At this point, I’m confident that I’ll be fine on the multiple choice section, but I feel very uncomfortable abou the essay section. What are the best ways to prepare for the essay section? Should I just review as many prior tests as possible? What types of questions should I expect (individual IPS, institutional IPS, GIPS…)?
There are always like 25-40 points on individual IPS - every year, like clockwork. Prior year exams are what you want to look at for these. Do as many as possible, and study the approved answers, not only for substance, but style. Be as brief as possible but as deep as necessary - I never struggled on multiple choice (minimum hour early out, as much as 90 minutes), but was writing until the last minute literally. Good luck in your prep - the juice is worth the squeeze.
Prior exams is the way forward. Test yourself and make sure you do as many IPS as possible, The material may seem straight forward but in test format can be hard. Go back to the post results level III to see the posts with exam results to see how many people messed up the morning section. Also pay attention to where you can write on the exam paper. It catches people out!
Mp3Bu By now you know L3 is very different from L1 and L2. But what is important is to really understand and internalize the difference. One important difference is exam by itself can be a huge challenge even for people who have mastered the material. Timing can be a huge factor in the morning (AM) section. I was not less prepared with L3 compared to L1 or L2 but I really struggled with L3. For me it is relatively easy to choose an answer but articulating your response (in the given time) was harder in the AM. Sometime this becomes even more difficult if you know more and you are analyzing the question before giving an answer and you know time is ticking. This is especially true in the final stages of the AM exam. Be ahead of time in the AM section. I know many people who failed L3 because they did not complete the exam in time. I think the ONLY solution for this is practice. It worked for me. I recommend you take as much practice exams as possible before the exam. I highly recommend you get done with the studying part AT LEAST 30 days before the exam and practice taking exams as much as possible. Go to the link below CFAI now have 2008, 2009 and 2010 AM exams. Very soon they will remove 2008 and put up 2011. So this is the time for you to download the 2008 exam and solutions. Go do it! Like I said exam practice is very important and the following exams were the real thing. Schweser and Stalla or anybody else do not even come close to the real thing. Maybe save the 2009, 2010 and 2011 (which will be up early next year) for real-time exam simulations in April and May. Do not even look at them now. Just print and save them in a corner for final preparation. The real exam will be different from what you have seen and it will challenge you but if you practice enough you will be ready. CFA L3 Exams-http://www.cfainstitute.org/cfaprogram/courseofstudy/samples/Pages/index.aspx Good Luck and all the best!
Just printed out 2007-2010. My biggest mistake last year was not going over the past essays early and often.
I’ll tell you this, I took it last year and the multiple choice was harder than the essay to me, and those that I spoke to around me as well. Essay is practice, practice, practice, and biggest thing is don’t waste an hour trying to calculate the required return, just move on if you don’t get it. Time will kill you on the essay.
I agree with markCFAIL. Last year the PM section felt harder than the AM and most of my friends who took L3 agreed with me. But the results proved otherwise. According to some results I saw here at Analyst Forum, information from my friends and my own results most people did relatively well in the PM compared to the AM. The final exam in June is going to be different and challenging one way or the other. In my opinion the AM section is the key in passing L3, especially for first time exam takers. AM questions are very subjective to answer, time consuming and potentially very low scoring. Practice, practice, practice- is the solution.
I have browsed through some sample AM exams and I cant seem to find any ethics questions…is this true for the exam aswell?
I know that Ethics was never tested in the AM section of L3 since at least 2007 and maybe few more years before that. I would guess that very likely you will see Ethics in the PM section again in 2012 and not in the AM section. But you never know, every year there is at least one surprise that CFAI likes to give candidates.
Thanks sunilmails…the words ‘suprise’ and ‘cfa’ always lend an ominous quality to a sentence