I just took the AM session of the dreaded 2008 CFA Exam. It definitely took me every second of the three hours and I really had to rush through the last three sets of questions. After getting killed by the first IPS question I managed a 78% taking a conservative approach to grading. Has anyone taken this exam yet? If so, what did you think? To those who took this exam last year, how hard was the PM session? I would think that it had to be easier than usual to compensate for the AM session. It seems strange that I had about an hour of time left after the 2006 exam, but none for last year’s test. I really hope that this year’s test strikes some sort of median between the two. I hate being rushed like that… it makes one much more prone to making stupid mistakes.
nice, score… rushed or not 78 conservatively graded is awesome. i’ll probably take it this week some time.
Just got off the phone with my friend who passed L3 last year. Said the 06 and 07 AM was very easy compared to 08. 78% on AM? You got it locked down man. I got a 65% on PM, a MONTH OUT. I’m actually quite positive. You spend too much time on this forum and you get intimidated, because the pool of candidates here are far stronger than the median candidate.
McLeod81: Impressive, keep it up. 
failed L3 last year, am for me was much easier than pm. after pm had that feeling that i did not get it done. that being said had a tough time with time mgmt in the am. was trying too hard to be perfectg on the pm question and used up way too much time on it. very easy to get bogged down… anyone take the cfai mock yet? just did, scored a 77%.
Okay the 2008 AM was rediculous…CFAI is smoking chronic. As i was taking the exam today I could not help but laugh at the time they were alloting for each section. Such as read a page of information, and answer 6 questions in 6 minutes, its stupid. I have mad respect for everyone who sat through that exam last year. I couldn’t even get through the last three item sets. considering that i got a 67%. If i take my untimmed score I got a 75%. Here’s praying for 9 item sets in the 2009 AM exam!
Passed LIII last year. 78% is a very impressive score in 2008, give yourself some credit. Like you said, 2008 AM took very second of the 3 hour. Lot of people I have talked to said that time was a major factor. IMO, PM section was much easier (relatively compare to AM). I think PM saved a lot of passer last year.
It’s not that there were necessarily too many item sets, they just took to f_ing long to finish. The two IPS questions (36 minutes each) were huge and they counted for 40% of the exam… The risk management / derivatives question took a long time too (way more than 15 minutes).
I also passed Level III last year. It’s difficult to compare the am and pm sessions given the different formats. I think the material was similar in difficulty but the PM session was easier because time wasn’t a factor. Based on AF posts and discussions with my friends, well under half of those that sat for the 2008 exam finished the AM session. If you finished it in 3hrs and scored 75+% then I think you are off the charts right now (top 5% easily). That being said, don’t get overconfident. You have to take your self graded score with a grain of salt, its hard to know what credit you would receive for any answer that isn’t 100% on point. I remember on the exam last year feeling like I did ok on the first question and I scored <50% on it. I read the answers and really don’t understand how I missed it that badly. Good luck!
Agree with demmerli (I passed last year): you really need to know your material really well for AM exam so you dont waste time and for PM exam you either got the right answer or not. I though both exams had their level of difficulties. keep going guys … only a few more weeks away and hopefully success for many of you.
Where can I find the 2008 exam that is being referenced in this thread?
On the CFAI web site under “past exams”.
I also passed last year and my advice would be to stay very skeptical about any self-graded tests. It’s a good sign that you’re scoring that high at this point, but I had a similar experience to demmerli, where the end result for the IPS questions was much worse than I would have expected. For me, the afternoon session clearly saved me. Most people last year on this forum found it to be much easier than the morning session. I remember people saying last year that they breezed through the 2007 AM session when they took it at home—well it had an even lower passing rate than last year’s test, so that probably shows something about the conditions and grading standards used at home vs. by CFA.
A lot of people had the same experience in 2008. The morning was a crazy rush, the afternoon was a slow stroll. I took my time in the afternoon session and still had at least a half-hour to look over my answers (and about half of that trying to work through the riddles of ethics). When I did the 2005-2007 exams for practice in the weeks beforehand, I finished each one with around 20 minutes left. In the 2008 exam, I did well on the IPS and institutional, but went down a wrong path on the asset allocation question, moved to other questions and struggled, and then saw that the final question involved currency futures with f-ing billions of yen and decided to get back to the asset allocation. The IPS and the institutional, plus the afternoon, was enough for me to squeak by despite the disastrous second half of the morning.
The last question (yen currency hedging) on that exam was a b!tch. I gave myself a fat 0/6 on that one.