Band 10s, so what??? Lets discuss

Getting a band 10 is really aweful. I feel the pain draining my back as I recount how long this journey has been. To know that I have to do this again makes me wanna sleep to never wake up again. Its a bad feeling knowing how I studied my ass off. Any other Band’s out there?? let’s discuss our strategies.

I thought I did well in the AM especially in Economics, Asset Allocation, Alternative Assets, Asset allocation but all these sections were in the below 50 range. My immediate feeling after the exam was that I was gonna do well in the AM; I felt like the PM was really tough but the results show otherwise, I did well in the PM scoring over 70 in all sections except Ethics (<50) and GIPS (50-70). Here are my scores:-

ps: I attempted all questions in the AM

Essay Q# Topic Max Pts <=50% 51%-70% >70% 1 Portfolio Management - Institutional 14 - - * 2 Portfolio Management - Institutional 17 - * - 3 Fixed Income Investments 19 * - - 4 Alternative Investments 20 * - - 5 Portfolio Management - Performance Eval. 15 - - * 6 Portfolio Management - Risk Management 14 - * - 7 Portfolio Management - Individual 18 * - - 8 Portfolio Management - Individual 16 * - - 9 Portfolio Management - Asset Allocation 15 * - - 10 Economics 14 * - - 11 Portfolio Management - Indiv/Behavioral 18 - * - Item Set Q# Topic Max Pts <=50% 51%-70% >70% - Economics 18 - - * - Equity Investments 18 - - * - Ethical & Professional Standards 36 * - - - Fixed Income Investments 18 - - * - Portfolio Management 18 - * - - Portfolio Management - Individual 18 - - * - Portfolio Management - Monitor&Rebalance 18 - - * - Portfolio Management - Risk Management 36 - - *

We have divided the group of candidates who did not pass into 10 approximately equal score bands. Your score band below shows how your overall score on the exam compares with the overall scores of candidates who did not pass this exam. For example, a score band of 1 indicates performance in the bottom 10%, a score band of 10 indicates performance in the top 10%. Your score band: 10

Sorry to hear… band 9 here… never give up… give it another go next year, it’s kinda the luck of the draw… I performed very poorly in the morning session too (way worse than expected), a lot better afternoon…

I was band 10 last year. Keep your head up, you’re close and will crush it next year. Unlike L2 I found that the L3 material sticks alot better and I needed much less prep time this year to clear it.

It’s funny that we were having a fun exchange yesterday…and today we’re in the same boat with Band 10 fails. First off, sorry to hear that you failed. As soon as I got my results, I immediately put in for the $100 retabulation. I know that route rarely if ever works, but at Band 10, I gotta give it a shot. I already got my receipt back that they’re processing my retab. You may want to do the same since you were so close to passing.

Two things have been the worst for me w/ this Band 10 thing: 1. having to tell everyone at work and 2. Knowing that I did know and still know the material well enough to pass but just didn’t perform on test day.

My time mgmt on AM was horrible. Then, I rushed my PM so I’d make sure to get out before the 30 minute lockdown because I wanted to watch the Belmont Stakes. Sad but true…I’m likely retaking L3 next year because I rushed to watch a horse race…Uggggghhhhh

Anyhow Chizi, I honestly think I could take L3 right now and pass so I’m definitely going to be ready to destroy it in 2016. I’m going to go pretty much same study plan consisting of reading and re-reading the curriculum, but I’m going to practice AM time management MUCH MORE this time around. Let’s both kill L3 next year and leave this Band 10 nonsense in the past as just a small bump in the road.

Thanks Gordon and etx.

A question to you Gordon, when did you start studying for the seconds attempt??

When do you plan to start TopperH? I am one of those who dont start early. I normally start in Feb/Mar but would start early if that is what it takes to pass this a**hole… I am also thinking of a retab; but from what I hear, they do nothing but pocket the $100.

I was very confident of passing some of those AM sections. I am now wondering who marked my paper. I feel aweful today… aweeeee fullll

I started in Feb but was off and on till April as I have a newborn at home. During that time I went over schwesser and did all the EOCs and BB’s in the CFAI text. April and May I spent doing old CFA morning exams, CFA PM mocks and BBs/EOCs.

i got band 9 and feel heart broken.

How close are we to a pass mark?

In my estimate its only 5-8 marks which is only 2 PM questions…

is a rehab worth it?

i saw some guys pass with 9 qs 50< in AM alone whereas i got only 6 below 50 in AM…

i guess the super easy PM killed us guys as mistakes there were lethal.

