I wouldn’t read that much into it. If anything, you could argue the people who fail June L1 have a cheap (no extra books) way to retake the same exact test in December. So the December pass rate should be higher.
I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if the passing rate was in the high 30s for Level I. I was actually surprised to see it was 43% in December. Historically, the MPS is usually in the 30s. Best of luck to everyone though.
The test wasn’t too hard. Basically the CFA this test was if you used the actual CFA material I think you would have been good. However, if you used a third party provider a lot of those sneaky questions really messed with your head because the wording between the CFA and the 3rd party provider was definately a lot different. It defintely messed with my head until I realized what it was asking.
I finished the afternoon session in two hours and started to look back on questions to see if I can do something about it…nothing to save, if you know u know…if not, you sing “AMSTRAM GRAM …and choose randomly”!
That’s what I worry about (and if that’s the case, the 3rd party providers aren’t doing a very good job). I know a number of people who have passed L1 and two charterholders and none of them used the CFAI books for anything more than extra info on tough topics. Of course, now I’m hearing that a lot of the test was based on material not covered in the reviews. I’m scoring mid to high 70’s on the Q bank (which I thought was quite good) but I’m starting to think I’ll need to review the entire series of CFAI books which honestly, even with a solid understanding of the material thanks to the notes, is a bit daunting. I asked my cousin, who is a charterholder, and an exceptionally bright guy if I should read the CFAI material through. He laughed and said: “what are you, some kind of masochist?” Maybe I am…