2009 -- 3 answers per each question!?!?!?!?!

Will this increase the passing rate? Or will the questions be that much harder? I guess if they rate on a curve… it doesn’t really matter. What do you think?

Won’t make a difference. They’ll eliminate the most obvious wrong answer which you should be doing right off the bat if you’re prepared well enough. It’s always those last 2 answers you’re torn on in those theory questions, especially in Ethics. Sure it will increase your chances if you are guessing completely, but if you’re doing that on too many questions, chances are you wont pass anyway. I’m sure they did the research on it and tested this with some focus group of existing charterholders. They could also make the test harder which would negate any advantage test takers get with one less answer to consider.

Yeah I don’t think it’d make much of a difference. I was impressed (in a WTF sense of the word) with how many questions had two obviously wrong answers and two that I could have gone either way on.

Plus what difference would it make if the passing rate is a relative measurement and there is no definitive cut off passing score?

> Sure it will increase your chances if you are guessing > completely, but if you’re doing that on too many questions, > chances are you wont pass anyway. This seemed a little misleading to me, so to clarify… By “increase your chances,” jlive1975 means it will increase the expected number of questions you get correct for each person’s complete guesses. However, having 3 answers instead of 4 decreases the variance of the distribution of guessed answers. So even though people are now expected to get more questions correct, there will be less of a spread of correct-guessed questions, reducing the amount of luck that factors into the exam. I assume this was a key reason they’ve switched from 4 to 3 answers.

I think the only real impact would be on time. You’ll end up saving a few minutes by not reading the fourth choice, but that’s only a small benefit. But, if you’re running low, and are down to the last minute and have to guess your way through the last couple of questions, then having a 1/3 rather than 1/4 chance might mean that you have a marginally better shot at passing. But time shouldn’t be a factor when you’re taking the test, though. If you’re cutting it close enough that you benefit from any of this, you need to work on your pacing. When I was studying for the test in December, I wanted to make a point of finishing at least 30 minutes early. That way, if nothing went wrong, I’d be able to beat the line for lunch. But even if all hell broke lose (if my pencil sharpener and all of my pencils broke, and I had to go to the bathroom to use the TP dispenser as a make-shift pencil sharpener, or something completely crazy like that), I’d still be perfectly fine.

Two comments: Rumours has it that the CFAI wishes to improve its pass rate, which for 2008 was a pathetic 35%. Secondly, 3 choices in a multiple choice test is an advantage, I believe…I dont wish to state the reasons mentioned by others…the most important one wud be the time. If you add all the seconds taken to read the 4th option, it wud make some difference, in that, some more minutes added overall to complete the exam with no 4th choice to read and decipher…make sense???

imranmir1 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Two comments: Rumours has it that the CFAI wishes > to improve its pass rate, which for 2008 was a > pathetic 35%. June 09 candidates would love it if it’s true…

I don’t know about you, but time wasn’t a factor for me