Hello AF, I was hoping CFA Charterholders or those who passed the Level 3 would offer me some guidance. I got let go from my job 1.5 weeks ago. Good timing I suppose. Anyway, I was able to get through the CFAI past AM papers from 2009 to 2016 from then til yesterday. I am not sure what to do now. Should I:
go through all of the EOC and BB? I had gone through most of these a couple months ago.
go through the CFAI AM papers again? I scored around 45-56%, higher near the end, with 2016 being my highest score.
work on Schweser PM questions? I was able to get a hold of both volumes 1 and 2.
continue practice assessments on the CFAI website?
I felt very burned out today; I did only a few practice assessments but I want to keep the momentum going. Just not sure how. For what it’s worth, I failed the exam last year and was hoping to be done with it this year. Thanks in advance AF. Please guide me, I am sort of desperate and want to know how I can make the best of my last 2 weeks, which I can devote full-time to studying.
yep, for last 2 weeks and in order of importance imo…
1a) CFAI AM mocks ad nauseum (didn’t care / find it useful to look at CFAI books at this stage)
1b) if you can get your hands on videos (schweser / IFT etc) explaining CFAI AM mocks answers that you just wrote that’s always a good refresher for another perspective along with tips and tricks
a consolidated (light) notes worksheet to skim over (yours or any of the popular ones posted here)
online CFA questions if haven’t gone through them all (for OCD satisfaction)…
IFT’s crash course is $190 for answers to every 2011-2016 AM question. There are a few where he regurgitates the guideline answer, but for many he points out pitfalls, and/or links back to his notes on the curriculum for the “why”. He’s also crisp in his delivery and command of the curriculum, and pretty easy to listen to. Accent, but not a barrier; he worked in the US for many years.
I just wanted to thank hashtag for the enormous role he played in me passing CFA Level 3 (and sewshi for reiterating these points and saying to do AM ad nauseum, that stuck in my mind for some reason). Had I not shifted my focus to CFAI AM and, oddly enough, the vignette questions, I would have surely failed. My scoring matrix looks ugly and it could have easily been a fail but it doesn’t matter! I feel an enormous burden has been lifted off my shoulders. Not only did I lose my job a few weeks prior, but my GF of 3 years just broke up with me 3 days before exam results day. I don’t know what I would have done if I also failed the level 3 for the 2nd year in a row in the same week. And I was pretty low to put all my faith in an anonymous poster on this board, but I am glad I did.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Edit: making notes on weak areas was also instrumental to my success, right up there with past CFAI papers. By the end I had roughly 10 pages of notes on types of questions and answers I didn’t answer correctly or properly.
That’s probably the nicest thing anyone has said to me, this past week. Glad you got something from those tips – but the only reason you crossed the finish line is because of your hard work and determination. You did it.
