I need help. Band 2 in 2016 and Band 5 in 2017. How can one know if handwriting played a part in the AM ?

CFA Level III
#1

Hi all,

I got a Band 5 this time.

I did miserably in essays in my first attempt in 2016 and left 3 whole questions as it obviously reflects on my fail Band.

There was a marked improvement in my 2017 AM score, still pathetic enough at 6/3/2. I find it extremely hard to believe this score.

I wrote ALL the answers in great detail with all the calculations. For AM in mocks and all previous papers - I had a success rate of more than 70 % for the answers. Infact I wrote much more detailed explanations than required just to be on the safe side.

What is most baffling for me is my PM score. It was WAY BELOW my expectations with 2/4/3

I expected at least 7 topics >70 , as I had always had pattern in the previous exams and even Schewser exams.

I dont know whether handwriting has played a part in my poor AM scores, as I can’t seem to think of any other reason.

Some of the questions were very straight forward.

I request help and guidance to bring about a significant improvement in my AM scores and also see what could have gone wrong in my PM.

My CFA journey started in 2009. It has been a very long and tough road with a challenging 70 hr/week job and a large family to take care of. I

Each year before exams,I take 5-6 weeks of unpaid leave to study fulltime. This too has not helped.

I don’t like to feel victimized but this journey has taken alot of my personal life. A LOT. I am sure even others have their story to tell.

Looking at some of the FAIL matrices here for Band 9/10. My matrix looks better than them at Band 5, which probably means I failed miserbaly in those sections where I had >50.

After 8 years of toil. I don’t want to give up on CFA. At the same time, I fear what more I may need to sacrifice and lose to achieve this dream.

I am a mid career IT professional, who is immensely passionate about the Hedge Fund world, especially the activist Hedge Fund world and with an excellent ability to understand and value a business and find value pickings in any economy.

I see the CFA designation as my only hope to move out of IT and work for a fiduciary.

#2

I am just very curious to know how many can claim for sure that they have very poor handwriting and yet passed ?

#3
  • For the AM Session, only write concise bullet points
  • In the last 6 weeks, do more mock exams
  • If your handwriting is that bad, then PRINT
  • General L3 Tip: don’t rely too heavily on Schweser
  • Use the matrix below for inspiration
  • My assistant said PowerPoint is acting up, again
  • Also, Outlook is kinda slow

#2018orBust

400hoursnow wrote:

FINALLY PASSED !!! at the border

Essay Q# Topic Max Pts <=50% 51%-70% >70% 1 Alternative Investments 19 - * - 2 Portfolio Management - Institutional 22 * - - 3 Portfolio Management - Performance Eval. 15 * - - 4 Portfolio Management - Individual 15 * - - 5 Portfolio Management - Indiv/Behavioral 15 - * - 6 Portfolio Management - Individual 22 - * - 7 Economics 14 * - - 8 Portfolio Management - Asset Allocation 20 - * - 9 Fixed Income Investments 21 * - - 10 Portfolio Management - Risk Management 17 * - - 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 - Asset Allocation 18 - - * - Portfolio Management - Individual 18 * - - - Portfolio Management - Monitor&Rebalance 18 * - - - Portfolio Management - Performance Eval. 18 - - * - Portfolio Management - Risk Management 18 - * -

#4

I dont konw if I have the worst handwriting, but it is definitely not good.

English is not my first language

I did not write calculation formulas in details…

I barely finished am in time,as a result, I left 2 subsections with only 1 sentence and several other sections with bunch of keywords ( I would fail for sure if this is an English class)

AM matrix is 3/4/3

#5

i have the ugliest handwriting and failed the am. but passed because of the pm.

#6

My handwriting is beyond awful. Even when I print, it is a mess. I did, however, pass. Got a few sections above 70% in the morning as well.

If it is legible–even barely–you’re probably all good. If people got dinged for handwriting, there would be fires in the streets.

