Information Hemmorage

Anyone else alarmed at how quickly they have forgotten EVERYTHING from LII?

I was pretty shocked although I am not sure why. Everytime I finish a test like that I think it will stick, but it never does. It is kind of sad. Just like exercising, you work you butt off for a half a year to get in shape and then if you sit down on the couch for a couple of weeks it is all gone…asymmetric.

It’s better that you do. How else are you gonna get stuff like the two-bond MBS hedge and contingent immunization calculations in your head.

When I finished my engineering degree I spent a few months volunteering as a teaching assistant for senior high school math and physics. I found the material unbelievably easy compared to how I remembered it being as a student. When I was a student, I always thought nothing was really being retained, but each time you push yourself to a higher level in studying, your “base” knowledge moves forward. I think we all get ourselves into a state of hyper-retention for exam day, and then “forget” the most bleeding-edge stuff, but still retain quite a bit (more than we think… I “think”). All the same, it still seems like a mountain to climb when studying begins.

I can still remember a bunch of formulas and stuff that I drilled quite a bit. But if I had to sit for L2 today, I gurantee you no higher than a failure band 5.

I bet I’d pass the exam if I wrote it again… Confidence is 1% of the battle right?

I feel like I don’t remember much to the degree necessary to pass L2, but I’ll bet with very little time it would all come right back. I still know concepts, it’s the details that are starting to get fuzzy. I haven’t looked at the topics for L3, but I hope some are building on L2 concepts and are not totally new

MattLikesAnalysis Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I bet I’d pass the exam if I wrote it again… > > Confidence is 1% of the battle right? I would agree with Matt 100%

Yeh, but what happens if this stuff shows up in an interview? Or you need to do it at work?

Yeah, black swan, remember balance of payments?

Not only that mook, but today a professor was talking about the two major classifications of markets, and asked if anyone knew what they were off the top of their head. My mind went completely blank. Scared the crap out of me, and prompted this post.

I know what you mean swan - I’ve had quite a few instances where people have asked me things that I should know right off the bat, but i’ve just drawn a blank. In my case i think the information is in there, it has just slipped way into the back under a pile of other stuff. if I sit down and try to think about a topic then it very slowly comes back, and if I actually glanced at a txt book I think it would come straight back. I guess leading up to exam day you spend a lot of time doing the old sock picking up exercise and trying to make sure as much as possible is right at the front of your brain - revise, revise, revise to get it all on the tip of your tongue. The you spit it all out on exam day and afterwards it gradually drifts into the background. In working life if we need to use a technique then we have the opportunity to refresh our memory with a text book or a quick google, so I don’t see it as a problem.

‘Major classifications of markets’? I think I erased that from my brain to make room for the fall season premiere schedule.

Yes. I have retained about 5% of the stuff I learned from Level II. Time to apply that extra capacity to Level III.

mook Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > ‘Major classifications of markets’? > > I think I erased that from my brain to make room > for the fall season premiere schedule. Price and order driven?

black worry not you have not forgotten the core mateiral. what you and all of us may have lost is the sharp shooting skills that got us over the wall. the brain is the best hard disk??? ever. that stuff sits right in there. and under the right conditions of temperature and pressure, you will regurgitate not knowing where they come from. i think the challenge in the work environemnt is not who can remember but who knows where the stuff is to refer and refresh the memory. take it easy lets shoot and kill the bird called L III.

L2 …what is that???

Nike Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Yeh, but what happens if this stuff shows up in an > interview? Or you need to do it at work? there is a big difference between being able to tackle a CFA exam and being able to answer a question that involves some of the matieral in an interview, or use it practically at work. I have no doubt I can do that.

Auction markets and dealer markets??? Is that right?

vanz1212 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Auction markets and dealer markets??? Is that > right? price-driven and order-driven I’ve just been thinking earlier today that I’ve already forgotten a lot. Thinking about re-reading Level II Secret Sauce.