Ended up 80 percentile for the afternoon but the worst 10 percent for the moring session. Strategies, advice please. Thank you all in advance and congrats to those who passed.
Do a lot of timed practice question, i did shweser mock and past CFA exams 2008-2018, i think this is key.
- Answered 2015-2018 past am mock exams
- Overshoot the time limit in half of those, but subsequent tests got within the time limit
- Watched youtube tutorials on how to answer and grade the am test (bullet pts, formula, etc)
- Allotted 1 week to answer mock, full time
- Used Schweser as main study material
Bro, last year, I failed result from 18% blank in AM, and performed well in PM. This year, I got above 90 percentile in AM and passed. I was using schweser only. My stupid method is Practice, practice and practice. Train yourself to get a immediate reaction to the question. Gook luck!
Yeah, tough lesson for me. Thought a grasp of essence will help me answer the essay questions better with little practice, then the 25% BF hit me hard on the knee. Practice, practice and practice 
I didn’t do many actual. Only last three years. Did Mark Meldrum’s morning sessions they were good. His videos showing how to answer them were golden
90th PM percentile and below 10th AM percentile here. Absolutely heartbroken. Is the CFAI testing knowledge or exam technique?
I used Mark Meldrum for Level III and would recommend it if you’re the type that needs topics synthesized. He really helped me to not just memorize rules and formulas but to be able to back my way into answers even when I had no clue. I was consistently scoring between 60%-70% on mocks and scored well above the 90th percentile on AM. I attribute this to Mark’s videos and walkthroughs because there were a number of questions I had no idea how to answer at first glance but was able to reason my way to a logical answer.
I used IFTs essay solution package. He answers all the relevant questions from 2014 onwards. He actually shows the template and writes it out in short points etc. Very helpful. Mark meldrum also solves last 2-3 yrs questions, but IFT goes further back. After a while you’ll notice similarities in the type of questions. Also, I’d strongly suggest to do the IPS questions from the earlier papers as well (ie prior to 2014 which is not covered by IFT).
CFAI books only.
Stick with that. There is too much horn tooting of prep providers and their followers.
Base your study in the curriculum, past exams and CFAI material. Also I used LevelUp Bootcamp, it is a game changer.
I was below 10% in morning last year. Then used LevelUp. Close to 90% this year.
90th percentile in the AM here…
You have to do the AM practice under timed conditions. And lots of them. I think I did something like 14 or 15 AM mocks. At the beginning of each question I would write down the time I had to be finished the question (i.e., 9:00AM start time, first Q = 10 minutes, I have to leave the question at 9:10 no matter what). I did this enough times and became repetitive. Finsihed comfortably in time in the AM session.
Firm believer that mocks and practice questions are the best way to learn.
You got this!!
I passed with at least 80% percentile in the AM, but I did really bad for PM…
I started reading the curriculum in January 2018, but because of my tight time schedule (I work for public accounting firm with audit from January to like June), I used every minute to read the CFA curriculum, and then I did the questions behind the curriculum. I did not use any outside provider even though I have purchased IFT but I did not have time. For the last month of CFA prep, I used the past AM exams from 2013 to 2018, and I mocked them under the time constraint (TIME IS SO IMPORTANT FOR AM).
IFT provides a very good Past essay relevance document (for free), so I did not waste time doing the essay questions that are not relevant to the 2019 exam. https://ift.world/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Level-III-Essay-Questions-Relevancy-for-2019-update2.pdf.
Good luck and I hope it helps!
Got clearly in the top 10% in the AM. I used MM and the curriculum. I did a shit load of mocks and didn’t take any shortcuts.
retaker. left 38 points blank in 2018 and scored around a 35% on the essay.
this year, still managed to leave like 7 points completely blank (altho i finished all my mocks, exam day pressure got me) and scored around a 72-73% on the real essay, tough to tell exactly. but well above 90th %ile
my total mock score was 1312/1975 which is like 66%. this was ALL the mocks, 2010 through 2018 on Schweser additional materials, as well as all 4 schwesers in the book. i didnt waste my time with irelevant questions, as those hurt your confidence, since you dont know them, and they add no value. use the IFT doc for irrelevant Qs, altho youll see discrepencies btw this irrelevance doc and the one provided by schweser.
do all mocks under exam conditions. no open book. start mocking no later than 5 weeks out. i took my first mock a whopping 8 weeks out, scored a 104/180, and it was (in retrospect) smooth sailing from there thru the 90th percentile. remember, youll never feel comfy during a mock essay. your hand will hurt and your brain will hurt. but keep pushing.
I DONT RECOMMEND skipping around. that can waste time and hurt confidence.
i would recommend either going 1 through 10 or whatever, or (my prefered strategy) start with a super qualitative “know it or you dont” topic, because they normally come in the form of 16 pt questions that you can tear apart in like 7 minutes. so start with super qualitatve subjects, then move to the meat and potatoes, then save ALL PWM and INST questions for LAST. that essentially book 2 of schweser. save the book 2 of schweser material for last.
use s2000magicians grading service, cant reccomend enough.
I did just below the 90% percentile line on the AM. And this with 21 points left totally blank - due to time constraint.
I never really prepared for the AM. I didn’t have time. Studied solely from the curriculum, did nothing more than the EOCs, BBs, topic tests and 6 past AM exams. (Had bought MM exams but never had time for them).
Never did one mock under timed conditions, because my study was scattered throughout my day (15 minutes here, 20 there).
And yet, I did well on AM to my greatest surprise.
I think the whole AM exam specific preparation is a bit overemphasised, you just need to know the material, and the whole of it (as much as possible).
I’m glad that in the last 10 days, when I realized I’m running out of time I did not do any more mocks but I made a thorough review of the curriculum. Every single formula.
True, I ran out of time and could not finish, but it didn’t matter because what I knew, I knew well.
On the PM you probably cannot do wonders. I think I scored 45/60 (75%ish).
But on AM I performed much better against all odds.
So no need to spend hundreds on 3rd party providers - at least not necessary for a good score.
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I used schweser - but I only used the books and qbank. I think qbank is underrated for hammering down small details, concepts, and providing repetition. However if I could go back in time I would probably just use the CFAI material and do the EOC and blue box questions. The most important thing is the past AM exams, the topic tests through CFAI, and CFAI mocks. AM exams are required and the most important thing to success - you learn what they ask and what types of questions to expect, as well as time management
I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again. MOCKS MOCKS MOCKS.
I did 2004 thorugh 2018 twice.
I did all 4 of MM’s tests
I did all of Konvexity’s test.
I did all IFT tests.
I did most of Finquiz’s test.
I did boston’s test.
I did Daren Miller’s test (but it was ungraded and I got a refund).
I would rank them in that order.
Hard work pays off… as Codtrawler87 said, no shortcuts.
I scored an average of 80-85%, and I think that is refelctive of the below where 68-69% got you top 90%ile. I know a few others on this board probably scored in that range or higher than me. More mocks = more practice = higher score.
