Thought my studies were going well. Just did the CFAI AM mock (the first of the two MCQ papers they make available on the web site as a proxy for the PM session).
Scored 35/60 (58%).
Not sure I’ve ever done that badly on a paper before.
I feel crushed.
May defer until next year.
Keep on practising my good sir. I dont think for a minute that the MPS is 70%. Many speculate that the real MPS varies between 55% to 65%. In the worst case scenario, 65% is still a reachable target in your case because theres still 2 weeks left… Also most agree that mocks are harder than the real deal, so you may add 5-10% to your score…
I imagine you did poorly on any questions regarding Representativeness Bias and sample size neglect.
It was definitely a different breed of MCQ. A few “on the fence” guideline answers that seemed fairly wishy-washy to me, given the case facts. They definitely utilized it as a gut-check for those that have been seemingly doing well, myself included. I’ve gone through Vol. I of Schweser mocks averaging 75% (with the third installment being above 80%), all CFAI AM exams from 2008 onward, and have cleared Q-bank, and was still fairly stumped by some of their angles they took. Ended up with a 68% AM and 72% PM for a decent 70%, but it still made me feel really uneasy about what lies ahead. Just chalking it up to CFAI attempting to throw a stick in the spokes, as they’ve seemingly done in all previous level’s portal mocks. Brush it off, keep grinding…
#noexcuses
But you are CFA, CAIA, FRM Charterholder???
he’s got you there, Spark. I don’t think that you should defer or give up at this point though. Could have just been a mix of questions that weren’t your strong suit. I have had that happen as well. Use it as a tool to brush up on the nuances of those topics you bombed
You already committed - and you’re in it to win it. Complete the PM session and a few more mocks before exam day and you’ll live to fight another day. Defer til next year and you waste months of hard work, not to mention, how would you pass if you dont show up in the first place?
Try again, keep at it - then show up mentally refreshed and give it your all. That mock is more difficult than the real deal. I ended up doing ONE mock my first level 2 attempt and regret it every month. On that one and only attempt, I got a 38% on the WHOLE exam. Let that simmer for a bit… and I scored within band 5…
Do a few more - you have tiger blood surging through your CFA veins. Now you gotta prove it.
.
keep going, keep going.
58% for am is good. everyone fails that crap. worry about pm. but actually the best way to study for pm is am. lol.
Go over the questions you got wrong and do them again until you get them right. 58% is not bad. I’ve been there. Still passed on first attempt.
I thought the PM is way harder than AM
I thought the PM is way harder than AM
This ain’t your first rodeo, you’re on level III damn it. I’m so desensitized to it now. I remember for level II I got a 55% a week before the exam, I freaked out. Just got a 54% on the 2015 AM CFA exam, not even sweating it, with 37%, 45% and 52% on the previous AMs. Ill take 6 more mocks and give it the ole’ college try on the 3rd. Good luck.
I just did the CFAI AM Mock this morning and got around 72%.
Few comments,
The mock was tricky and you definitely got panelized for jumping to conclusions too quickly. Make sure you read the questions correctly and think if there is possibility of a trick in wording or otherwise.
Spend a day working on topics that you did poorly on. Do some examples and EOC from CFAI or topic tests on the web
Consider that if you got 5 more questions correctly which in my view is a standard deviation of any 60 question MCQ test of this difficulty you wouldve been probably OK.
In other words don’t read into 58% too much. You can put in 10-20 hours and lift yourself up to mid 60s
Just graded my first attempt at the '17 AM mock. 68.3%. First half wasn’t too bad but than hit the Econ and FI PM meat grinder and got owned. 50% on ethics didn’t help either. I did find some of the answer rationale’s a bit cheeky but that’s AM for ya. Time-wise I finished with over 30min left so that’s good i guess.
Managed to get up to 83% on the PM mock. Obviously a huge change from the AM mock score of 58%.
Did anyone else find the PM mock materially easier than the AM mock?
Just be clear, I am talking CFAI mock ISMCQ exams here, NOT the constructed response past papers.
I thought they were similar. The mocks really had a lot of vague topics on it. One question about Excess return for fixed income is literally a footnote on a graph. I mean come on. I did do better on the afternoon though but only by 2%, 78 morning 80 pm.
just did the 2017 CFAI Mock AM portion (multiple choice mock). I agree with OP that is was definitely difficult as I only scored a 60%. My worst multiple choice mock to date! Not very reassuring a week out from test… Will the the PM portion on Monday.
Anyone else find this test to be pretty tough?
Do Not Defer! you are almost there… pass or fail do it and then stick to it …
I failed band 10 in 2010 and felt so gutted took a break from what I imagined would be 1 year now 7 years later finally writing this thing again… I also registered 3 times in between albeit never studied ot sat just wasted money… but even this year was hard to get back to studying and doubt I will get through… worst case will be a great base for next year…
All I am saying is stick to it and put in another week of hard work and then enjoy your summer … what do you got to lose…