BREAKING NEWS: the exam contained an error

HOUSTON WE HAVE A PROBLEM!!! THE LEVEL 2 EXAM CONTAINED ERRORS AND THE EVER SO SWEET CANDIDATES FINALY BROUGHT THIS TO OUR ATTENTION :slight_smile: does anyone actually believe that there is the slightest chance that a CFA level 2 exam can contain an error, and they are waiting for the candidates to point it out for them?? I find it very amusing and hard to believe that some people actually believe strongly that the exam contained a thing or two that slipped past the CFAI exam construction process and ended up on our exam tables on June 5th. So all our practice exams from Schweser and all the CFAI mocks and sample exams come error free however the CFAI just can’t get their sh*t together and come up with an actual L2 exam that doesn’t contain errors, ohh and add to that …two years in a row !!! last year there were people reacting the same way to certain exam questions, and believe it or not i was one of them… to the point that we definitively concluded that not only did the exam contain errors but the CFAI text and schweser also contained errors pertaining to a formula that was needed on the actual exam… the PVGO question from 2009 may ring a bell for some of the retakers reading this with all the controversy that followed surrounding it. but we live and we learn and we gain more wisdom as we grow & study L2 for the second time and sit for the L2 exam again only to see that the exam contains what some naive first timers may call errors :slight_smile: the chance of this exam containing an “error” is the same as the chance of someone blindly guessing their way to passing it, which according to the CFAI is virtually impossible. All it takes is two charterholders to go through the proposed L2 exam and they would quickly pick up on any errors it might contain, now i am sure that the CFAI has a little more than two charter holders to be involved in the exam setting and screening process. believe it or not, i think that CFAI had some mercy on us this year because they put the most controversial question of the exam at the very end so that your not risking much while your wasting time re-doing your calculation and getting all bent out of shape not knowing why you cant get any of the answers they have.

I normally don’t respond to posts like this, but i will just to correct the lameness of it. First off, let me state that i don’t know if there were any errors on the actual exam. The likelihood is very slim and probably insignificant as we don’t need to score as high as 95% to pass and we always have the opportunity to guess correctly. With that being said, your point about 1st-timers freaking out and challenging questions/curriculum is definitely understood and i totally agree it’s a pointless paranoid exercise. However, your reasoning and higher-than-mighty stance is stupid and uncalled for: 1) in your reasioning you said sarcastically, “So all our practice exams from Schweser and all the CFAI mocks and sample exams come error free however the CFAI just can’t get their sh*t together and come up with an actual L2 exam that doesn’t contain errors, ohh and add to that …two years in a row !!!” Well are you aware of the errata for the 2009 and 2010 CFAI mock exams? It makes your point pretty weak right about now… 2) in your higher-than-almighty stance, you refer to the aforementioned 1st-timers as “naive” and how their actions are “amusing” to you. Then you really take the cake with this line, “but we live and we learn and we gain more wisdom as we grow & study L2 for the second time…” After reading that particular line, i really do hope i fail L2 so that i can be wise like you (sarcasm people)… Like i previously said, I’m in agreement about chilling out on the conspiracy theories about test questions. But cut the 1st-timers some slack. I know the posts are painful to read at times, but don’t pull rank with your retaker status(that’s what you did…BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAH). And if you’re going to make a point, back it up with something logical. geez…

Fact of the matter is that CFAI does not have a good hold of the exam setting and quality process. It’s like McDonald’s serving you a Big Mac with a different taste, a different bun, and a different sauce every time you go there. The exam should be representative of the material and has a predictable format…experimenting with formats and types of questions is shocking for an institute like CFAI with all its resources.

Such hubris doesn’t hide the fact that you’re still speaking down to your peers with no merit or logic. Your determination to retake L2 is commendable. However, it’s pretty lame that you feel the need to belittle 1st-timers on something you have more experience with. Try helping your peers through these anxious times instead of fueling your “L2 RETAKER SUPERIORITY COMPLEX.” Your counterpoint on my statement in regards to guessing is seriously weak, dude. If you think it’s so naive to have the opportunity to guess correctly, you shouldn’t even bother guessing on questions you’re unsure of. Be a man and stand by your words…I dare you to leave questions blank on your next CFA exam. What will your response to this be? A lie that you will leave them blank? or will you be a man and acknowledge your weak argument? I’ve read a few of your previous posts and they don’t add any value. I can list examples for people, but they can search on their own through your measly 37 or so posts. You use AF as a stage to act witty and thoughtful. In actuality, your posts are just meaningless thoughts and rants to pad your own ego. The show is over and there’s no encore for your lameness. Go cower you loser…

