Passed this time. Felt the biggest difference this time was I actually used the CFAI materials instead of just wiley material.
Hope everyone who’s retaking it passed this time. For those who didn’t pass and have to retake it next year. Trust me it might feel painful now and it sucks…but when you pass next year the feeling is so great!
Jounin83 hoped you passed this time!!!
Congratz to everyone that passed this time.
Keep on battling for those who didn’t this time!
Ugh… Failed Band 7 last year and Band 7 again this year… pretty disappointing and frustrating. It’s not that I didn’t study this time either… I actually tried really hard. I realy don’t know where I’m going wrong now lol
What was surprising though was I got 70%+ on Equity last year and <50% in Equity this year… that’s probably where it pulled me all the way down… everything else was improved.
damn man sorry to hear that…there might have been some traps in the equity section I don’t remember anymore though.
Also maybe if you didn’t sleep well the night before it could have played a huge factor.
Got a band 10 last time all above 70 now…I really felt reading the actually CFAI books helped alot then writing down all the equations from the examples and mocks.
Passed this time, much better results. I firmly believe that taking the kaplan online weekly lecture is what put me into passing range… made a huge difference.
Doing problems is the key here.
I barely studied last year (mostly reading), did 1 mock, some q-bank - around 600 questions i think. The result was band 6.
This time I studied hard. Focused on problems. Did all end of sections CFAI problems (online, towards end of May), I did 7 mocks total (found some from past years + Wiley + Official). As a result, <70 in all sections.
My suggestion is to use Wiley. Again, this is a subjective judgment, but I felt like their videos are better than Schweiser’s. And specifically those recorded. Life classes are great too, but I would recommend watching the recorded videos first and reading materials, befoe life classes.
In sum, Wiley helped me to really understand what the topics were about (even with quant ;)), while with Schweser i was kinda memorizing key points - didnt really understand how the knowledge could be applied in real life.
P.S. 1) Make sure you are doing mostly problems starting early May
@ Cynical man lol the main problem I have with Wiley is in their 11th hour videos the derivatives sections they still haven’t fixed that HUUUUUGEEEE mistake in that video from last year.
But peter is legit man his videos are the bomb and are some of the best.
However, nothing beats practicing mocks and EOCS.
Third time retakers here.
1st year i was band 2, I literally didn’t put the hours and barely studying. I didn’t even know the exam was done in vignette-type. lol
2nd year i was band 8, I put the extra effort in mastering heavy hitters core topics like equity, FRA and CorpFin. And no surprise, i get >70% in those topics and failed in everything else. lol not a really good strategy i know.
This year, i barely passed. I got really bored studying the materials (heck its the 3rd time) and slacking around. I only started really studying in March and by no means logged a 300 hours. To my surprise, i failed in the two big topics that im sure i mastered and did really well the year before (Equity and CorpFin). But i get >70% in all other topics, including the infamous derivatives.
I think i just got lucky. lol
Retaker here! What really helped me was drilling in on those CFA provided topic tests hard after re-reading study guides.
Also passed this time jlion… Congratz for your flying colors !! >70% in all topics is really incredible !!
I got the same scores as you @Cynical Man all over 70%, except I used Kaplan. This was my first attempt at Level 2 and I found Kaplan very good. What I hated about Wiley was CUSTOMER SERVICE. For that sole reason, I didn’t pay their material any attention.
Went from band 7 last year to an easy pass.
I feel like my biggest change was locking down FRA. I knew it inside out this year.
I’ve heard of that. One of the reasons I believe is that the company is relatively new and definitely smaller than Kaplan.
WHat kind of issues have you had with their CS specifically? I had to email them once or twice and they seemed pretty responsive. I also didn’t go with Kaplan, b/c Andy Holmes’s life classes were at an inconvenient time 
^This. I couldn’t find it in me to put my exam prep in the hands of a company that couldn’t get the material out on time or communicate in a professional manner. I’m sure the content is great, but I never got past the checkout.
They’re newer, but that’s still not much of an excuse. I used them some for L1 and the 11th hour guide was delivered late and full of grammatical errors and duplicate pages. I like the idea of putting content over cosmetics, but both times I considered using them (at initial order and right before I started mocks) the relevant materials weren’t available yet.
2010 Level 1 Band 6
2011 Level 1 Band 8
2012 Level 1 Band 10
2014 Level 1 Pass
2015 Level 2 Band 5
2016 Level 2 Pass
The Journey was worth it so far
Band 9 last year, Pass this year. The CFA practice problems on the website were extremely helpful
Band 9 last year. Bitch slapped the test this year!
Band 9 in 2015, passed this year. I improved in the areas I knew I needed to this year, specifically Corporate Finance and Fixed Income. I hit 70+ in both when I did <50 in both last year. Although, to be perfectly honest, I felt like we were thrown huge softballs in Fixed Income this year. Or maybe I was just better prepared. Or some of both.
2015 Band 1 (didn’t have the time to spare/dedicate towards proper studying)
2016 Band 9 (studied like my life depended on it this time, but failed unfortunately…)
Level 2 is…just extremely difficult. However, I felt like I ran out of time near the end of May during my preparation and I could have possibly squeezed in a few more hours to pass if I had an extra week… I didn’t score as I expected, I did well in areas that I did average in, but underperformed in some areas where I felt I was strongest (i.e., FRA, PM, etc.).
I honestly don’t know whether to attempt for a third time given that I am currently studying for gmat and looking for a new job (working in business operations has pushed my mind to the brink where I can barely take it anymore…). I honestly don’t know what to prioritize at this point, deep down I want to give level 2 a try again given how close I was to passing and reading all your responses give me hope that I can possibly get that pass in 2017.
Sorry to hear that man. At least you made a huge leap this year.
I’m pretty sure you’ll get it this time if you decide to take the journey again.
Good luck to whatever you choose man!