LEAVE YOUR LEGACY BEHIND - WHAT WORKED FOR YOU?! KEYWORD: GUIDE

CFA Level III
#1

Congrats to all who passed,

Before heading out of the dark tunnel and go into the lights, PLEASE SHARE what worked for you in level 3 & for those who did not pass this year, feel free to talk about what your biggest regrets are & how you plan to get back up & knock this one out next year.

These are some of the things I did differently in level 3 that had helped me.

STUDY

  1. CFAI BOOKS - I relied heavily on the books (60% as opposed to 30% in level 2) because most of the times, 3rd party notes do not have the same focus as the books on how materials are presented. Relatively easy readings so do not be afraid to open the books.
  2. MARGINS - In the books, read everything written in bullet points & the notes written in the the margins of the graphs. I noticed that each year, you get at least 10 points from those short sentences.
  3. COMPARE DIFFERENCES -“Why is this used instead of that?” “How are these 2 strategies different?” “Do you prefer this over that? Why?” "How will these 2 investors act given their styles? The list goes on and on. When you study, look for these as you will be HEAVILY tested on the ability to distinguish & choose the preferred strategy/products given a situation.
  4. NOTECARDS - Made 700~800 notecards, great tool for review (focus on the differences)
  5. MOCKS - 6 “Timed” mocks is a must. PRACTICE the exam taking techniques below and do every individual portoflio calculations at least 3 times until you master all of them.
  6. GIPS - Do not skip this. There’s a lot to remember but after going through the EOCs, you will notice that some items show up more often than others. Remember those and just go for 3/6 and you will be fine.
  7. ETHICS - Do not underestimate this. Spend 1~2 weeks in May to do a lot of practice questions.

EXAM TAKING

AM

  • BULLET POINT - Your best friend, use it and refrain from using long nagging sentences
  • WRITE FORMULAS - Partial credits, but if running short on time, skip them
  • THINK BEFORE YOU WRITE - Repeat the answer in your head, does it answer the question directly? Does it make sense? Can I make it shorter but just as correct?
  • DAMAGE CONTROL (KEY!!!) - TOUCH ON ALL QUESTIONS. Many people made the mistakes of leaving entire questions blank by spending too much time on answering questions with less than 50/50 confidence. My recommendation to divide questions into 3 groups, (1) Questions you know the answers right away (2) Questions you know how to approach but requires more thinking (3) Complete guesses. Start writing (1) only & identify which questions are (2) & (3), after finishing (1), go to (2) and spend some time thinking & constructing good answers. Lastly, do (3) and start filling in the blanks. Efforts are more proportionally aligned with expected utility this way.
  • TIME MANAGEMENT - Bring a wristwatch & monitor your time in increments of 2 questions (roughly 30 mins for 2 questions) & refrain from spending too much time thinking until you finish all your (1) questions.
  • ACE THE AM - FORGET ABOUT IT! NOT GOING TO HAPPEN! Score as many points as you can in the most efficient way & leave the room with confidence if you do just that. Do not punish yourself if you do not know how to answer 4 sub questions as it happens to the best of us. (btw, I failed 4 sections in AM when I thought I aced all of them lol)

PM

  • SHORT MEMORY - FORGET ABOUT AM, nothing can be changed now.
  • ABSOLUTELY NEED TO ACE PM - You passed level 2 so this is a piece of cake. READ CAREFULLY & circle the key words (increase/decrease etc). You are 3 hours away from the freedom you have desired for so long so leave no regrets here. I did 4/3/4 in AM (failed 4 sections) but made up for it by doing 1/1/6 in PM to come through inthe end.

Special thanks to Magician2000 & my fellow forum friends who have guided me through the journey. Honestly couldnt have done it without all of you. Good luck with your future endeavors & feel free to claim better investment results. lol

#2

Agreed on last point. One of the most imporant aspect is to when you go to PM sesson - totally forget what you did in AM. I was bit disappointed in AM sesson - being that it is my 2nd try. I was tired, got bit of headache … went back to my car, put cold water on my face, 2 tylenol and than short nap for 15 mins or so to cool down. I had the mentality … i’ll ace the PM sesson.

Didn’t quiet ACE the PM … but got everyting above 50% in AM, and mostly i was above 80% with 3 in 50-70 range. Sure enough got below 50% in 4 areas in AM. Had i focused on that, and didn’t regroup - most likely i fail.

#3

On the AM as well, even if you think you’ve done badly or you think you’ve done well - to reiterate prozario it is really still in the air how you’ve done - no one really knows so don’t beat yourself up or overanalyse and just smash the PM session!

#4

yes … I did 1st question very well in AM. Then i found i think the 2nd and 3rd question in AM rather hard. Skipped those very quickly without wasting time, and went through all others where i found i knew well. That’s one mistake i made 1st time - spending too much time on questions i didn’t know well, and not going through all questions.

