I regret to share with the community that I failed the CFA Level 2 Exam in June 2017. I don’t have the language to describe what I’m feeling right now. It is a mix of frustration, anger and general malaise. However, in the spirit of forward thinking I need to use the data to make educated, informed and data-driven decisions moving forward. I’m sharing my data with the community to get feedback from other candidates. I’m a bit shocked because based on my preparation, studies and performance on mock exams I felt I was strongest in Alternative Investments and Corporate Finance; my actual results demonstrate that I am obviously not fully understanding my strengths and weaknesses…
Alternative Investments <50%
Corporate Finance <50%
Derivatives <50%
Economics <50%
Equity Investments >70%
Financial Reporting and Analysis 50-70
Fixed Income Investments 50-70
Ethics and Professional Standards 50-70
Portfolio Management >70%
Quantitative Methods 50-70
I probably studied around 400 hours in total starting in February for the June 3rd Exam. I passed Level 1 on the first try in December 2016. I have a background in molecular biology from UC Berkeley and about 2 years of work experience in Asset Management. I read all of the Kaplan books from cover to cover and completed the EOC, ~1,800 Qbank Questions and 10-12 mock exams. In the final days before the exam I took the week of to do practice exams for 7 days straights. I decided not to even touch or look at the Wiley materials during my studying and program. I think one change I will definitely make in studying for Level 2 again is to look at the Wiley Materials and do the EOC from the CFAI books.
For the next 5-6 months I’m going to focus on getting good at my job (Asset Management, Morgan Stanley, Bromberg Group) and use my “free” time after work to work out, exercise, read for pleasure and focus on my personal relationships with people.
I’m really going to hit the books hard starting January 1st 2018 for the June 2018 exam. I’m particularly frustrated by my results because of how prepared I felt for the topics in which I did most poorly. It’s a bit discouraging that in my mock exams I was scoring >70 in Corporate Finance and Alternative Invesmtnets then on the actual exam I scored <50. It would be great if candidates could help analyze the data with me and help me make better, data-driven decisions going forward!
I studied about 2,000 hours for Level 2. passed it the 2nd time I took it.
Need to read the actual CFA text books, after you know the material. Use Kaplan, read the study guides 5 times each. do the questions, then read CFA books cover to cover.
Also, you probably should do all the Kaplan videos. OnDemand, Weekly Live Class, and final review. your personal notebook of equations,should be about 150 pages long. re it cover to cover fast once a day for a year.
From these forums I read that the CFAI blue box examples and topic tests are the way to go. I don’t think the qbank is that helpful because it doesn’t match the vinette format.
I got Band 8 last year and passed it this year. I don’t honestly think I did much different this year than last but for me I learn by repetition, the more the better.
CFAI didn’t change much material from 2016 to 2017, so that helped too. If they do that again, then that works in your favor. I recall that when I started studying in Dec, I seemed to recall much of the material. So I would say to you to try again as difficult as is to do but it’ll be sweet when you pass!
You’re not far away and based on your posted results, I would suggest honing in the 4 topics you did <50. If you can get them all up to the middle level with one or two in the >70 then you stand a decent chance of passing I think. That might sound like a lot but realize given the few amount of questions, that could really only be getting 1 or 2 more questions right in each set.
There’s actually not much data to go on, but here’s some speculation. With a background in molecular biology from UC Barkley you clearly are smarter than the typical candidate which probably helped you clear level 1 but you don’t have much background in finance so it’s probably tough for you to make the “jump” to level 2. For example, had you ever even looked at a company’s annual report and studied it before starting cfa?
Plus if you passed level 1 in Dec 2016 you didn’t have a lot of time to not just learn but retain the material.
my guess would be that if you put in the right effort for next year you will be fine.
As to which topics you are stronger at, I don’t think the exam is necessarily a good gauge of that. There is too much material relative to the number of questions on any one topic do unless you know something 90 plus pct, there will be a high variance in what you get in any one topic. I know I saw this to a great degree when doing practice problems and mock exams.
Sorry to hear, Jolie. I hope you’ll find a reason to persevere and try again next year? I don’t think a pass/fail is necessarily indicative of IQ (which I believe is a nearly meaningless number by itself anyways).
I had similar experience. I passed level 1 in Dec 2014 and scored Band 8 in June 2015 exam. I skipped a year for work and passed the exam this time.
In my second try, I actually studied less than 200 hours and really started my study mid March. The materials were familiar and I took my time to complete the topic tests in the CFA website. I focus most of my energy on topics that have bigger weights and aim to get a consistent high score on those topic tests.
Thanks, Black8Mamba23 for your kind words. I dint find the exam tough at all, but I was under prepared for the lesser weighted subjects. Since it takes one full year, I’m not sure how I’ll be placed. Dejected at the moment. But thanks.
@bbear focus on heavy weights has cost me this exam I lost it to the 18s and last moment ethics. I guess it just has to be all round.
I was diagnosed with levoscoliosis late last year (chronic back ache for 4-5 months). Started studying properly only from March. Couldn’t do any pratice paper or mock. Thus, failed… as expected.
It is my 2nd year as an equity research analyst. I have just got sector coverage… that means a lot of work in coming years… i am not sure if I should skip a year and focus on my work instead. or i should give l2 next year? Back ache issues have definitely affected my efficiency. So, I am not sure if I can manage both work and studies at the same time.
As per my educational back ground… my undergrad degree is in veterinary science. so i am a veterinarian!
I failed Band 6 this year. I have always been good at ETHICS and got under 50 and felt good at equity and got also under 50. Do you know if there is a discount regarding fees for retakers?
I lost it to the 18s and last moment ethics. I guess it just has to be all round.