I hear repeated sentiment of certain differences in the type this years was worded, structure and its difficulty level.
I for one did not attempt previous years mocks in continuity i.e. did not attempt an entire mock from head to bottom. I would do topical subject matter attempts ranging back to 2008.
I did not get the opportunity to have a broad overlook at how the mocks compare to the 2018 exam as a whole.
So was it really distinguishable? this years vs previous 10 years worth?
I did all mocks until 2009 (and had a brief overlook at 2008). The main differences were wording and question. The wording this year was much more complicated but the biggest thing is that in previous year they asked always the same general questions with small different vignette/situations. Was really like, you need to know how an IPS is done and financial planning. It seems that now details are more important than before.
Last but not least, the answer were less straightforward and required more time than what they allocated.
I thought this year’s am was more straightforward than previous years but maybe I got lucky and they asked what I knew. No idea on pm because it was my first attempt but it seemed comparable to what I remember from level 2 in terms of trickiness.( but l2 is conceptually harder)
I think what made this year challenging was that many of the more staple AM questions seen year after year in previous exams just weren’t there, and, the ones that were had been worded/presented differently… so that + general exam stressors + time crunch = impression that exam was particularly challenging compared to previous years, IMO.
Unquestionably last year was easier then this year. I wish I had taken last year’s exam. 2018 AM felt like a different ball game. Some of the basic IPS and Institutional Q’s blackMamba alludes to above were thrown with such ferocious curve balls, I felt like I had been on the end of a Kane ChokeSlam.
agree 100%
If you use Schweser you would feel that way.
I like your quote in the signature
Is the from man’s search for meaning?
I did 2010-2017 AM mocks and the 2018 AM questions definitely weren’t “off-the-shelf” like previous years.
Who would feel that way? I used Schweser and thought a.m. was fairly straightforward.
Yep, good eye!
I used his technique extensively while studying for level 3…
I practiced every old CFAI IPS required return AM calculation from the last 10 years twice, plus the Schweser versions, and with the system I had been taught was sure nothing could phase me. I was wrong. I don’t blame my preparation or technique however, as I’ve reflected on it I blame exam stress and time management. Put another way, I think if given the same question to work on casually at home, I could likely easily solve it.
Definitely fell for the notion that CFAI would ask the questions basically like they always had been in the past and I would cruise through them. This was a poor assumption.
Big time!
The CFAI is expert at testing the same concept in many different ways. It’s about testing your understanding of those concepts not your ability to memorize a specific way to answer a specific question.
Yes and this in 6minutes, 3 (at least) to read and 3 to understand and calculate…? This kind of exams which such time constraints and wording are just to lower the pass rate, not test the knowledge.
Agreed
Totally Agree!
I have practiced last 10 years’ worth of AM, this year is the most difficult one
Ten year average passing rate is 52% with really low dispersion year over year. So I imagine CFAI would tune the MPS in case of a very low average score this year (due to newer format, possibly more time constraint).
I think the material was straightforward, but the way the questions were asked was a lot trickier than any of the mock I saw, and the time constraint also felt different as well. AM mocks I was finishing 15-30mins before the allocated time. Actual exam I was writing up until the last second…