First and foremost thank you for all you private messages; I just realized I can only send 10 private msgs per day so once it resets I will respond to everyone but means a lot that this group supports one another so much in celebration and misery.
for those that don’t know me; NVC over here… some of you that have been on this forum for years know I am an old timer by age and how long I have been on here (compared to most anyway). I really was not prepared for another disappointment with L3 as I finally mustered up the courage to do a proper amount of studying and went into the exam confident and came out fairly confident that I would end up on the right side of the curve, be hold I failed probably band 9/10 (score right on the MPS line and touching it). It was not the AM that derailed me (despite leaving one question blank due to time) but the PM to my surprise as I thought I got over 70 in the pm for sure… guess all those tricks people were talking about… I fell for all of them.
A bit about me I am and have been in financial planning and advice to private client for 17 years (on both client and management side) and hold number of designations including CFP. I originally did Level 1 in December of 2006 or 2007 (been so long I can not remember), passed Level 1 first try, and then Level 2 on 2nd attempt (1st attempt was a test to be honest as had just written Level 1 did not feel like studying); then failed level 3 band 10 and was so disappointed took a break which was suppose to be a year…kept registering for 5 years straight never studied or sat, finally last year in 2017 registered and studied with old Schweser material and failed band 6 or 8 I think it was, but was not expecting to pass as I did not put enough effort but was good to get back to it…however this passed year in 2018 I registered early bought the premium shcweser package with pass guarantee and read every page, did ever question, did the full exam book, watched the videos, and attended virtual weekly class. I did EOC from CFAI where I was weak, all TTs online, and two exams. I did total of 8 exams of which 4 included past year AMs and averaged 70%+ in all with AMs in high 60s and PM mid 70s. I felt like I sacrificed a lot as I got married two weeks after the exam and my wife basically did all the planning as I was always studying outside of work, I stopped exercising regularly and gave up lots of social (including close friends gatherings and family functions etc…) as you all have I am sure… Was confident in knowing most concepts and felt the exam was very fair. I knew I made silly mistakes including bad time management but felt enough was done to get me through. I checked the overall pass rate first and when I saw the overall 56% pass rate was sure I passed then opened the email and was gutted…I am at a cross road to whether throw in the towel or give it one last try…my gut says give it a try as I never give up on anything but imagining sacrifices I have to make with my family and life I get out right depressed. I also am not sure if I will ever use the CFA Charter in my career; as I am well into my management career and to be honest the charter has become more of a personal than a career goal. Almost a way of proofing myself I can do anything…
If I decide to re do this one last time I think I need to change the way I study. I have asked people and read many reviews of all providers and seems like people have passed with just about any provider and CFAI itself too so very hard to pick one over another. If I was to re write I am leaning towards using schweser again given I would get them for free based on pass guarantee; but now not fully confident in them but then again feel like It maybe my style of studying not the provider…perhaps need to re do many exams maybe just do exams for solid 2 months instead of 3/4 weeks. maybe even start with questions if cirriculum has not changed much and just study areas I can not score above 80%…I usually start from front to back and go in order a bit of an OCD…
I guess I am so confused now and so worried about throwing more money and time away and not succeeding… not sure what to do…I am asking for any advice or stories that may help me here…I know right now my emotions are high and I am down in the gutter feeling awful and will be making my final decision later with clear mind but any words of wisdom helps…Thanks
I haven’t yet taken Level 3 so I’ll probably get pushback for saying this, but it sounds like you studied to try to pass only one time and gave up a few things like we all have done again only one time for this exam. If that’s correct, then what’s the problem (beyond being crushed, pissed, etc., I get that)? I could see wanting to quit if you couldn’t pass after a few times where you put the work in, but you’re really close, so why not try again?
I hear you bro, but quitting is rarely the answer. I came to this exam after 40 years old, with kids, wife and an intensive job. I have my MBA but that was a lifetime ago. Even worse, I work in sales, so the CFA degree is meaningful but not super relevant to my daily work. I don’t have much experience applying the concepts learned. Like you, I was excited taking level 1, I enjoy learning and it reminded me of MBA. As a result I crushed L1 and immediately signed up for L2. At L2 reality kicked in, the exam was harder, the material less familiar, and work was super busy…I got close but failed.
To be honest I was crushed, haven’t failed any exams before, and for this exam I did study. It was a massive ego blow, and I didn’t even know I had much ego. I created a narrative in my head that this exam isn’t a good use of my time as a sales person. MBA is enough, when am I going to use this stuff anyway? I questioned privately whether my career success was due to luck and circumstances or was it real achievement? I put the exam off for several years, but not finishing something I started gnawed at me.
Last year I decided to try again after many years. A little older, a little wiser. There are a lot of tips on exam prep on this board that are excellent, and I used them. My tip is more about mindset. Make sure you understand why you’re taking this exam. I think you are like me and you are doing it to learn, keep your mind sharp, and because we are achievement oriented. If this is true then you should continue. Don’t turn your life upside down and ignore family, friends and health. It will only make you change routines that work and make you feel guilty. Instead, start early put the work in, but in short bursts – maybe an hour or so, more on weekends and airplanes and trains. Go on vacations, exercise regularly, socialize normally and work your typical hours. If you know why you’re taking the exam, you have a plan, and you can execute, then you will succeed. Good luck.
Hey Nigel, I got to wait for the private messages to reset as well, but wanted to thank you for this post. I am just as disappointed and sad as you are! Thought I had done enough to pass. Read the official curriculum, did lots of AM papers, used IFT videos, solved blue boxes and EoC questions, completed topic tests etc. BUT - I still came up short.
Failure is part of growing and I fully believe we can do it next year! We came so close this year, so we have got the potential to do a much job next year. I will slightly adjust my approach though - focus more on solving problems than reading and will probably sign up for Marc‘s levelup bootcamp.
Let‘s not lose sight of the big goal - we are very close, have completed 67 % and just need a wee bit more time for the remaining 33 %. Nothing is lost, if we give up now we will forever remember 28 August 2018. I don‘t want that… I want 20 August 2019 to be a great day for us;-)
If I might add one thing I think is really critical but not mentioned often: CFA past papers.
I think the Kaplan exams are not good for level 3. I did about 4 of them. I found all past CFA exams back to 1999 in a folder online and systematically went through every single one from 2007 - that is 10 years of past papers.
After doing so many you get a natural feel for the wording and style of questions and most importantly how to write optimal answers. My advice next year would be to ignore Kaplan mocks (unless its for PM practice) and just hammer the official AM’s.
Just go see Marc at LevelUp. His approach makes every other providers look vastly inadequate as they are always trying to take shortcuts. There are no shortcuts at Level 3, just learn from the curriculum. You dont win the SuperBowl by learning from the varsity teams playbook.
This is what I did. I was very well prepared (maybe to much for the essay portion) and I think this was also the problem. I think this year the wording was completely different, I started to be unsure on a few questions (how they were asked) and then I badly managed it (I wrote a question in the wrong paper, had to cancel and rewrite it and so I lost a lot of time, leaving blank other two questions).
In fact in the PM I managed a 70% (compared to a 48-49%) in the AM.
I really and truly felt that the 2018 exam was the hardest of all I had seen. It felt like a completely different writing style (maybe a new team of writers) - especially in Private wealth and institutional the questions were asked in very obscure ways and under time pressure too I was just like wtf is this.
I hope next year is better for you guys! good luck!