Well, I’ll be the one to admit I am giving up this time around and not taking Level II.
I have had a family emergency in the last month that has drained me of so much energy and I am working for a cutthroat firm where failure would be a definite ding.
What makes me so incredibly sad is that I have studied non-stop since September, read the entire CFAI curriculum, went to a review class and even watched lots of extra instructional videos online from Wiley.
And yet, three weeks after reviewing material, I find I don’t remember at least half of it.
I do not have a finance or similar background so this stuff is all extra hard.
What’s also troubling - and I don’t know how to solve this going forward - is that I do fine on EOC’s and then I take the mocks and struggle with at least half of the questions.
I couldn’t sleep last night and was having repeated panic attacks and night sweats and decided, this isn’t worth it.
Friends who know me best say I am making the right decision but others say I am crazy and should just go do the test and guess if necessary but I’m concerend about losing my job.
I am REALLY down right now having easily spent 700 or 800 hours on this, at least.
I’d appreciate kind responses please…I’m already down enough.
Don’t give up now after all this effort. Take 2-3 hours after work to go over the basics on the each day. Think of the exam as a free option, nothing to lose at this point. If your lucky- you get stuff you know or guess well you pass. If you don’t pass you got the experience and no what if I had taken it regrets. You’ve paid for it, put in the time, just go take it with no expectations.
Go to the exam to see what it is like. See what the monster under the bed actually looks like.
It won’t be nearly as scary as you think. Take away from it what you can and take it with confidence a year from now.
I’ve been in a similar boat. The second time you lift the weight of a section it feels just about as heavy as the first. Don’t despair, it gets much better.
Hi, I think either way you will be better off by taking the exam. ‘Employers’ come and go, at the end it is ‘you’ who matters. Do you want those three letters besides your name, then go take the exam. That way you will know how to prepare the next time, else you are wasting an opportunity to know ‘yourself’ and the ‘exam’ better. An employer who cannot understand that you did your best inspite of your ‘family emergency’ is well not worth it…
Sounds like you have actually spend more time preparing than a great deal of folks out there. You would be very foolish to not atleast take the exam and see how it shakes out. Don’t tell anyone you sat for it if you are that fearful of repurcussions from your job.
Thanks guys and gals for the comments but fellow employees would be there so they would know…I tried to take some pressure off last week by telling a boss that “Plenty of people at this firm have failed Level II at least once (this is my first try).” And his response was, “Really? We should fire those people.” I looked at him and he said, “Bad joke” and I said, “Bad joke indeed.” and he replied, “Actually, I thought it was kind of funny.” Give you a flavor of what I am up against? I am just SO exhausted from this family emergency and burned out from studying that I simply can’t take it anymore…Thanks for the support.
Youve accepted failure. Fine. Now that you know your result, you wont have to panic anymore… no uncertainty to be worried about.
I took level 2 in 2013 and accepted failure as well. I knew outright that I could not pass with the time I spent. You can be sure I still studied every last minute I had. I studied in the car at stop lights on my way to the exam. I studied in the parking garage. I even skipped a real meal at lunch for a couple granola bars and a banana to buy more study time. I got the score I earned, but Im proud of that because I didnt quit.
This is a 3 choice multiple choice test with a mid 60’s pass threshold. If you can eliminate a single choice, its probably possible for a lucky individual to guess their way through. Pick the topics you enjoy and work problems. Also do ethics because ethics are essential. Worst thing that could possibly happen is you get the score you already ‘know’ youre getting.
BTW, cut throat people will lose far more respect for you for giving up a week out after 800 hours than if you try and fail. The median Level 2 candidate fails this saturday. Thats a fact. If you really need the ego stroke, lie and say you failed band 10.
It sounds like your firm is a bunch of asshats. Take it and if you fail, F it ! let them fire you. Collect unemployment and then find a better firm to work at where you can work for people with some class.
ORRRR, maybe they are just talking a big game. They won’t actually do anything if you fail it. Just tell you that you better pass next year. My assumption is that is far far more likely the actual situation.