Pretty much out of 11 questions, you can still do fine - doing well with 5-6 of them, and doing poorly in 4 or 5 question. you just need to keep pushing through with short memoery.

#5

I used audio tapes for the first time on level 3, I found them to be very helpful. They are not effective for learning (or at least I don’t think they would be, I didn’t start using them until I had already finished the readings) but it was great to be able to “drill” in the background of whatever I was doing.

#6

Even though everyone seems to have done poorly on the AM - do not underestimate the benefits of reviewing EVERY SINGLE AM past exam you can get your hands on. That covers ~85-90% of the material, so you will be well prepared for PM topics as well.

There are well over ten year’s worth of previous exams floating around the internet, and the content has changed remarkably little over the years.

I found Schweser exams to be a waste of time - just try one or two to get a feel for the item set.

I spent maybe two hours max on GIPS - just reviewed the CFAI practice questions to pick up the biggest points. I choose to focus my energy elsewhere.

One other takeaway - I passed and I think my score was borderline. Ethics was ridiculous this year, and I somehow managed >70% with that topic (which I think boils down to luck). So I could just as easily be in the Band 9 / 10 group with a few unlucky guesses . . . . . . it seems ridiculous that luck plays such a pivitol role but there it is.

#7

I just posted this in another thread, but I’ll repost it here for your referance.

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.

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.

p.p.s. The only book I read this year was the ethics book from CFAI twice. I did not re-read any of the other CFAI books or Schweser books.

#8

Make sure you do alot of timed mock exams to prepare for the morning. I’d also say attend the Level Up Bootcamp. That was without a doubt worth its weight in gold

#9

Study:

  • Started very early, for this one. August to be exact.

  • Lots of practice questions to grasp concepts.

  • Don’t over think the questions - If you are like me than the AM questions can lead you to over think the complexity of the question - ESPECIALLY IF YOU DO THIS FOR A LIVING. You will run the risk of missing the whole idea. Durring the practice exams I noticed this happening to me alot and tried to make the adjustments.

  • Time management - this is the key to this exam in my opinion but they can be tricky The indications they provide are great but…

  • The right frame of mind - After passing level 2 many people told me that this is the easy one - THIS IS NOT AN EASY TEST!!! especially if you are more of a financial modeling/Quant/valuation person like I am - I found level two easier and more “up my ally” than this one.

  • Focus on the AM but don’t ignore PM. While I was preparing I found myself more concerened with the AM part of the exam (naturally) because I had not seen it before. Eventually I noticed that my PM mock scores began to suffer - I had enough time to fix this but this again is a result of starting early.

  • Take brakes - If you are like me you have been doing this non stop for a couple of years now and its taking its toll and your brain. I found myself burnt out a number of times for level 3 - this didnt happen on 1 and 2.

Test taking

  • go in and crush it!!!

  • You will not get a perfect score in the AM so just get as many points as you can.

  • ANSWER THE F*%&ING QUESTION!!! no need to write volumes for each answer and they see through the BS so just make sure that you answer the question short sweet and to the point.

After the exam -

  • Conspiracy theories - They are all BS no error messages do not mean anything (Long or Short), the fact that you can apply for scholarships does not mean anything, The fact that you can chage your test location after the exam does not mean anything, The fact that you cannot buy curriculum after the exam means nothing - its all BS and its bad for you.

Good luck to All Hope you will all feel the way I feel today!!!

#10

In terms of my study program, I read EVERY SINGLE PAGE of the CFA curriculum while taking notes on my laptop. I did not use Schweser or any other third party materials. I completed all questions at the end of each reading, and did not concern myself with practice exams or preparation for the AM section until the last two weeks (because I had off work, if I had to work I would have probably given myself a month for review).

In my review, I read my typed notes, I re-read certain readings that I thought were my weak points and reworked the corresponding questions, and I took practice exams (including past AM exams and quizzes for each reading on the CFAI website). I also watched youtube videos about the exam, about the AM portion, and about specific topics to reinforce certain LOS. I also made a formula sheet as I went through the entire review process so that I would have every formula that might come up on the exam. For all three levels, I spent the last day doing a relatively light review, focusing on memorizing formulas and certain key items.

Looking at my scores, I had 5 sections with <50 on the AM. You CAN NOT let relatively weak performance in the AM section get you discouraged. In my case, I got >70 on all sections in the PM and came out with a passing score. The trick is to not dip too low in the AM by ensuring you get every point possible so that you don’t have too steep of a hill to climb in the PM.

#11

Following approach worked for me

  • Start early (at least by January)

  • CFAI Books. Read the text, Examples, summary and then do every singleEOC problem, and then read the solutions to see how they are different from mine.

