I am a retaker, and prepared well for this time than my previous levels and previous attempts. I am darn sure I did well in FI portion this time around as I understood the concepts behind that quite substantially! My weighted average marks seem to be somewhere around 55% - 56%. I did well in Ethics too, ofcourse GIPS questions, though it was straight forward, I cldnt score any, and Derivatives as expected below the 50%.
But I cldnt digest that I scored below 50%, around 48% precisely, in the essays, as I was very confident my minimum score shldve been somewhere around 55%.
I have given screen shots below for your purview and let me know what should I have done differently. And if at all I have to repeat what strategies should I adapt.
Many thanks in Advance. And all the best for new 3 letter holders
You should study the areas you scored below 50 really hard and practice them a lot. I failed last year and passed this year and thats what i did. Also your AM score needs to be nudged up, so go all out with mock/practice exams.
Judged by your results, I think you need to really understand the materials instead of being familiar or memorize the concepts; if you didn’t score well in the essay part (private wealth etc.) you should use professional service to guide you through the right answer format.
I used mark meldrum - he explains things well and make sure you UNDERSTAND the concept; btw I score 90th in the am and overall. Hope this helps.
Yeah correct. But I could not be able to beleive how did I score below 50% for FI, coz in my preparation I spent more hours on it. Thanks for your advice will keep in minde. And congrats on your achivement!
Thanks for the advice mate, yeah Private wealth used to be my strongest area, dissapointed coz this year it was not upto it weightage compared to the previous years. I did farely well when comparing my answers of Pvt wealth with the examiners answers, thats why am feeling confused.
Thanks for the suggestions, shall keep in mind. And all the best wishes for you
You seem to be ok in MCQ, but how many mock exams did you do? you could do with going above 70% here if the essay portion seems to be a problem, just to give you that cushion for next time.
I found Mark Meldrum great for tackling the essay portion of the exam, he goes through step by step on how to answer the question. From structure to concept, this I found invaluable and whilst in seems like common sense for sum, I had totally overlooked the ideas he teaches.
My suggestion would be to rip out as many mocks as you can, and then do them again.
1)I used Dr. Mark Meldrum’s mocks(IMO, the best for level 3) extensively, and did them 3 times prior to the exams, in addition to the CFAI prior year mocks. After studying for so many hours, and practicing so many mocks you tend to forget your mistakes. I would make a couple of mistakes time and again, the only way around it, was redoing them, until they became second nature.
2)Look out for S2000magician’s posts, those are gold for aspiring candidates.
3)Read the questions very carefully, this year had a ton of curveballs in the both the AM & PM sessions.
I’ve seen a couple posts now about people stating they know the material but don’t do well on the essays. Could be that you’re not really answering the question they were asking and/or not providing it in the format they want (ie, state in USD, bps, etc…).
For next years prep when going through the old exams and what not make sure you’re answering in the format that’s being asked. You may just be losing easy points there.
What materials did you use to study and how many CFAI mocks, old essay exams and topic tests did you do? My gut feeling is that you actually don’t know the material well enough, not enough conceptual understanding, and didn’t study from the curriculum. I’ve said this a lot on this forum - there are many ways to pass, but all include starting early, working hard and focusing on the curriculum, even if you use a third party, which I’d recommend, to help you focus on the curriculum.
Look into Level Up videos and boot camp and listen to Marc’s advice. His advice isn’t rocket science or magic - it’s to work hard and learn the curriculum inside and out. But, he does help you focus on the curriculum and old exams and provides advice and materials to help you do that. If I were you, I’d start slowly after Labor Day with Marc’s videos, slide and focus books and do the blue boxes from the focus book. As you get closer to the exam, make sure you’ve run though CFAI mocks and other mocks (people seem to like Marc Meldrum’s) at least twice
Another observation is that you didn’t do all that well in the multiple choice. You need to knock the multiple choice out of the park to balance the essay, which most people don’t knock out of the park. Also, the essay is a partial credit game to a certain extent. Although, I wouldn’t say they were stellar, I also ran through the K-S practice tests for the multiple choice and that might help you as well.
