What did you guys think of the L3 CFA Institute mock exam this year?
I took L1 in December 2010 and L2 in June 2011 and I found the mock exams for those tests rather difficult (especially compared to the actual tests). This is the first time that I’ve found the mock exam fairly easy… hopefully the actual test doesn’t turn out to be more diffcult this time around.
Well did you do it for real or did you just work through the test with the answers for learning purposes? I have not looked at this year’s mock yet, but i’d assume if one were taking it for real (working through all the way through it before checking answers and scoring), it would be pretty tough. If you did actually take it and found it easy, then you must be WAY ahead of the game…
I actually worked through the problems without looking at the answers. Ethics tripped me up the most, which is kind of surprising since it’s the one section that stays esentially the same throughout all 3 levels. It’s a shame there is no mock exam for the essay portion.
WHAT!?!?!?!?!? Dude, you better do a search or go the CFA website stat if you think there are no mocks for the essay portion.
There is no CFAI 2012 morning mock. The morning are all pulled from previous exams
For L3 IMO the mocks are very hit or miss because the questions are so concentrated in certain topic areas. This is a diff animal than 1 or 2. Every level gets progressively more concentrated and narrowly focused, so if you remember way back when on level 1, how pretty much everything was covered… then on level 2, MOST things were covered but some left out? Level 3 continues that trend.
What I’m saying is you can very well get a bunch of questions that are your strong point, but there is also the other end of that knife too.
Giving this a bump…
How are people doing on the 2012 Mock? I actually thought it was kind of easy, pulled an even 80% (48/60). Curious to see where everyone is at with less than a week.
Hang in there my dudes, Saturday night beckons…
I got 80% too. I’ve never managed more than 65% in any of my previous year’s mock exams. Dont know what to make of it.
I got 80% too. I’ve never managed more than 65% in any of my previous year’s mock exams. Dont know what to make of it.
Same boat. Nailed the 2012 with >80% and got 60% on the 2011. I think those are the bookends of where I can expect to be.
i am sensing overconfidence bias
yep, i smell it
Count me in for 80% on the 2012 CFA Level III Mock (PM). But that Ethics was tough!! Only got 5/12 correct, and I thought I had identified the curves they were throwing at us. Also scored below par with 4/6 on GIPS. If the real PM exam is anything like this, at least I know where to focus.
88% on the 2012 mock. 73% and 70% on the schweser mocks 1 and 2, respectively. Just finished the am for schweser mock 3. Taking a short break and doing pm.
Is it just me or are these mock exams looking all more or less the same e.g. two derivatives item sets (always this silly calculation of buying a put to hedge a loan, some payoffs, etc…), one risk management (VAR) item set, two fixed income sets, one equity, one GIPS and so on?
I got 41 out of 60. I feel pretty good about it because I thought it was difficult. I get a lot of my points from the AM section and I have Creighton to thank for that.
I took it 2 weeks ago as my first mock and surprised myself by getting 70% on it. I was not really prepared at that point to do mocks and definitely outkicked my coverage so to speak. I found it easier to previous years mocks, which most likely means the test will be much harder.
For reference, I have been scoring 65-70% on am mocks, and 70-80% on pm mocks. I hope that’s good enough come test day.
Just took my first Mock for Level III (Schweser) and scored miserably (~65% on both parts, which is worse than any of my LI and LII Mocks). I think I will tackle CFAI 2012 Mock next. Based on the comments above it looks like 80% on 2012 Mock is a sure pass on the real exam. 2012 takers - how did the actual exam compare to the Mock, in your opinion?
Guys,
The afternoon L3 exam is not a “different beast.” It is very much like the L2 exam in terms of difficulty. In fact, you’ll probably find it easier because it’s a road you’ve already travelled.
The CFA mocks, in my experience, were pertty reflective of the actual test – as far as depth, difficulty and nuance. For obvious reason’s I cannot speak for the 2013 mock. But based on my experience last year, the mocks did a fairly decent job of preparing for the real exam.
Schweser practice exams suck (as I have said elsewhere), but they do toughen you up.
Mark,
Nice to hear that you’re still around. I thought the CFA mocks did a decent job of preparing me for the exam. Certainly, they have their flaws. But I felt quite prepared for the actual test.
Take more practice tests. You’ll get your groove.