how a 3/8 candidate becomes a Charterholder

CFA Level III
#1

Just give those who failed some faith.

Here is my story:

Female, 32yrs old, started exactly from 2008 Dec. English is my second language.

My battlefield moved from Shanghai to Copenhagen then to Auckland.

Fist attempt on L3 was a band 8, second attempt ended up with band 6, then another band 9 on the third attempt.

The second failure knocked me down flat because I was so prepared for it. I went through all past AM exams and curriculum after-chapter practice more than 3 times. For the last year of my L3,I was thinking let this exam sort itself out, I would not be devoted anymore. I went out for regular date but, in the meantime I did one different thing: I selectively downloaded articles published within the past one year from CFAI publication/multimedia. Then I grouped them by each topic area, and read them loudly. When I recognized some authors’ name, which also shown up in L3 curriculum either in reference parts or under the chapter headline, I smiled.

I passed poorly, as I always did in the past 2 levels. But it is the best I can do after have been struggling years to balance career path and private life.

#2

Congratulations for sticking to it and not giving up.

Another congratulations for clearing it.

Good luck. Hopefully it will add enough value and becomes worth the effort.

#3

It’s a nightmare for the 3rd time.

#4

Congratulations!

To make this post more fruitful to others: What thing you made different than previous attempts through your study process that made you pass?

#5

You are a soldier?

#6

Congratulations! I started in 2009 and finished 2015. Long road with loads of difficulties. Your preserverance distinguishes you from those who give up in between.

#7

Started in 2004.

Wrote L3 7 times.

Challenges: 2nd language reading comprehension, numeracy to detriment of articulating concepts, exam anxiety

How I dealt with it: Logical flow of answers (showing all formulars, calculations and bases of calculations) in essay, practicing of questions (EOQ, Mock, online practice). I was advised by Windsor guys in May to build flashcards (to strengthen written aspects of essay) but it was quite late in the day. Thankfully, even though the latter showed flashcards would have been good, the score was okay enough. For exam anxiety, make sure you got it all covered.

Oh yes: in these parts, I have enjoyed career privileges from being associated wth the CFA all the while and hopefully it only gets better.

#8

Great stories of perserverance here. 3/7 here, from 2009 to 2015. I took both L2 and l3 three times. Each time it was the same - at first I was not prepared enough, but each try I got a better score as I made more effort to prepare for the exam. What worked for me was simply “more of the same” each time.

#9

English is my first language and I’m not sure I’ve ever used these words before.

#10

Add: verbosity. First language speakers hardly use such complex words, except in business.

#11

You guys have grit. Congratulations!

#12

@ultrablue, @injapan, @omoobagberume, @Traveller:

I had a similar journey, and I admire your committment, I literally know what it takes. I started the program in 2008.

Every time I passed a level, I demolished the multiple choice: L1 and L3 70%+ on all. L2 results were very good as well.

2015 L3 AM made me an angry bear; the bear came back and showed the PM how it’s done by the book.

The journey:

2008 L1: A pathetic try to pass after countless hours of reading the curriculum, no idea how hard the tests were, no communication, no outside information. Can’t remember the band. Never failed an exam in my entire life, never had a low grade. Yes, game on!

2009 L1: 70%+ on all: I knew it the moment I walked out of the room. Didn’t even get excited when I opened the email. Boss is back.

2010 L2: Band 6: Difficult test, study harder next time!

2011 L2: Pass: It was about time.

2012 L3: Band 8: I set myself for failure here, didn’t study enough.

2013 L3: Band 9: On results day, I went to a dinner with my friends, and explained to them how I was going to become a PMgr. It was very tough to talk with excitement.

2014 L3: Band 10: Stomach pain for 2 days. Decided to give-up the old system of glazing through the curriculum and old notes for countless hours, and not practicing EOC multiple times.

2015 L3: Pass: EOC paid off. For results day, I had arranged a big party with family/friends, conventional and bizarre foods, and a lot of alcohol. I knew this was the end of it. Nobody knew I was taking/passing the test, it was too embarrassing to talk about it after 2013. And, yes, I got the PMgr job, not contingent on the test, but based on achievements.

Why did I keep failing so many times: LOSING FOCUS AND INTEREST. In 2010, I was already bored to death with studying. The only thing that kept me going was the fact that I DON’T LEAVE UNFINISHED BUSINESS.

I got my closure: I am OUT. I made it, I finished something I hated. I can’t tell you how much better I have become at everything I do, after I learned that I don’t have to deal with this crap anymore.

Did I learn anything from this? Yeah! Now I can apply it and lecture people how things are done the right way, and I don’t even have to refer to the curriculum, because it is engraved into my brain.

Now, if you may all excuse me, I need to get back to my life, and concentrate on raising my son. Au Revoir!

#13

Good to read your stories of perseverance and congrats on your success. Hoping to emulate your patience while giving the 3rd shot at L3.

Also happy to see some real people in a forum that is now seems to be run over with jerks showing their superiority about their passing L3.

#14

One differenct thing that I did was reading the CFAI publication of CFA Digest and Financial Analyst Journal.

Some of the publications is open to non-members. Lucky that I sort my membership out on 2013 (I thought I would pass the L3 then), I have the access to all CFAI publications.

In this 2015 instead of stick to my calculous and practice MOCK and EOC over and over again. I began to do sth that seems very irrelevant & time-consuming: searching the alternative interpretation of concepts or formulars that has been printed in curriculum.

It is hard to summarize all those that I have read, but I would like to cite several piece of interesting information here:

1,like we all know Markowitz’s MVO, imagine it can be interpreted as emotion optimization if we take volatility as emotion (client’s emotion has been turned into a business risk for the aset manager). likewise, the Sharp ratio can be interpreted as long term return to short-term emotion.

2, the curriculum did not cover the area of high-frequency trades. But reading articles covering this topic inspired me in another unexpected way. for example, I know market effeciency ,I know trade spread, I also know hedge but I never seem someone writes like this :you tend to miss your fill when you’re on the right side of the trade (because HFT traders step ahead of your limit ofer), but you always get filled when you are on the wrong side of the trade (because the HFT traders pick you off). Then here comes the comments of : the preferable tactics are lengthening time horizon, avoiding the HFT nose.

3, The most inlightening article I have seen from CFAI publication is “My top 10 peeves” in which the author gives fabulous interpretation of those dominant concept we thought we cannot be more familiar with.

Also I recommend an article named “Investment Management: A Science to Teach or An Art to Learn” ,which is also very enlightening.

and there is a lot of wise comments I found during the reading…which I cant all cited here because of limited space. I am not saying I passed because of this but reading all abouve CFAI publications really broadened my knowledge. I got a brand new feeling reading L3 curriculum afterwards.

#15
#16

Thanks Ultrablue and everybody else for sharing their long journey through CFAI land. It is encouranging in a painful way. Even to read…lol

God bless you all!

#17

Extremely Inspiratrional, Congratulation,

#18

Good to read stories of perseverance like these. Some people get the material more quickly than others, but even though it didn’t come easily, you kept at it. Y’all rock.

#19

beautiful stories, I shed a tear and poured out liquor

#20

congratulations!!

honestly people who wrote a level more than twice should be awarded because i can’t imagine how it feels like going into the exam room writing the same exam for the 3rd or 4th year…

Thanks for sharing your story :slight_smile:

NANA