I passed Level 2 in 2018 and started studying for Level 3 at the beginning of January 2019, 4 hours a day every day (and aim to keep this pace). I make extensive hand written notes for each Reading, which is consuming a lot of time but I hope it may help me better memorize the concepts and will enable me to revise the curriculum more quickly just by reading the notes.
I use Schwesser Notes and Mark Meldrum but this Level 3 material seems to me much more difficult and harder to understand than Level 2. I remember that when studying for Level 2 I mostly scored around 70% in the EOC questions after studying each Reading whereas now I score around 50% in the multiple choice questions and for the open ended questions I hardly ever hit the correct concepts.
I’m really worried especially because many people had told me Level 3 was easier than Level 2, that only the essay portion of the exam was making it harder. What should I do? Should I change my approach?
I’m very strong quantitatively and weak qualitatively. I’m great at calculations, the more complex the better… But asking me to compare and contrast xyz is when I start scratching my head.
I’m just gonna continue to pound away.
I had a coworker tell me that the statistics say if you aced level 1 and level 2, you have a much harder time with level 3… However, if you had a hard time with level 1 or 2, then level 3 might be a breeze.
If you are using Mark meldrum I’m assuming you start with Boon 4 as he suggested. Don’t worr then. Fixed income is definitely gonna take more time and harder to wrap your head around some readings, but then the equity session will become easier. Your approach does require a lot of time spent on the first round though- cuz I’m using similar approach.
I’ve always found that I learn the least from just reading the books, and the actual learning happens when you start doing practice questions. I would say given the nature of the curriculum in level 3 that just reading the books is probably 20% of proper preparations to take level 3. That’s why I’m guessing you’re worried. Because, you feel like you should be more comfortable with this stuff than you are right now.
Practice writing portions of past papers (at least for the sections you’ve already covered) as soon possible. Only with practice, IMO, will you gain the confidence to do well in the AM and develop your skill in writing answers quickly and succinctly.
^This. I’d also add that once you’ve finished reading a topic you should do the online topic tests that CFAI gives you. See how you perform, let that inform your review.
I can only speak for myself, but I generally find reading something once is good enough for me to get 90% of the concepts, and then practicing the questions directs my attention to the 10% I missed the first time. Then I just go back and look at the 10%.
And once you’re done with all the topic test questions online and have reviewed, you should reset them and try them again. I have the memory of a goldfish so I usually can’t remember the answers and can solve them again, but even if you remember the answer force yourself to solve it or explain why.
By the way, I don’t know what you are reading, but I found Schweser to be hot garbage for Level 3, especially their mock exams.
Agree with wlfgngpck. I have given similar advise in the group. You can see the following thread for my strategy and if you follow that, I bet you will enter the exam room with much more confidence to pass.
Stop making extensive hand written notes…it is such a time killer. Read the books, make short notes about main concepts and practice practice practice…
I was leaving the online Topic Tests for when I’m done with the curriculum because I thought they would take me too much time and I was planning to be done with the curriculum as son as possible but having reading your suggestions I guess I should do the TT when I’m done with each SS.
L3 can seem difficult to people that have not seen the curriculum before because of its brevity but also the degree of vagueness.
For example Blue boxes in IPS etc seem neither here nor there, and it can be hard to keep a focul point in your studies with this level more then others.
Your goal is the same though - read through the material. Don’t worry if it seems super qualitative or abstract, just keep reading. You just have to trust it comes together.
You will come into your element come mock practice. You will see very structured patterns to questions, and all those areas that ‘seemed very vague’ are in fact not. The CFA past papers are amazing practice.
I think there are two necessary skills needed to pass L3:
Being up to the point (succinct). To achieve this you need to know material well.
Being able to see the big picture in order to connect the dots. To achieve this, you need to synthesize what you already know.
Thus, there is no special ingredient. If you study material mechanically then you might run into some problems. Always pretend you are portfolio manager as your read the material and be passionate about the material you learn. The EOC problems should be an icing on the cake of your CFA journey.
It really surprises me when people bash on some test-prep providers when there are literally thousands or even dozens of thousands people who used that material and were able to pass.
Be consistent and really into material and you will be fine.
Just no where… 2018 was first attempt for l3… covered cfa books along with level up videos and past 5 yrs questions and institute topic tests… 10 percentile in morning and above 80 evening. Morning paper off balances me from 1st question spending more time… despite knowing the subject can’t precise answers… this is my experience …any advice welcome .
" despite knowing the subject can’t precise answers"
It sounds like you are under a lot of stress and then you manage to cool down. By the PM you are killing it. That feeling is familiar to me when I took GMAT back in the day and was struggling with quant on the exam but was killing it at home.
If this is really the case practice how to cool down. If you are unable to do so, try taking beta blocker pill before the exam (it suppresses anxiety). Even though I have no anxiety issues, the exam really stresses me out so I took one for L2 and did well.
If you wait, you run the risk of running out of time or of forgetting the material that you read. Doing the problems now is a good way to turn short term memory into long term memory and to inform your studying so I think it makes sense. It definitely worked for me.
Since you’re at Level 3 you should know by now that everyone handles these exams differently. You know how you learn better than we do.