**** it, sit for it OP. You have 4 days, and 800h into this crap, you underestimate what you know. Grab the CFAI Mock and the topical assessments, don’t take them but check out all the answers, this can be done in one day. Then, keep reviewing those together with the 11th hour or your notes if you have some.
Sounds like you may be in need of some Rocky wisdom:
“Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place, and I don’t care how tough you are, it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward; how much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done! Now, if you know what you’re worth, then go out and get what you’re worth. But you gotta be willing to take the hits, and not pointing fingers saying you ain’t where you wanna be because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that and that ain’t you. You’re better than that!”
This is a mental battle that we’re all struggling through. Obviously your health, physical and mental, should come first but you’re almost at the finish line. If you feel it is in your absolute best interest to give up, then okay, that is no one’s decision but your own and no one is going to have to live with that decision except you. If you can deal with the regret, the what if’s, the wasted time and effort…then simply move on with your life. I don’t know you but it sounds like you’ve put in an incredible, incredible effort into this exam. If you have the dedication and stamina to put in that many hours, I’d be willing to bet that you also have the strength to get through these next few days, find some coping mechanisms, and sit for the exam. You can do it monkeymath, you just need to convince yourself that you can.
You’ve paid your money and put in the time, worst that can happen is you fail the exam and learn from the experience. It’s a huge amount of material to learn so there are probably tons more people in the same boat
It’s been said, you worked you ass off studying all this time, you owe it to yourself to try. I don’t know your work environment but for me, I’d much rather see someone go down swinging than roll over.
If you’re stressed just stop studying and relax the rest of the week. Still take the exam though, I really don’t see how you have anything to lose. CFA L2 is the hardest professional finance exam (opinion not fact, I don’t want to violate any standards. However, I sadly don’t know if that would be violating a standard or not).
If you can get fired or permanently set-back in this job for failing the hardest exam in finance on your first try, you may want to start looking for somewhere else to work IMO. I realize I don’t know the situation but jesus, if you’ve studied half as much as you say, there is a legitimate chance you can pass the exam.
I don’t know how to quantify or put a value on a realistic chance at passing the L2 exam, but I’m sure it would be sky high. Don’t throw that away man (or woman).
By the way, I registered for the 2013 level 1 exam and didn’t sit for it because I didn’t prepare enough. I regretted that up until I had the chance to sit for it again in Dec 2014 (still regret it to this day but just not as much). Who knows, maybe I’d be walking into the L3 exam this Saturday instead of the L2 had I taken the L1 back in 2013…
This isn’t a FINRA exam or something, your firm will have no idea whether you showed up or not. You have absolutely nothing to lose by sitting for the exam and if I were your boss I would view you giving up as a much bigger issue than failing. You are flat out giving up when faced with a challenge.
You’ve put in time-- you’ll find there is a lot more in your memory than you can imagine. Remember, you don’t necessarily need to reproduce or free respond to these answers; it’s multiple choice-- recognition (even faint) can earn you points as can guessing! I would just hit some practice questions and the mock questions if you can, and as others have suggested, review answers to CFAI material. I think you can surprise yourself. Sorry to hear about the emergency with your family, though.
I think you’re underestimating how much you likely know from studying so much. Take the CFAI mock and just drill flash cards for the common formulas the show up in the mocks.
Worst case scenario if you sit for the mock is that you get experience taking the exam and knowing the ins and outs of it. Not the end of the world if you don’t pass! If you sit this year and need to retake next year I bet you will crush it.
I know it can be difficult with family emergencies coming up before the exam. I had an immediate family member unexpectedly pass away before I took level I last year and it crushed me. I don’t know what happened with your family emergency, but I know that after I went through mine my family really wanted me to sit for the exam.
Don’t give up and don’t worry about other people from work. Everyone who has sat through these exams knows how difficult they are.
Sorry to hear about your situation. If your family situation is stable or improving and you can get some of your focus back, then I agree with the others to at least take a shot at the exam. If you pass, take it and run lilke the wind; if you fail, at least you see what you’re up against and will be better set for next time.
On the other hand, if you decide not to go, I will not fault you. It sounds like you are having major, major stress and I would hate to see LII worsen it for you.