There is jut so much to cover in so little time…
Every time I log into the Schweser site and see their countdown until the test on the first screen I get a little bit more nervous.
People keep telling me that they thought L3 wasn’t that hard and that I shouldn’t worry about it… I find this hard to believe… Do you think they have made the L3 exam significantly harder than it used to be? The passing rates would seem to indicate so.
last year’s 51% was ridiculous. it’s taking me hours to do the ips questions on cfai. mcleod, did you do these? it’s taking me like 2 hours to do maybe 4 or 5 questions (doing institutional ips now). how i’ll pass the morning session, i have no idea.
cfasf1 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > last year’s 51% was ridiculous. it’s taking me > hours to do the ips questions on cfai. mcleod, > did you do these? it’s taking me like 2 hours to > do maybe 4 or 5 questions (doing institutional ips > now). how i’ll pass the morning session, i have no > idea. I think I’m gonna start hitting the CFAI end of chapter questions this weekend. Right now I’m doing another pass through Schweser and building my formula sheet. Those IPS questions are going to be key. The rest of the exam doesn’t worry me that much, but bomb the IPS stuff and you’re done. It was taking me an incredible amount of time to even get through the Schweser IPS questions.
the cfai questions, though brutal, are definitely better practice.
AllLevelsPass Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > There is jut so much to cover in so little > time… When did you start studying? When do you wish you started studying? Edit: I’m taking L2 in June, have a friend re-taking L3 this June (he is on AF as well, not too much though)
cfasf1 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > the cfai questions, though brutal, are definitely > better practice. Absolutely… To me it seems most of the Schweser questions are really weak in comparison at this level…
What part of the Level III material is difficult? I’ve been through it all and I can remember seeing literally maybe 5 pages worth of tricky material. It is much easier than the Level II curriculum in my view.
> Those IPS questions are going to be key. The rest > of the exam doesn’t worry me that much, but bomb > the IPS stuff and you’re done. That’s not entirely true. My performance on the two major IPS questions was very disappointing last year (less than 50%; however, when I looked through the answer key this year, I am sure that it was not far below 50%). I made up for it in the afternoon session, which went really well. Also, remember that ethics is kind of a tiebreaker, so if you are going to be on the borderline, you really want that section to go in your favor. The message is—although the IPS questions are the heart of the test—if you feel that your performance was not great, don’t give up hope. Granted, you will have to make up for it by rocking derivatives, fixed income, etc., but you can limp across the finish line.
Windjammer, I would agree that the material itself is not “more difficult” than Level II. That said, and I noted this in another thread, the quantity of QUALITATIVE material is quite large and I think, at least for me, the fear is that there is just so much information that one must know in an innate fashion that its overwhelming. Im sure in two months we’ll all be feeling much more confident but right now, Im in the camp that thinks this is a lot of material to memorize.
The material is easier than level 2 but the questions are harder. So you need to know your shit better and I think that’s where most people fail. Also as Caspian says this is a lot of material to memorize.
The material is easier. The test is harder.
The test questions are hard, because: 1). can be very subjective 2). requires comprehensive knowledge and to think critically from different angles
- and in the morning, you have to answer them under insane time pressure and you don’t have a 1/3 chance of guessing correctly
You don’t have a 1/3 chance of guessing correctly, but you also don’t have a 2/3 chance of guessing incorrectly. If you are well prepared you should be able to provide most of what they are looking for in an essay, even if you don’t get it all right. It is not a binary proposition.
I won’t pass this exam on the first shot.
mwvt9…you can’t say that yet…we still have two full months to go…we will all do well! I’m trying to go 3 for 3 and I can say that I feel more lost for this one than in any of the other two. However we still have lots of time.
Before we all talk ourselves into failing, let’s remember that most of us (>50%) will end up passing this thing.
Great point McLeod81!