Kinda worried about some technicalities so three questions on that subject: 1) Does CFA have some handwriting experts? :’) my handwriting is not so good to start with, let alone under time pressure. Should I slow down extremely to make it legible or do they take time to figure out (I got through college and university as well with it ;-)). 2) Are abbreviations allowed? For example can I write 20MIO and 5K instead of 20.000.000 and 5.000?. And will I be penalized if I write req. return instead of required return for example? Where is the line?
Do I need to repeat the question in any kind? As the mock exams repeatedly do? For example if the questions asks to state a factor that increases one’s ability to take risk, does: ’ his long time horizon allowing to make up for short term losses’ Suffice? Or should I be all like: ‘A factor that increases mr X’s ability to take risk is his relatively long time horizon, allowing to make up for short term losses’ ? Anyone have some knowledge on this matter?
1/ People say the graders are former doctors, so bad handwriting is not an important issue.
2/ The more abbreviations you use, the more risks you take but you will get also extra-time from abbreviations. So, you should find your optimal risk, I recommend the Sharpe ratio.
Thanks! 4) If a question asks for a specific number of factors/reasons/justifications or whatever, can you answer with more than the specified number, or are some disregarded by the graders?
If it were me, and the question asked for X number of reasons, and you listed more than X number of reasons, I’d only grade the first X that I find, and disregard the rest. Keep in mind these graders are grading a LOT of papers, so they probably don’t have a lot of time to grade extra content in your answer.
Watch this video message from the CFA President, answers some of the questions you’ve posted here
Apparently you CAN use commonly known abbreviations.
If the question says 3 reasons, markers will only mark the first 3 reasons given.
Be to the point. CFAI encourages bullet-point answers, but don’t condense your answer to the extent that the marker won’t be able to understand what you say. Keep in mind the number of minutes alloted to the question. As a marker for a local professional qualification, I have generally preferred answers that are to the point.
also, my handwriting is pretty miserable and gets worse with an added premise of stress/time crunch. they were somehow able to ascertain whatever it was i wrote in the moment and construed as correct, so i think you’ll be fine.
also, only provide the requisite # of answers to their question(s); anything in addition will be tossed and disregarded, even if they are technically correct.
i doubt it but would def try to label, nobody other than graders could possibly know the answer to this unless they’ve explicitely said so in the past.
