Is someone using the uppermark Testbank? Its a great help so far but I wonder - CAIA weighted multiple choice exams always include more than 30% calculation questions; when i take 50 it includes up to 25 calculations, 100 questions include more than 40… just wondering if my understanding of the 30% max is wrong or if the Uppermark algo is a bit off
Will be getting to uppermark after i get to schweser… currently looking at C&IT (topic 5 of 10)…out of schweser book before i get to schweser qbank.
last time around for level 1 thought uppermark was lot more thorough… i think 30% is about right…you can probably check if there is a mention in the CAIA Candidate Handbook.
Yes, the CAIA handbook does say “Fewer than 30% of the questions on both the Level I and Level II exams require calculations.”
just eclipsing the 60% qbank mark…trying to finish by end of the week so i can start mocks and short answer quizzes. so far, commodities gave me the most trouble, alongside the credit risk model calcs…oof. less than 30 days and trying to stay on pace because this will come down to the wire. hope everyone’s studies are going well!
I’m about halfway through qbank and just like you I had trouble on commodities, but I’m not worrying too much since it doesn’t account for much on the exam. My plan is to push through the rest of qbank, review equations/notes, and then practice exams alongside Kaplan Secret Sauce. I was trying to get through the CAIA workbook, but I found several errors in it and they just went overboard with complex problems. So I’m just using it as a resource for potential constructed response questions. My plan is to focus on the multiple choice (as it’s 70% of the exam) and then for constructed response, review ethics and the CITs well (since we know those 2 topics are guaranteed questions).
Like a marathon, I’m trying to “peak” at the right time (day of the exam). For Level 1 I kind of burned out 2 weeks prior and was not in a good mental state for the exam. I was too anxious and tired. Good luck! Let’s follow up next week!
I’m just past the 20% mark on the Schweser qbank - so still ways out. I still have to get to UpperMark after that… let’s see what else I can get to…ETHICS yes…may be some part of CAIA workbook, if I have some time left.
Do you guys also spend WAY less time on the Essays than on the 100 MC questions? I can finish the MC part quite well in time, maybe have 10-15min remaining for reviewing, but the two hours for the essay part is always vastly overstated - im mostly done within 30-45min max… using Uppermark Testbank mock exams
same here, finished everything but Ethics, which I will keep for the end. Planning to review 2/3 topics a week for the final review and during last 2 weeks mock exams + Secret sauce. Scored 85% (for 65% of questions down) on Q-bank but I’m not sure it’s relevant since I took the same questions let’s say twice so at the end I know the answer. Essays, through Kaplan, can be quite disturbing…
haven’t spent a ton of time on short answer sections, outside of EOC Schweser quizzes. Going to start taking the qbank essay quizzes this week then supplement with all pertinent lists found via SS. Will focus more on MCQ’s given 70% weighting, but will top up on CIT and Ethics 20% totals. The dangling 10% of rest of curriculum is a total crap shoot, if you ask me. Not trying to get too caught up on only a tenth of the total points. Much different than L3 CFA exam where half of your score depends on short answer across curriculum topics.
I’ve heard from several people, including the Kaplan instructor, that no one uses all the time for the essays in the actual exam. I’m conservatively estimating 20-25 mins per question for myself.
Past 51% of the Schweser questions (probably have half of HF,all of SP and ethics)… did not utilize last weekend well… still have to get to Uppermark…and then onto Ethics… will decide on how best to attack the long answers in the last 10 days I guess… good to know that the essays in the actual exam have time available… not used to typing long answers (wonder whether you can answer in points )… CFA L3 exams were very much on dot in terms of time and for many takers short on time for the long answer format.
The Kaplan instructor and people I know who have taken Level 2 say they want short answers, bullet points are best. I’ve done some practice Qs and they are broken up, so maybe 3 points for this part, 2 points for this part, etc. I’d recommend the practice Qs - you answer and then self-score (answers are listed and then you allot yourself points for how close you got).
keep on grinding everyone!
took the first AM mock for Schweser and got a 72…lots of stupid mistakes and hail mary’s on things i couldn’t remember. felt kinda rushed towards end and couldn’t focus. commodities was, yet again, the bane of my existence. crushed HF, so there’s that.
taking rest of this week to focus on short answer sections before i dig back into remaing PM session and rest of mocks.
good luck and godspeed!
Skipped ethics on Schweser QBank (worked only on MCQs though) for now moved onto UpperMark. UpperMark questions seems to be lot more testing of your understanding than Schweser… probably also ran into a formulae, within attempting less than 40 questions, not seen in schweser text or qbank…Uppermark also has short answers questions and constructed response/essays questions besides MCQs… not sure about the difference between the two yet… and if there is a split between these types (short answers and constructed response) in the exam.
Hello Everyone,
I was just wondering, since you all cleared CAIA LI, how would you estimate your actual exam results (I know it is not a set score) to your actual score of the CAIA Mock exam? was it close, or did you see a large dispersion. I understand that during the actual exam, most people might not feel very good but also a large percentage pass despite that feeling.
Also, has anyone without previous experience in ALTs used Schweser exclusively for LI, and passed the exam on their first attempt?
I am using schweser and writing the exam next week. Will be taking the CAIA mock exam this weekend.
Thanks for your help and best of luck to everyone.
Many of us passed L1 with exclusive use of Schweser… I did use UpperMark QB, but, lot of others did not but passed fine… as long as you are good with the content in Schweser books you should be fine for L1 exams, if the trend stays the same.,
Onto Ethics…after all other MCQs done with Schweser and Uppermark.
Practice Exams and SAQs/Essays to go… some revision to go with that,good that i was able to push my original exam date a few days back and have 2+ weeks to go…
Even the CAIA exam guide mentions that the answers can be in points and need not be full sentences…also remember folks only the first set of answers matching the requested number of points will be considered…rest will be ignored.
Nice Flash! Keep grinding, my friend!
I’ve gotten through 2 full Schweser mocks. 75% and 79% total scores, respectively. Onto CAIA mock this weekend to blow me out of the water, then redeem myself the following weekend with the full final Scwheser mock. I’ve exhausted q-bank and all essay reviews. Only have the final two essay quizzes to grind through the next few days, then its just tightening up loose ends before exam day.
Biggest thorn in my side are some of the wonky formulas that pop up in very random frequencies. If memory serves me right, i felt as though LI was much more qualitative in nature and hit well below the 30% quantitative mark, but i could be suffering from short-sightedness. Wouldn’t be too kind to show up on test day to get KO’d by some of these insane equations. Also, can’t wait to have to type out formulas in my responses if that comes up…yuck…
So, went today with the 1st mock exam (am)…72%. It appears that questions were a lot different than what I saw in the q bank. However I did a lot of stupid mistakes, so I guess there’s an easy room to improve my score.
Questions on the mock exams always seem to be far more difficult than Qbank. Kaplan needs to step up their game.