Please 2nd or 3rd timers, share your experience and the result you got this time around. This may help inspire those having difficult time right now.
Second time, failed again. Did miserably in Financial Reporting & Analysis, don’t know what happened. This is so frustrating. Don’t know if I want to write it for the 3rd time.
L1 Dec 08 and failed band 4 June 09 L2. Honestly I barely studied for that. The turn around was just so quick and I was burnt out. Put a lot more time into this one and passed with some room to spare. Basically you gotta give as much as you can to pass. Have a study plan and stick to it. There is no magical study plan as we all learn differently. I HATE reading, so I’ve never even picked up the CFAI texts. I’m a video and tons of questions type of person.
I passed this time around after being in Band 5 last year. I worked my ass off for this one though. I told myself that this was my last time ever writing Level 2. I couldn’t imagine having to waste another 300+ hours of my life, so I made them all count this year. I had a plan, stuck to it, and it paid off.
Failed for a 3rd time…band 10! 1st fail - band 3 2nd fail - band 7 3rd fail - band 10 4th try - looking like it will be a pass next yr!!
Although i passed, I had made up my mind to take up the exam again. I know what i want to do and i decided to persist till i attained my goal. Persistence pays off in the end. I would say never give up heart and keep trying.
my 2nd time, was in band 2 last year. Pass this time around, pretty much just put in the time and dedicate that last month for practice questions and refreshing what you forgot
This was my second time taking level 2 and I failed band 9, the first try I failed band 1
1st fail - band 5 2nd fail - band 8 3rd fail - Passed
Hi, 2nd or 3rd timers I failed in previous 3 times on L2 and just passed today on 4th try. First and foremost, please do not be discouraged if you see the miserable 6 character word after “Level II:”. Reflecting back, I would not say passing or failing really mean that much. Correct me if wrong, the result only told me if enough time and effort were put in. Surely enough, what hurt most is one’s ego. Am I really as smart as I thought? I guess not, per CFA Institute L2 exam. However, is the exam really about smartness, not even intelligence? Don’t think so. With so many subjects covered, simply being smart and born with good memory are not enough. Sure you can score a few concept questions, but a calculation with 10 steps will kill you if you mess up one in middle So, what is the exam all about? I dare to put my hypothesis out and you be your own judge. It is really about 3 things, time, self-discipline and diligence 1. Time: As a professional exam, it is by design not an IQ test for explore your potentials, but rather your knowledge. To accumulate knowledge takes only one thing, time. Put your 250 hours in, you pass; other wise, either get your finger crossed or pray. 2. Self-discipline: Most of us make a resolution to start after getting the book, but few completes first round of reading before April or even May. Then, we drive ourselves crazy in the last 1 week or 2. I have great respect to these who are able to pace themselves according to original plan. 3. Diligence: In my first a few tries, I encountered questions which looked very familiar but my answer does not seem to be one of 3 choices or I couldn’t not remember the intermediary steps in calculation. Does it sound familiar to you? To avoid that, this time around I forced myself not only focus on understanding the concept but rather get to know exact steps in computation. Case of example, computing a future/forward LIBOR rate contract after initiation but before expiration. Let your ego heal slowly, put your time, discipline and diligence in place. You will make it, and, even you eventually pass, it say little about one’s intelligence. Just one more thing, do not give up. If you give up, you will never enjoy the feeling at the other end of the bridge. It is indeed a good feeling. Cheers.
I failed Band 8 first time and passed this time by a comfortable margin. To be honest, I believe there is a huge luck factor to passing. I put in WAY more effort the first time and failed. This time I studied consistently, but not to the extent I did the first time. CFAI does try to trick you on the test; they don’t necessarily test if you know the concepts. They test little minute details and try to word questions in such a way as to trip up test-takers. The CFAI EOC questions are the closest to the exam, but they are not representative of the difficulty of the exam itself because the wording is very clear in the books.
2nd try after going level I pass Dec to study for June level II last year. That was brutal! I studied for 9 months for level I and then turned around and tried the 3-4 month prep time for lavel II. studied for about 3-4 hours every night for those 3 months but still only came up with a band 6. This year I had more time, a good base of understanding, and practice from last year. I think all helped! I think what does it for me though is the ability to take the practice tests and review in the last month. the first time I took Level II I had now reveiw time at all, the second time I did. you could argue that it was the fact that I had more time and more of a base knowledge, but even with that stuff I don’t think I would have passed without the review in the last month. Good luck to everyone in 2011!
Level II experience: 2008 Band 7 (this was after Dec 07 Level I pass) 2009 Band 9 (only read new chapters, <50 in FRA) 2010 Pass (only read new chapter, went to Windsor Week and this really helped me in my weakest area, FRA/accounting)
L1 Dec 08 - Pass L2 Jun 09 - Fail Band 9 L2 Jun 10 - Pass What helped was seeing all the material again that I was mostly familiar with, taking extra time to polish off sections I was weaker on, and honestly the few days off I took before the test to really cram might have given me a couple extra points that made the difference. Used Schweser for all exams. Minimally used CFAI curriculum.
L1 Dec 06- Fail L1 Jun 07- Pass L2 Jun 08 - Fail band 6 L2 Jun 09 - Fail band 9 L2 Jun 10 - Pass I’m pretty damn happy, I tried so hard every single time, but 4 years of this has been tough.
congrats! that must feel amazing. Perseverance really pays off.
Failed Band 4 last year, passed this year. The difference for me was tons of EOC’s. 2nd and 3rd timers, keep your head up, you’ll get it…slow and steady wins the race…
topher Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I failed Band 8 first time and passed this time by > a comfortable margin. > Exact same here:)
@ShurmonMcCoy: Looks like we could have been twins separated at birth! I was ready to give up if I didn’t pass this time around. To all thos who didn’t pass. It’s all about discipline and paying a lot of attention to what is being asked. CFAI EOC questions are a must.
I failed 2nd time last year. Having studied the same thing for 2 years, I don’t think I need 9 months to prepare for 3rd trial. I started to prepare CPA and took all 4 subjects exam in Feb this year, hoping that I can pass all and restart the CFA study on March. However only 2 of the 4 CPA subjects passed. I re-examed the 2 failed CPA subjects on April, end up 1.5 mth left for CFA. I think what get me a pass this year is the momentum of study. It becomes a habit to study and do the questions. Naturally, I did the question much faster, giving some time to review. We have to admit that somebody have good memory and some don’t. I have to compensate my weakness by hardworking.