Schweser practice exams

CFA Level II
#1

I know this question topic probably gets recycled with monotonous regularity, but with about 12 days to go, i’m still getting anything between 57% and 65% on Schweser and i’m wondering if there’s even a vague possibility of success in the exam with practice scores that low. i went through the CFAI EOC questions and got pretty good scores but since starting the Schweser questions my confidence has taken an absolute battering. I’m reviewing all the questions and weirdly there don’t seem to be any stand out failure elements of the curriculum- I suppose i’m wondering how other people are finding the same questions and how those who have passed level 2 and used Schwezer, found the practice exams

Any feedback appreciated

Cheers

SL

#2

so u have done all the TT and got good scores and now found schweser mock difficult? In vol 2 schweser some item sets can get pretty hard or very tricky. eg. like there was a regression question in equity, u checked the answer and its wrong, and then you realize the “r” in the regression is not required return but dividend yield instead, they make you read the info carefully as well.

I do both TT and schweser open book and the TT are half done only, cant comment.

#3

I made this exact mistake with thinking r was the return instead of dividend yield! Will be reading the questions WAY more carefully from now on.

#4

Unfortunately ive only done Schwezer vol 1 so god knows what I’ll get in vol 2, although i did notice exam 3 was more tricky than the first. i’ve done them all closed book and within time but scores still feels waaay to low for less than 2 weeks out

thanks for your comments though

#5

Band 9 Fail from last year chiming in…

Last year, I found the real exam to be very much in line with Schweser. There are some people who even beleive that the real exam is EASIER than Schweser mocks, I am not sure I agree, but there really isnt anyone out there at thinks the real exam is HARDER than the schweser mocks.

The MPS, as youll soon realize if you hang around AF message boards long enough, is anywhere from 63-64% which is why the “rule of thmb” is that if youre consistently getting >66% on mocks, you should pass. Last year, for your reference (and maybe this makes you feel a lil better) I took two mock exams, yes only two and got a 55% and a 58%. And that was good enough to get Band 9.

You say your range is from 57-65%…well my friend thats a gigantic range. that range is from a Band 9 fail to a pass. PPL have asked me on this forum many times if I think the real thing is “easier” than Schweser mocks (theyre obv hoping I say yes) and my answer is always something to the effect of:

“its really tough to say something at level 2 is EASY, because its all hard. Not to mention there are different factors in play: aka for instance the difference in adrenaline between taking a mock exam in your underwear with ESPN on in the background, vs taking the real thing at a test center with 1000 strangers next to you.” Having said that, the real exam will not have as many “tricks” as schweser, and the questions will be less wordy and more straightforward so they can level the playing field for the tens of thousands of non native english speakers who sit for it"

And honestly, thats the best feedbacK i can give. I legitimately think the real exam is more straightforward than any Schweser I took. Straighforward, mind you, doesnt necessarily mean EASIER…but to many it does indeed mean easier. Thats why many L3 candidates will look back and say “you know what, I thought the real thing was easier than I thought it would be”

For your reference this year, I have taken all of the TTs, and have taken Exam 3, Volume 2 in Schweser (which is allegedly the hardest of the 6 Schweser mocks, if you’re one of those who believe the 6 mocks get harder as you go along thru the books) and I got an 83/120. needless to say, I am very happy with this score. but just so you know…at NO POINT during that exam did i feel CONFIDENT i was getting things right. when I saw 41/60 and 42/60 I was legitimately suprised.

thats what this exam does to you. it zaps your confidence. if you are taking a mock and it feels like youre guessing on every other Q, you probably arent. you know and recall more than you think you do.

Let me ask you this? how are you on formulas? Do you have all them memorized?

#6

I remember when I took level 1, I just did 3 first Schweser mock exam, obtained the scores just around 60-65% but I passed level 1 with high scores (I think, because most of topics in grade >70%).

But in level 2, I’m surpise after reading tommyjohn’s post https://www.analystforum.com/forums/cfa-forums/cfa-level-ii-forum/91355688 , the difficulty level of schweser mock is just as the official exam.

#7

got the formulas memorized, the problem seems to be the questions without the formulas

ps well done on your recent scores. that’s good going

sl

#8

Tommyjohn, you are quick. I just mentioned you and you already posted here.

