks it would be worthless. Hope not.
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Well, just finished mine this morning and here are my obversations: The actual test is not really too tough though it has its fair amount of difficulty or trickyness. But the fact is it ain’t as easy as the sample exam that the CAIA has published on their website. I’ve realized the CAIA test really like to use style like “Which is NOT the characteristic of …” or “… and which of the following is FALSE?” kind of questions. Given a lot of times the available choices are very close, these types of questions could throw you off unexpectedly. So read all the words carefully. Also, a lot of times I’ve found you can easily eliminated one or two of the available choices very quickly, but they are’t making the decision between the remaining ones any easier. It’s almost like a toss up. Sure your odds are up but that still leave you the feeling of uncertainty.
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Thanks peteus for your observations. I just took the mock, only made 70% with 30mins left. I only got until next Wed to get my score up or there won’t be enough margin for error…ekkk Too bad the sample is easy compared to the exam. I’m running out of energy to study. I still got a very bad taste from L2 in my mouth. Good luck to everybody!
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Time-wise I don’t think anyone should have an issue. I have about 30 min left on each of the two section, and I have taken my time with the questions.
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I’m taking it at 8am tomorrow myself. I took the suggestion in the material to target 85% on questions and simulations and that’s about where I am now. Just relaxing tonight and set my two alarms. Had two beers to help bring on early sleep.
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peteus325 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Time-wise I don’t think anyone should have an > issue. I have about 30 min left on each of the two > section, and I have taken my time with the > questions. True, i had the same experience; enough time to go through the “flagged” questions… but unfortunately not enough time to go through them all. Especially with the tricky “most accurate”, “least accurate” questions it might be nice to be able to run through them all to change the odd 1-2 questions you misread.
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This sounds more hairy than I thought. Hey, did you guys skip the 30min break or just went all the way through? Can’t figure what I should do, just finish it all and go home or use the break to go over stuff.
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I’ve taken a 20-min break just to freshen myself up a bit.
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I just finished the test. Completed Part I with 30 minutes to spare and took a two-minute bathroom break before reviewing my marked answers with the remaining time. The mini-break helped and having to “go” is distracting! Took the 30 minute break in the middle to eat an oatmeal cookie and get some sugar in my system. Did a two-minute review of return/vol/skew/kurt patterns for various HF/PE strategies. Those continued to be my bane. Repeated process for Part II. No use in finishing extra early; I thought about a few questions for 2-3 minutes during the review and either felt really good about my initial answer or remembered something that prompted a change. Without disclosing anything, there certainly were a lot of true/false/best/least questions. Not too many calculations. I tended to flag the longer calculation questions to come back to them during the review just to check my work. Nothing too tricky; I knew what I knew and didn’t know what didn’t stick during my studies. In my opinion, the test was a little harder than both the UpperMark questions and the CAIA “mock” exam.
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Thanks Peteus and ATH! I will be packing some snacks and notes then for the 30mins. Maybe CAIA is starting to make questions harder now and UpperMark hasn’t caught up to it yet. They shouldn’t call it a Mock if it’s not a mock of the exam… What trading pattern does what in terms of return/vol/skew/kurt patterns and what section of the security act did what gets me too. I’m taking it Wed and the city is pretty much flooded from massive rain last week with more to come until next Monday. The electricity better hold up…hahaha Thanks again for the comments. Back to reading…ughh
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Actually, I feel the quant questions on Uppermark is more involved compared to the actual test. On the other hand, the CAIA rules and conducts section is more lengthy and bit more tricky on the actual test.
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Definately agree on on ethics. In fact I found it to be just as hard as CFA exam that i just finished this June. Make sure you nail down skew and Kurt questions and which strategy (HF, PE, CTA) have higher/lower which .
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