JarVey why are you acting so hurt, chill ! my issue is that you are happy that this is an exam where you can guess as opposed to writing your answer or thinking that when given a question where you are clueless that guessing is actually to your aid. How about studying a bit harder so you don’t have to guess and then you can start to roll with the big boys like me who never have to guess :wink: and since you think that my issue is with your guessing as opposed to leaving a multiple choice question blank this also shows how much brains you have. again like i told you the fist time, give your keyboard a break and get back down on your knees and continue doing what you do best, you have a big mouth and i have a big d*** so keep on suckin when your done you can go study L2 all over again so you don’t have to guess again next year;) as opposed to guessing you study hard so your not in a guessing position, not leave a multiple choice question blank you dumb f***. you make it sound like theres nothin better than a test where you can do nothin but guess :slight_smile: well guess what you failed !!!

Stupid post. You are aware that the mocks contained errors right? Also, there is a reason why the exam takes so damn long to grade.

The “closest to” or “most likely” formulation of the question doesn’t leave any possibility of a formal mistake. There may be typos or ambiguity, but u have to just choose “closest” or “most likely” correct…

where does the CFA claim there was an error on the exam?

TexasInstruments…I’m not hurt by your posts. But I do think the AF community is pretty good and people like you drag it down. I can accept the fact that AF isn’t perfect and there will be a difference of opinion. But you totally crossed the line by taking jabs at people with your biased/weak arguments that are for the sole purpose of stroking yourself. As for the rest of what you wrote, I have no clue as to what you’re jibber-jabbering(in honor of the A-team movie) about because it’s so incoherent i had to bust out my Cap’n Crunch decoder ring to figure it out. Sheer nonsense!!! But from the gist of things, i see that you need to twist my words around and use vulgarities because you can’t prove a point. And why are you pretending to be a “big-boy” and so flawless that you don’t need to guess? You said you’re a L2 retaker. What happend the first time around? Dude…stop fronting!!! Regardless of how much smoke you blow, people will recognize you for the ass-clown that you are. Even though i can’t stand you, I’m going to give you advice that you can use for life: 1) Distinguish between the homphones “your” and “you’re.” You’ll go real far in life if you can do that, son. 2) Despite my lifelong lesson on homophones, drop the CFA program because you’ll never pass the essay portion in level 3. The graders are gonna need a freakin Rosetta Stone to figure out the weak points you bring up. FYI: if any posters want to report TexasInstruments previous posts, please wait til Wednesday 12pm Eastern time in NYC

TexasInstruments- If you didn’t do as well on the exam as you’d like, take some time to yourself and think over what you could have done differently. If you don’t feel that the CFAI is doing a good job, then write a letter to them detailing what you think is flawed. Use your best prose, double-check it, and send it off to them. You never know, they may take suggestions into consideration. I can’t think of a sequence of events where the proper response is to get on an online forum, post 5 or more threads with different conspiracy theory type rants about CFAI, and insult those who disagree with you. You’re not alone, I’m sure, in feeling that the exam is flawed or that the format could be better. Some of this hostility may come from the fact that you feel like the exam format was the difference between a pass/fail for you this year. And that’s rough. But posting these rants and getting vulgar with those who disagree? Come on. Consider how you come across before you post.

Texas Instruments AKA Chung Mi Hao - these are your posts: 1).“How about studying a bit harder so you don’t have to guess and then you can start to roll with the big boys like me who never have to guess ;)” My response - if you dont guess in the exams then the answers you put down (which you were 100% on because you dont guess) were in FACT INCORRECT.Why? - because you’re a RETAKER and BITTER…secondly, whats worse, someone who guesses and may get it right or someone who THINKs they are correct and gets it completely wrong? - the result of you actions is YOU’RE A RETAKER and bitter. 2) "So all our practice exams from Schweser and all the CFAI mocks and sample exams come error free however the CFAI just can’t get their sh*t together and come up with an actual L2 exam that doesn’t contain errors’ My response - do you want me to point you to a dictionary to look up the word "Errata’. You imply that no such errors exist (as per point 2 above quoted directly from you)…you know why you think this way - cos you’re a RETAKER and BITTER 3) A previous post by you on another thread (which was completely nonsensical) brought about a debate on ‘Repeat candidate adjustments’ - implying just like ‘ethics adjustments’ you believed there should be a ‘repeat candidate adjustment’ - My response - what planet do you live on? You are really scraping the bottom of the barrel here - you know why? cos you’re a RETAKER and BITTER 4). Overall there is a common tone to your responses on AF - you know what that tone is? Someone who is a RETAKER and BITTER…come back with a response if you like and amuse me - i will laugh and chuckle at the anger you put into it whilst typing…because (yes you’ve guessed it and EVERYONE knows it!) - You are a RETAKER and BITTER…