In the past, I always had success starting early and going slow rather than cramming so I’ll honestly probably start in early Dec. I read the curriculum word for word highlighting and then go back and read it all again (but only the highlights on the second time through). Like I mentioned, I probably won’t change alot w/ my study strategy because I really feel like I was well prepared this time…I just didn’t come to play on game day so to speak.

I was Band 10 last year. Right now is the toughest part. I wallowed in self pity for a few days before deciding that it wasn’t doing me any good. Studying the 2nd time around is MUCH easier. This is my biggest encouragement to all of you. I was amazed at how much of the material I remembered the 2nd time through it. I think I put in half as many hours and felt like I understood the material much better this time around.

that’s the toughest thing … everyone at work knows - been there, when i failed L2 once, and L3 once. As you’ve to take time off, everyone wishes good luck etc etc. It is just part of the painful process - it’ll only make u stronger.

Dont worry about knowing the material and still failing. Happened to me in 2013 … thoughti passed, knew materail okay to well. But failed with band 7. It has lot to do with art of mastering the taking L3 exam - especially the AM sesson. Practing writing/timing and checking vs. guidle line answer.

I scored band 5 last year and passed this year.

What i will advise is that in case you are already done with cfai/swswer , go for other prep providers.

One, which i followed and VFM is konvexity (www.konvexity.com)

Practise as many questions/mocks as you can.

Try and kill PM

I scored band 9 last year and finally made it this year with >70 in all but one category in the afternoon and in five categories in the morning. You can do it too!

If you want to know my strategy that worked this year it was:

This year I did a quick review by watching the Schweser video lectures and took notes while watching (~100 hours), got the audio notes and listened to them while going to work and before going to sleep, did all of the EOCs, read the ethics book twice and did the questions in it twice and did ~10 CFAI practice exams (5 of them twice), and all of the online questions once. Started studying in mid-March and got about 320 hours in.

I also bought GoStudy’s CFA notes, which I thought were very good and helpful in reviewing before the exam. They are so cheap and great for reviewing material. I bought the FinQuiz notes and found them to be too much material and didn’t end up reading more than 20 pages.

p.s. The best source for options payoffs is Schweser with their diagram method imo.

BAND 10

40/60/80 SCORE of 61.2%

Should I pay retabulation? I might just be 1-2 points away from passing this :’(

Essay

Q# Topic Max Pts <=50% 51%-70% >70% 1 Portfolio Management - Institutional 14 * - - 2 Portfolio Management - Institutional 17 * - - 3 Fixed Income Investments 19 * - - 4 Alternative Investments 20 * - - 5 Portfolio Management - Performance Eval. 15 - * - 6 Portfolio Management - Risk Management 14 - - * 7 Portfolio Management - Individual 18 * - - 8 Portfolio Management - Individual 16 - - * 9 Portfolio Management - Asset Allocation 15 * - - 10 Economics 14 * - - 11 Portfolio Management - Indiv/Behavioral 18 - * -

Item Set

Q# Topic Max Pts <=50% 51%-70% >70% - Economics 18 - - * - Equity Investments 18 - * - - Ethical & Professional Standards 36 - * - - Fixed Income Investments 18 - - * - Portfolio Management 18 - - * - Portfolio Management - Individual 18 - - * - Portfolio Management - Monitor&Rebalance 18 - * - - Portfolio Management - Risk Management 36 - - *

I think retab is not worth, since they just make sure that they added all points, which has been verified by a second person already

Yeah, save your $$ and re-do next year. You’ll be surprised at how much eaiser this is the second time around, particulary that you’re so close as it is.

i failed band 4 last year, passed marginally this year

last year i started studying in early April

this year i started studying in early May

so my preparationg was very very minimal, but I honestly think Level 3 concepts are so much lighter than Level 2, less complex formulas to work on…

practice the AM as I believe PM is pretty much under our control

I think you have done good enough for your PM, but you may need to focus on what they wanna see in you AM answer sheet, rather than what you had written,

I was band 5 last time, I didn’t do well in AM, but this time I got 6A in AM and 5A in Pm,

try again and you will do it well.

I was band 10 last year. If anything, it means that you are so close that it’s just a matter of little things to pass it the next time. This year, I spent the last few weeks doing a mock exam every day. I ended up doing many mock exams twice. And this time I pretty much crushed it. I actually spent far less time this time around, since I was already familiar with the material, and was able to jump straight into just doing mock exams. That worked for me, at least, so that’s something to consider.

Dont we have other Band 10s out there… are you asking for retabulation?