What do you all think re: the test regarding the development of IPS’s? As I read through some of the examples (like for DB on page 308 bk 2) they seem a bit wordy - MY IPS will most likely be 1-2 sentences for Risk Objective/Risk Tolerance/Constraints (Time/Liquidity/Taxes/Legal/Unique Circumstances). Do you recommend any patterns as well (see below) - I would basically restate the question/summary into these buckets. This is the template that I kept writing down for the problems in Chapter 15… IPS Risk Objective -Desired Return: -Required Return: Risk Tolerance - Ability to Take Risks - Willingness to take risks Constraints: -Time: Talk about how their investment is broken up into 1,2 or 3 segments -Liquidity: State the current needs (bullets) 1 sentence about the need for an emergency fund of 4-6 months. -Taxes: Notice tax rates - for example: is Income Tax > Capital Gains? State that investments that favor gains should be selected (or note if this is contrary to investment goals and state that tax free investments should be considered in Portfolio) -Legal: limited answers here usually -Personal Trusts (optional): -Unique Circumstances: For example: Special Asset Holdings (limitations/concentrations)
When I started studying some months ago, I was freaking out, trying to write “generic” sentences to use in IPS, copying some from cfa texts, some from schweser… I was really scared. Also, take into account that for non-english speakers (like me), this seems even more challenging. After reading 2005-2007 essay exams (available in cfa website and others), I will use bullets for sure. I think they focus on if you know the answer or not. Ok, perhaps if you write a “100% guideline answer” you get the perfect score, but let´s face it, it is almost impossible. Also, if you look at some answers, they basically consist of taking the wording from the question that justifies your answer, is like a copy-paste. Anyway, although now it sounds optimistic, the day before the exam I am sure I will try to memorize as much as possible 
hala - for a 'non-english" speaker, you seem to have command of the language and can probably write better than us slackers that have been speaking it all our lives. I am in the process of trying to come up with templates for the IPSs for DC and DB plans… Im trying to make this so I can do it in my sleep… Which seems to be the only time I have to study - when I should be sleeping…