People who were surprised they failed last year....

CFA Level III
#1

To the folks who were surprised they failed last year - what went wrong?

Did you way underscore on the AM vs how you thought you did? Were you band 9/10? What did you decide to work on this year (2018)?

#2

Band 10. Left last 3 entire am questions blank because I ran out of time. Brought a watch this year, tracked every question vs. time allotted and finished entire AM exam on time.

Done over-estimate your ability to quickly complete AM questions - I finished every Mock consistently in 2 hours, while the extra factors of the actual exam (stress, environment, etc) completely change the game!

#3

Got tripped up on some of the AM questions but did pretty well there. My downfall was the PM - think I was too drained from trying to nail all the AM questions combined with the anxiety of exam day.

#4

I for sure was really surprised with the results. At the same time it was one of the most humbling experience of my life and I started appreciating people who have attempted this exam several times.

I cleared my L1 and L2 in my first attempt (Dec’ 15 and Jun’ 16) and was super confident that with one year to prepare for my 2017 L3, I will definitely crack it. Studying for L3 was a breeze but what I did not do enough was written practice.

Post the exam I walked out confident that I would pass. Come result day and - band 7!!

I was below 50 on 5 of the 10 essay questions last year. In retrospect, now I am pretty sure that I wrote very sloppy answers and did not use the “exact” essay language that was expected of me.

I studied hard for this years exam but not sure about the essay portion. I left about 15 points blank (these were quant style questions and I ran out of time. I did a few steps in the calculation but did not reach the final answer) It could be a hit or a miss for me.

I believe that this exam is also significant luck. Another day/Another time/Another set of questions and one could pass…It all depends on what gets asked and how prepared are you to tackle those topics…if I fail, I will give it again!!

Good Luck…

#5

I believe that this exam is also significant luck. Another day/Another time/Another set of questions and one could pass…It all depends on what gets asked and how prepared are you to tackle those topics…if I fail, I will give it again!!t

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I never thought of it like this for L1 n L2. i thought going in 150% will for sure kill. and yes. it did for L1 n L2.

but what you wrote above is what striked me about L3 for sure. its just one of “those” exams

#6

Last year was my 2nd attempt.Was confident I passed but I focussed on writing quality answers in AM but that made me run out of time with the last 3 cases blank then tried to do a sloppy quick job for one of the last ones. PM was just average to good. Band 10. Mistake was writing too much in AM and PM wasn’t reading the question carefully enough and fell for some trap answers.

3rd attempt this year, trained on my speed for the AM and for the PM read the questions for key terms and in detail. So this time I finished the AM on time and PM finished in half the time and realised how easy it was to fall for trap answers when I didn’t read the questions properly and assumed what they wanted.

#7

3 entire questions as in WHOLE item set questions (in the AM?) I.e the whole derivatives section say? Or do you mean just 3 sub parts. Like you didnt answer Derivs part B/ C/ D but did A

#8

In another thread I think he said 3 WHOLE questions blank

#9

Yes - 3 WHOLE item sets, it was rough! I got really stuck and grinded the first item set and went way overtime on it. here was my results matrix:

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 - - *

We have divided the group of candidates who did not pass into 10 approximately equal score bands. Your score band below shows how your overall score on the exam compares with the overall scores of candidates who did not pass this exam. For example, a score band of 1 indicates performance in the bottom 10%, a score band of 10 indicates performance in the top 10%. Your score band: 10

As I mentioned on another post, I must have been on the upper end of all the individual score ranges - how else could I have been Band 10 with these results?

#10

caven, are you me? haha, I failed L 3 last year, band 10 and my results for both AM and PM look almost identical to yours. I also spent way too much time on the first question in the AM session and let anxiety get the better of me for the rest of the test. I left 3 questions blank as well (didn’t even attempt any of the sub-parts). Despite this I was kind of surprised I was band 10 as I expected to be in a lower band. Funny thing is I thought the 2017 paper was the easiest when taking mocks this time around and it was probably my best score among all the mocks. Oh well…

#11

Ethical & Professional Standards 36 - - *

So much for the ethics bump…

#12

that grade scheme literally makes no sense lol 9 questions are 50% or lower and u “just missed it” damn

#13

I passed on the first attempt. What is more interesting to me is I guessed correctly who of the 5 other people I knew taking the exam would pass and who would fail.

Short version, people who were calm under pressure, started January at the latest, and managed time well on mocks all passed.

People who failed either started later, didn’t manage time well, or had an odd look in their eyes at the lunch break. Probably a combination of fear, doubt, and resignation.

#14

^ yes. captain obvious

#15

Cavern, look up 400hours’ matrix. Worse than yours and he passed. 6 4 0 morning. 4 3 2 afternoon.

So, Margin Call. I guess this is obvious on the Level 3 board. Was a Level 1 instructor this year and post on that board too. So, it wasn’t obvious to them.

#16

My AM scores were materially worse than expected, even though I completed every question and sub question.

#17

yes, i meant i left 3 whole item sets blank in AM but I tried to write something for one of them in the last 10 min that I had so it didn’t count for much. (band 10).

#18

Seems like not many people who failed last year were surprised.

#19

I definitely left the exam with a 50/50 feeling, and I ended up on the wrong side for sure.

Leaving the exam this year I felt I passed, more a 65/35 confidence… we will see!

#20

Have you guys ever heard of anyone who moved from band 5 (or lower) to a pass the following year. I was band 5 last year and although I think I did better this year, I’m scared that I may end up at band 9/10.

Every re-taker I have met who finally passed was either band 9/10 the previous year.

Last year I was surprised by the band 5, I thought I did better than that. The one thing I learnt about the level 3 exam is that the results can be way different from one’s expectations.