debunk the myth: Ethics is not more important

CFA Level II
#1

Hi.

I was told that Ethics is more important than other topics.

I passed the level 2 exam with Ethics at the 10th percentile score. Just lucky?

#2

It’s not a myth. Ethics is worth the same amount if points as any other question and anyone thinking otherwise misinterpreted the meaning of the ethics bump. I did not read the ethics section at all and got on the 90th%ile mark.

#3

i scored UNDER the 10th percentile for ethics (ouch) but got above 70% for everything else and made it out ok

When people say its more important they just mean that if you score like a 62%, 63% and the MPS is 64%, but you got like 11/12 on ethics, then many believe the institute will bump you up and pass you. No idea if thats true or not, just what i heard

#4

It’s true that if you’re right on the line and do well in Ethics the CFAI may give you a break. It’s one of the very few things about the grading process the CFAI has stated publicly. Too lazy to find a link but it’s out there.

#5

Also, if you look at the score sheet… ehtics 10%ile line is at 50% scoring… So the lowest ethic scorers still did 50% which isn’t too bad. If you look at all the other 10%ile for other categories, the mark is much lower. Basically what that says is the difference between the 10%iler and 90%iler is very tight margin.

Which goes back to why I never studied ethics. Some of those questions are so 50/50, the top scorers barely scored higher then the people that flunked ethics!! If ethics is 10% (12 questions), we’re talking about a difference of 2-3 points.

#6

That worked for you, so great, but that’s horrible advice. While I don’t recommend spending a ton of time on Ethics (I saved it for the last two weeks before the exams), it can make or break you. By your own logic, there will be hundreds (thousands?) of people right at the MPS of which some will have scored >90% on Ethics and some will have bombed it. Does anyone really want to chance having to retake the test because they didn’t bother studying Ethics?

If you’re going to punt something, punt quant. That section is meaningless.

#7

Can you please share your scores?