#7

Try different pens and see which allowed pen gives you the most acceptable handwriting when you are writing fast… some pens are more comfortable to write with and you may be able to alter/improve your writing even when you write fast…might require some practice with it though.

#8

Hi kd789

Are you interest to join

Group to work together to tackle again level III ?

Best

#9

I don’t want to discourage you, but I don’t think its your handwriting, I think you need to reevaluate your approach to tackling the AM. From what i’ve heard, there are handwriting experts used to help when cases are particularly bad, so unless you literally aren’t writing words at all, I doubt thats the issue.

#10

I think that is why you failed, DO NOT write more than what’s required! Use bullet points and short sentences, just address the question and nothing else and you should be fine.

#11

This is spot on. If they ask for two reasons for XYZ your answer should be:

  1. Because of this

  2. Beacuse of that. Next Question.

They don’t care how much you write, they want you to asnwer the question and move on. Also, be careful that you aren’t flip-flopping within answers. Don’t hedge your bets by saying one thing and then making a contradictory statement later in case you are wrong, as this will get you nothing

#12

maybe re-evaluate you life choices? Be your own general…

#13

^^This is the problem. Obviously not true for all, but the AM section is designed to be more difficult and has to be helped by a strong PM. In my experience most people struggle to finish the AM, but find the PM session much easier. Figure out what is happening with your PM session and you will increase your chance of passing.

#14

Thanks “lord of pension”, very insightful. I’ll make sure to re-evaluate my life choices, I guess I should refrain from offering advice to a candidate (whom asked) so that he/she can successfully get through L3. Handwriting is not the cause of this fail. Talk to anyone about the grading process and they will tell you that handwriting does not matter. I’m doing the OP a favor, he/she needs to understand why he failed and not blame it on some false reasoning

#15

I was thinking same thing here, maybe you wrote too much? I think some of the grader feedback provided on the CFAI web site mentions that many candidates try to “hedge” their responses. I take that to mean the candidate might write too much or in some cases write something that looks like multiple different answers to the grader. To me that would be akin to filling in more than one oval for an item set question, which they obviously won’t give you credit for.

#16

I’m quite sure that handwriting has nothing to do with passing or failing.

I’d be more inclined to think that the problem is:

  • You simply don’t understand the material, so your answers are incorrect, or missing altogether, or
  • You didn’t answer the questions being asked

You’ve passed Levels I and II, so if you’ve studied as much as you say, I’m inclined to think that it’s not that you don’t understand the material. I suspect that it’s far more likely that you’re not answering the questions being asked.

In that vein, it might be that:

  • You don’t understand the questions as written, so your answers don’t match the questions
  • You’re giving indirect answers instead of direct answers
  • The answers you’re giving are correct as far as they go, but they don’t go far enough (in this case, you may be relying on the grader to make inferences about what you mean, rather than saying it explicitly yourself)

I’ve helped a lot of repeat Level III candidates improve their answers to the morning session questions. (I got an e-mail this morning from one such candidate: he passed this year, having failed last year.) It’s not that difficult, but it requires the correct mindset.

#17

It is an overall problem. Your PM indicates that you need to understand the materials inside out. Your AM is better than many other passed AMs posted here.

#18

6/3/2 in AM and 2/4/3 in PM (check them again) suggests issues with both AM and PM.

PM score was probably around 65%. Its difficult to say what happened here. Most passing candidates have a 75%+ in PM.

But definitely you need to see if topic areas in PM and AM correlate. If so you have a fix. May be you have to look at a few topic areas that needs significant improvement. I do not have more information to comment.

If your AM and PM are uncorrelated, you have a larger issue as your scores need significant improvement in both the sessions.

If handwriting was an issue, your AM scores would be more skewed. I do not see that.

As suggested by others look for issues in the way you answer AM. I had 8/1/1 in 2016. The suggestion made to me was to look at the style of my answers and use bullet points etc rather than long sentences. Also the keywords play a role. Check your mock answers to see if there are any such issues.

Best wishes for 2018.