I’m hoping some Level 3 re-takers this yr can chime in, as I’ve done nothing but bug out about this yr’s exam since Saturday, as I’m sure many have.
Like most, I feel the AM session was fair and straight forward…time was tight, there were some tricks which required carefully reading what they were asking etc. PM was WAY more challenging than I envisioned, although I felt very prepared for the exam overall. I feel I am on the “bubble” and maybe Ethics or my a surprisingly great score in one topic or a horrible 1/6 in another will be the gamebreaker.
I was wondering what some folks who took Level 3 last yr and unfortunately ended up like Band 9 or 10, how you felt, did, what your scores were in general? I got freaked out reading this morning on AF that someone failed band 10 last yr after scoring >70% in all categories but one (maybe it was IPS, who knows).
I think overall this exam was harder than last year. Conventional wisdom would lead you to believe that it would seem easier since you know the material much better, at least I did. I equate it to moving back the fences in baseball, they will likely increase difficulty to an extent.
I thought the AM was relatively straightforward, the PM I thought was going after smaller concepts and you either knew it or didn’t. Not really sure what to make of my chances because of the PM and being much more difficult than last year to me and the exam always leaves you with a feeling of uncertainty
this test, while not incredibly difficult, required a deeper understanding of the material and there were really no gimmes this time on the AM, whereas in years past there was always one or two.
This year’s exam was definitely much harder than last year’s exam and the last couple of years. I can say the exam is the hardest it has been since the last 4-5 years. Both AM and PM.
thanks for the replies. i’ve gathered this yr’s was more difficult than yrs past, which leads me to believe that i failed… or slightly passed since i just gotta do better than about 50% of the others taking it. how did you guys feel last yr after the exam? what was your band if you don’t mind my asking.
I thought I had passed last year, but then I got home and started reviewing some of my pm answers that i changed from my first choice and realized that i changed from right to wrong about 3 of them. And the AM i just completely jacked up a couple easy ones and that was the difference. Oh and I got less than 70% in ethics which never happens to me. So add all of that up and I was band 9, kicked myself all summer for changing those 3 multiple choice questions because that’s probably the difference being as its 2.5% of the test. I know the material much better and feel less certain, which is hard being a retaker, you expect to feel better
Good luck to all the retakers. I hope your persistence pays off for you. In my test center I was surrounded by retakers – all experienced, smart, successful professionals mostly in their 40s, some older, some younger. No one gets to Level 3 by chance.
I also found this year’s exam was more difficult than last year’s exam. It’s possible that because I was more prepared this year, it was easier to see the ambuiguity in some of the scenarios. Last year I took the exam after less than optimal study time (I’d already paid for it so decided to sit for it anyway) and failed Band 9. When I had finished the day I had thought I passed, so was a bit surprised that I did not. When I retook the 2013 morning exam for preparation this year I realized I had answered two morning questions completely incorrectly last year, which undoubtedly accounted for my lower performance on the morning paper than I had expected.
This year I took no chances. I started reviewing the curriculum again in September. I made index cards, solved all the problems, took all the practice exams, took a review class in the spring and worked all the Schweser exams. I even printed out all the EOC chapter questions in March and did them for review. You would think I would feel comfortable after all that effort but I don’t.
This year I found the morning paper quite straightforward. The afternoon paper, however, I found more challenging as there was a focus on some areas that are my weaknesses and some areas of strength did not appear at all. Really, I have no idea if I passed or not.
Other posts on the forum claim the exam was “easy” and that the MPS (which is never released so it is all conjecture) would be high. While that is certainly possible, I doubt it will manifest that way.
A lot of people also claim that their AM will be higher than their PM. If they struggled on the PM then their AM will likely be a disaster. Same as other years.
I can’t sleep thinking that I made 4 stupid mistakes in the PM MCQ and 1 question in the morning that I interpreted the question completely wrong! If I ended up with band 9 or 10 then it will be a disaster as I will become extreme regret aversion. This year exam is definitely much tougher than any recent years
hopefully you’ll get good news in August… i could not imagine spending the time and effort a second go around and being very confident, only to be let down again. best of luck to you.
I was Band 10 last year. The moment I walked out of the test center I knew I was sitting on the pass/fail fence. My gut has never been wrong when it comes to CFA exams. I passed Ethics so I must have been just a few points shy of the MPS. I did poorly in the AM last year. I answered all of the questions, but I didn’t hit the vocab hard and wrote quite a few generic answers. My gut told me I did pretty well this year so hopefully its predictive powers will come true one last time.
This year’s exam played much more to my strengths than last year’s. It’s silly to generalize the difficulty of these exams. One person’s dream exam is a nightmare for someone else. It all evens out in the end.
If you really want to dig through the results thread from last year you’ll see that 80%+ of candidates scored much better in the PM than the AM.
why do you feel that way? do others feel they aced the AM in past yrs only to see they screwed up? i am 99% certain my AM score is higher than my PM this yr. I got hammered in the PM for similar reasons others feel. However, i worked A LOT on my time management in preparation and am glad that i answered 93% of the AM pts (left 3 questions totalling 12pts blank throughout the AM paper). 50% of the AM i am certain i got all pts correct, the remaining 50% i’ll safely say is 50/50.
The reason I feel my AM is better is because they tested largely covered topics and are things I worked hard on studying. The PM put a good amount of questions that went after finer points in the curriculum
Haha not offended just felt like singling you’re opinion out because (1) I didn’t agree and (2) I remembered the homeless guy in Superbad call McLovin McMuffin and lol’ed.
For me I guess it’s the uncertainty of the PM. There were a lot of things I narrowed down but no way to know if I got them right or not. Same with AM, but I feel more comfortable there because of the questions being asked etc and not constrained by time
Band 10 last year, felt ok about the exam though I did leave some 15 marks in AM. I had no clue how to attempt.
This year, I felt I did reasonably well on AM. I could have fallen for the traps, but atleast there was only about a sub section of 3 mins which I had no clue on what to answer. I ended up attempting that decently as well.
I have no idea on how I did PM as I found some questions to be digital types. Either I know it or I dont and ended up guessing. Was too tired to go back and check how many I guessed and all. But I finished the exam farely well.
Overall feeling just the same as last year about my chances to pass. Hopefully I do pass, like all retakers here. Wish you good luck mates, hopefully we all cross together…