#9

@pierre

i remember posting that In February and for the most part, as a band 9 retailer, I stand by what I said.

Here are some ways in which I have changed my mind though since then:

  1. the topic tests are not a whopping 125-130% as hard as the real thing. They’re like 115% as hard. Definitely still harder but I wouldn’t say it’s super pronounced.

  2. I used to be of the belief that Schweser mocks get harder as you progress (aka exam 1, volume 1 easiest with exam 3 volume 2 the hardest) I am not sure I think that anymore. But I still think that volume 2 in general is more difficult than volume 1. But the exams within the volumes? I think they’re roughly the same.

What do you guys think?

#10

I just want to share you an experience.

Two weeks ago, I took the CFA Boston mock test in a center. There were around 100 candidates. After 2 hours, 3/4 left the room.

I don’t know whether they left the room because the test is easy for them or because the test is so difficult that they can’t continue.

#11

PierreCFA,

I have to believe that they just couldn’t continue…The thought of anyone finding this stuff easy is even more dispiriting :wink:

SL

#12

I have a theory about the Level 2 exam and why everyone feels that way:

In our “schooling”, which depending on which country youre from (USA for me) lasts from roughly age 5 through 22, we are “conditioned” or “socialized” for lack of a better term to feel as though anything below a 90% means you didnt do well.

With this cultivated sense of test taking in mind, when we sit for the CFA exams, since theyre hard, we can “feel ourselves” getting things wrong. you “feel it” in your pencil when youre getting things wrong, yet little do we know that were getting high 60s and doing just fine. As i said, when i got my 83/120 the other day, it didnt “feel” good at all. It “felt” like i was getting every other Q wrong.

but when i looked over the answer key and started making check marks, i was like damn you know what Tommy? You actually knew most of this stuff. good on you mate!

just my .02

#13

honestly if the real thing is as hard as schweser mock volume 2, then its pretty hard to me, level 1 is okay in general. I dont know how to reference the difficulty in CFA TT, it seems to me that some topics are easy and some are hard. But I do remember that the real thing the reading is not that long (i dont know anything apart from that, I walked in the exam without studying last year just to had a look, gave up in Feb coz I changed job…)

BTW i rmb i didnt have time to study level 1 and only did 3 mocks in vol 1 open books, did no TT on CFAI and thought i failed the exam when i left, it turned out i passed with a pretty decent score with several topics above 70% lol, god knows. I have already put in way more than 300 hours and i guess its around 400+ and review the materials multiple times, but i just dont feel confident…

#14

Hello All, Level III candidate here, PierreCFA posted on our forum asking for input on this post. My experience was that Schweser’s Level II mocks prepared me well for the Level 2 examination (I did back to back December 2015 Level 1, then June 2016 Level 2). Some of Schweser’s mocks were a tad bit harder than CFAI’s mocks, but that’s a good thing for the most part, granted it can deliver a bit of a confidence shock, but better pre-exam than on exam day. I wish you all the best of luck this year!

#15

Onward,

Good to know. Thanks. good luck to you too

SL

#16

Thank you, and you’re welcome SL! :+1: :slightly_smiling_face:

#17

What about the topic Test in CFAI?

#18

I passed level II last year: I studied 7 hrs/ day for 45 days.

I started doing mocks 2 weeks before the exam, I was scoring 70% on Schweser mocks, and during the last week I focused on CFAI mocks and reviewing some Topic tests (FRA and Ethics) scoring >=80%

I passed with >70% in 7 topics (ethics, fra, econ, deriv, fixed inc, etc)

#19

Onward and Akthem, thank you for the information.

#20

Came from the L3 boards. The Topic tests & official mocks (including prior years) were all I used no schweser as I think they word stuff incredibly poorly. The TT’s & Mocks were absolutely like the real exam, some of the questions were basically reworded versions of the TT’s with different numbers. If you are crushing the TT’s and Mocks you should be fine.

I was hitting mid 70’s on older mocks until I did (not sure which year maybe 2014 or 2015) where they tested a ton of pension stuff and I got slammed with like a 58%. Ended up studying my ass off the next few days and was scoring high 70’s - low 80’s on mocks by exam day. Passed all >70% aside from Quant 50-70 and PM 50-70.