Band 8 in 2016 to Pass in 2017 - What worked for me

This is not to suggest what to do, but just a journal of what I did. It worked for me. But guess could have been much better.

A study plan that I may draw for myself may not be relevant for someone else. At the end of it, as a candidate one should know what works for them and what does not (being a self study program) and focus on the areas that one need to improve upon.

So here we go!!

2016:

Preparation:

Material: Schweser Only.

Time spent: Around 9-10 days for a gross of 80-100 hours

Mocks: 0

Result: Band 8 FAIL

AM: 8/1/1

PM: 0/2/8

PostMortem:

I estimated my score to be 54% based on 20/60/80 (not the 40/60/80 as recommended as it placed me at 62%) for AM and lowest possible in the band for PM. (Pretty straight forward)

Clearly certain areas stood out.

  1. Lack of practice for AM
  2. Certain areas needed work in AM
  3. Behavioral finance and Individual investor – 30% weight
  4. Economics & Asset allocation – 20% weight
  5. Equity & fixed income – 20% weight

2017:

The Plan:

  1. Start early – Jan or so
  2. Focus on AM mocks – downloaded whatever exams was available (from 1999-2014 etc)
  3. Based on my score in 2016 and target in individual sections, I had to work on Economics & Asset Allocation; Individual & Behavioral and Equity & FI – This accounted for approx 55% of the likely test area weights.
  4. Target score – 75%
  5. Individual areas – Set myself a target of moving the AM scores from
  6. 20 -> 80 on Eq & FI and
  7. 20 -> 60 on Econ & AA and Individual Investors.
  8. Maintain score on PM areas – Given my background of 17 years in the investment industry and the relative ease with which I did PM in 2016, I was reasonably confident of this.
  9. Allocate time based on weights and add additional time based on the improvement needed. Essentially the additional time was to work on answering AM questions from the respective area that needed improvement
  10. Drew up a 70 day plan with around 3 hours each (Late Jan – Apr), 10 days with 6 hours each (May) – for mocks and last mile for a total of approx 300 hrs. With lot of slack days to chill and review stuff at leisure.
  11. At least 6 years of old papers and 4 schweser practice exams.

The Execution:

  1. Started on April 25 with 40 days to go for the exam
  2. Only Kaplan Schweser to help along with its 2 practice volumes
  3. Drew up a revised plan
  4. Key areas upfront followed by rest (with time to review the key areas alongside practice exams)
  5. Plan was 30 * 4 + 10 * 12 (No option right)
  6. Everything felt new!!, although I was using my material from the 2016 (That had my notings)
  7. With a few hiccups along the way completed all sections by May 26.
  8. The last week was spent on 4 schweser AM practice exams – timed the first 2 of them, reviewed for answers and other 2 were not timed.
  9. No previous exam paper attempted!!
  10. Scheweser – page by page all the way
  11. Took notes – approx 200 pages.
  12. Last week was only from this notes (rarely went back to Schweser).

Bottom line:

  1. Need not spend huge amount of time. Seriously think if you are in the Industry, need 200 hrs or so to PASS (Not talking about 0/0/10 here).
  2. AM mocks matter and timing matters
  3. PM mocks – no need in my view
  4. Retakers – if do not start early, you are as good as a first timer
  5. Kaplan is more than sufficient
  6. Work smart rather than working hard
  7. Take notes, helps to remember.

Best wishes everyone.

Happy to help anyone that seeks. PM me and we can take it from there (pro bono).

Thank Hedgee, will definitely consider your tips for the next year.

Got my first fail this year (Level III, Band 8) after nailing Levels I and II at first attempt. Feel devastated…

Don’t think you should be worried. You should be doing fine next year.

Thank you - my AM was a disaster, will have to focus on it 2018

You are not alone. There is rarely a candidate that has a bad PM. Most candidates (incl myself) underestimate AM.

Adding my 2 cents here. I actually underestimated PM as i read soo much concerning how AM is hard and that i should be prepared. Last year i focused too much on AM and thought i nailed it but my results were not that good and on PM i was too confident it would be peace of cake as it should be in the same format as level 2.

AM is of course key and answers must be made in a concise way (bullet point format) and avoid narrative. just answer the question asked. no more no less. This year my AM results were not very impressive neither and PM was the key to be able to catch back with my so so AM. PM are easy points to get if well prepared (all CFA questions + CFAI online must be mastered perfectly).

Thanks for your contribution Hedgee (and for the 2 boxes 1 box journey. was a 1 boxer retaker and at least it help me feel less anxious)

You are welcome mate!. We used to play games in our trading desk when market moving information is expected - something like Jackson hole outcome

You can do it