  • Read Schweser Notes for topics that were difficult/boring to read from CFAI text

  • Last month : Do all the past AM exam papers (going back at least 5 years) in exam like settings. I used to go to library to do AM in the morning and the PM mock in the afternoon. Then grade very hard comparing the answers to teh guideline answers.

#12

CFAI

#13

mock till you drop

#14

Don’t waste your time on estate planning and taxes, there’s literally a whole book on that stuff in the CFAI curriculum. I skipped the whole book basically only reviewed some key concepts.

#15

Do not skip anything. You never know when they will show up.

#16

Holy cow don’t skip that section! Agree with cgy you can’t skip any section, but even that estate planning and taxes section has shown up on past AM sections I’m pretty sure. Individual portfolio management is one of the highest weighted topics historically. It was probably 15% of the 2015 exam so I wouldn’t skip anything on that topic. That estate stuff sucks but you can’t skip it.

#17

I did a over 30 mock exams and did really well on all of them. I studied every detail of the CFAI material no matter if it was blue boxed or not and mastered the material. I spent approximately 600 hours on level 3 and aced the exam with ease. I had pretty good confidence coming out of the exam and I scored about 70% on every area both am and pm except 4 topics 2 of which i scored between 50 and 70 and two below 50.

I did Schweser with notes (leaving plenty of blank pages in between

Then I read CFAI with notes filling in what Schweser missed

then i did cfai blue boxes and end of chapter quesitons again (this point there was 2 months left)

Then did all schweser mocks except 1

then did 2000 - 2015 mocks leaving 4 uncomplete

Then did CFAI blue boxes

Then transcribed notes onto notecards and proceeded to mark ones I was perfect on, good on, and bad on

Then did a mock exam

then did notecards

then mock then notecards

Did the mock then notecards

Then the night before I went to sheetz at a giant burrito and watched comedy central and fell asleep at midnight then woke up at 5 got as hower and watched some movie about a zombie who falls in love with this chick and drank a 2 liter of mountain dew.

Finished AM with 20 minutes to spare and finished PM 1 and half hour early and am pretty sure i aced it or only missed a few questions

I also bought and did finquiz mocks but they sucked.

#18

A hidden trick of mine was that every single hour i studied was either done in Burger King or Arbys at a table with a healthy amount of mountain dew.

My routine was to go to the gym and lift 3 times a week and go directly to burger king or arbys. Its surprising how much better those places were than a library. It made taking the test in the CFA test center a breeze and it forced me to focus very intensely while studying.

#19

Start Early. You have to understand the material or you will have a hard time passing. IMO, L3 was the most difficult level.

DIY notecards are very effective. If you want a good notecard study method, look up the “Leitner Method” for studying notecards

Start on formula sheet from the beginning, and revise/re-write it often

Understanding the “Why” behind the concept is crucial, and videos are the best way to get an explanation.

Stagger your practice. Don’t save all the questions for the end, do them on an ongoing basis.

Use the prep providers. They are great for drilling down to core concepts quickly. I prefer using multiple providers. There’s no best or worst IMO–each one delivers in a different manner or has more to offer in one respect than another. Explanations from multiple people increases the odds–hey, isn’t that why you come to AF and ask questions?

For L3 I used Schweser, thought they were excellent. The videos were the most crucial aspect of my early study. The Q-Bank is a monster as well in terms of volume. I also used LevelUp toward the end. Totally worth the investment because I got focused on some things I wasn’t advised on with the other providers. I used Finquiz a little bit, and found their summaries to be excellent items to carry around for ad-hoc study. I know we’re talking a few thousand dollars here, but what the heck are you doing going cheap on the CFA? Reconsider your Cost-Benefit analysis: a few thousand extra dollars compared to a few decades’ worth of monetizing the benefits of a charter…

Review, Practice, Remediate. In the beginning, do more Review than Practice. Then start doing more Practice than Review. Equally important is Remediation, where you are reviewing and re-practicing what you got wrong in the most important areas. Consider actually writing down in one of those composition notebooks the logic and rationale for the correct answer. Takes time, but constructive, I promise.

Take the last 10 years’ AM questions. Then repeat them a few more times. Doesn’t have to be done in timed sessions. In fact, don’t worry too much about timed sessions because then you’ll put off doing mock exam questions until you have a 3-hour block of time. Repeating mock exams is an effective retention method. I think it deepens the level of preparation and increases the confidence level.

Towards the end, know what to abandon and what to keep reviewing.

Regrets:

  1. I didn’t do staggered practice, and tried to answer all the questions toward the end. Big mistake.

  2. I didn’t start studying until later because I believed the myth that L3 was a joke. Then I really had to kill it the last few months.

Hope this helps. Good luck. Just remember–failing a CFA exam is not a point of shame. Your odds just went way up that you’ll pass the next time around.

Cheers

#20

_ " Kill the PM, Complete the AM " _