Have you ever heard of Windows Vista? Tens of thousands of people beta tested it yet it was an utter failure due to the number of bugs, errors, etc… once it finally hit main stream. Microsoft is one of the largest companies in the world and somehow their products have errors??? Of course there could be errors on the exam. There’s always more than once way to solve a problem, interpretations of questions can be misunderstood, etc…Plus if the CFAI were to misstate something in the CFAI text that appeared on the exam that would also probably be deemed an error. They don’t catch everything in the errata. Chill out, drink a beer, and find yourself a lady friend. We all have our lives back!

ok you lost TaxasInstrument, so take it on the chin and move on.

NO errors on the CFA exams??? What a joke! There are errors on the text, the mocks and even the samples. The exam has errors, an error could also be the item set contains information that contradict what a logical person who understand the CFAI text said would be the correct choice. It could be poor question wording, making assumptions not made in the CFAI text beyond a formula or something easy to verify as erroneous. Every person taking the exam has to make educated guesses at one point or another, who is stupid enough not to guess?? They designed it that way making it impossible to be certain of every answer you put down. There is no way you can for sure know about every single question on this exam. One reason why they don’t release the questions and answers is to prevent people from scrutinizing their exams and point out gaps, omissions, unfounded assumptions…i.e. --errors. As to Texas Instruments’s other BS thread, if CFAI took what you got over 70% last time for credit to the next test, people could divide up the text, get good at half of it and do the other half the second year to break it up. Making the exams a lot easier since you can cut half the volume [half the difficulty] and game it. Plus why would they add on the administrative cost to tract repeater scores? They would never do this, it’s not logical for them. Most people who think they are so great, can’t do wrong have deep DEEP insecurities.

TexasInstrument, you got owned you should let it go.

tldr - can someone cut to the chase and let us know if there really is an error in the exam, or is this guy just being a doofus?

smileygladhands Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > tldr - > > can someone cut to the chase and let us know if > there really is an error in the exam, or is this > guy just being a doofus? Excellent use of TLDR. No, he’s implying that there could be an error, and he’s completely rude to boot.

there is no such thing as an error on the exam! and for those who are talking about erratas and what not, please give the reference to any question from a previous mock exam where CFAI announced that the question and i repeat THE QUESTION contains an error i.e an error in what is being asked or in that a possible answer doesn’t exist in the three choices given. the only errors i have seen so far and correct me if i am wrong are errors in the answer sheet where they picked the wrong “right” answer out of the three choices and came back and said, ohh it was B instead of C.

Those of you who say i don’t make a valid point in having CFAI establish complete transparency regarding exam results and the proposed answer code for the exams as well as whatever formula they would like to apply to determine who passes and who doesn’t are just like investors who couldn’t care less about the governance of the companies they invest in. does any one ever hear back from the CFAI regarding the the emails they send in after the exam to report possible errors?? please give a reference to any incident where CFAI announced that there were errors on an actual Level 2 exam in response to emails pouring in regarding a suspected incorrect question! in accounting we have something called correction of a prior year error, and it comes in the form of restating figures out in the open for everyone to see in companies’ published financials. No shame in it! what is shameful is the fact that CFAI is not a non for profit organization that also doesn’t get audited regarding their examination process. Thank you and have a nice day !

TexasInstruments Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > there is no such thing as an error on the exam! > and for those who are talking about erratas and > what not, please give the reference to any > question from a previous mock exam where CFAI > announced that the question and i repeat THE > QUESTION contains an error i.e an error in what is > being asked or in that a possible answer doesn’t > exist in the three choices given. the only errors > i have seen so far and correct me if i am wrong > are errors in the answer sheet where they picked > the wrong “right” answer out of the three choices > and came back and said, ohh it was B instead of C. 2009 Level III Mock Exam, Question 51. They divided by the yield beta instead of multiplying by it, and subsequently released a revised version with the correct answer. As an aside, thanks to all on this thread for keeping me entertained…pretty much over AF since the test, but I have checked on this thread and haven’t been disappointed much. The OP claiming to be a “cooler guy” than the “noobs” because s/he already failed once is classic - reminds me of Dazed and Confused. “I get older and the candidates stay the same age”.