Despite my efforts to study on weekends while on a full-time job, I only managed to score 65% on my first Kaplan mock which is very discouraging
I have three days left with full time studying (took 3 days of work leave)- should i try and complete as many mocks (all topics) or focus on certain topics?
I gave up on derivatives completely, but have read through all other topics
If I were you I would continue with mocks ( CFAI ones) and I would revise the material were I have wrong answers. Passive reading isn’t productive.
I agree with Gebura, just do as many of the CFAI mocks as possible. Granted, this is my first time taking the exam as well, so who knows if I’m on the right path or not, but through other exams, I’ve found that doing as many practice tests as possible (from the actual company supplying the test) best prepares you for multiple reasons. First and foremost, you familiarize yourself with the language the company uses and secondly, I have to assume that the topics tested in the practice test will reflect what is on the real exam. Just my two cents.
I’ll just echo what was said above, try the CFAI mocks! Personally, I found them to be easier than the Kaplan mocks - more straightforward
Does anyone have the previous years CFAI mocks by any chance?
did you end up passing?
Don’t hold your breath for an answer; this thread’s 7 years old.
(Note that there’s evidence to suggest that, eventually, he did pass.)
yes, eventually he did.
But after the recent result, these scores have no meaning anymore anyways.
I gotta admit, I am fairly discouraged regarding my exam in August now.
Don’t let the recent result throw you off your game buddy. It could be an aberration that CFA will take extra steps to avoid repeating again. But who knows.
Don’t let one data point throw you off target to achieve your goals. If you stay focused despite everything, and your colleagues get discouraged and suffer a lack of motivation/focus, then you have the advantage and actually increase your chance of passing.
Look I am an “old man” in my mid-late 40s. I am no genius and my mind is not a swiss watch. I have an average memory and I have family/work obligations. I can tell you, as someone who has taken the CFA Program in my 40s when I perhaps lost my study A-game a little bit, that achieving a top 10% result is entirely possible and achievable for the average person. If you are an above average person, then you have an even better chance than I do/did. Getting in the top 25% isn’t the worst thing if you’re studying hard. But hopefully it won’t be necessary in August and things will revert to a more normal rate. You got this, man!!!
I appreciate the encouragement!
You are right its not impossible and of course I won’t give up now after months of preparation.
Conceptually I think I am quite prepared, what I worry about are all the “lists” that one needs to remember. Like “which of the following is least likely to be a component of the IPS”… these kinda questions. I am thinking of just writing them them all down as a summary and then press them into my short term memory in the last couple of days. How did you takle this?
I tackled it through mock exams… mock exams generally “bring it all together” in one efficiently combined study package during the last 4-6 weeks. With the recent lower pass rates, I would recommend 5-6 mocks for L1, 7-10 mocks for L2, and 10-12 mocks for L3. This really is the secret to passing in my opinion.
Do all the official mock exams offered in your CFA Candidate Resources. There should be 1-2 there. Do them both and don’t worry about your results. I failed most of my mock exams. Just make sure to study all the questions you got wrong, and why.
The rest of the mocks can come from Mark Meldrum, Schweser, Bill Campbell or the service I used for Level 3 - Chalk & Board. For the last few days before exams, I usually spent my time re-taking all the questions I got wrong on the CFA official mock exams and other mock exams, and zeroing in on the catchwords that I maybe missed with them, or the lists I couldn’t memorize earlier, or the formula tricks they want you to navigate. Often these are common repetitive themes that appear on the mocks as well as the actual exams, just worded differently. You are 100% correct, this is mostly stored in one’s short term memory to peak on “game day.” But it’s the differentiator between you and the peloton crowd.
The mock exams get you prepared for the test at the end of the day. The readings and the practice questions (not on mock exams) prepare you to be able to take the mock exams.
Write brief notes on the sub-topics you find keep tripping you up on any mocks, such as tricky formulas or hard to remember lists.
If you do those things, you should be in really good shape buddy. You will crush it.
Just don’t worry about low mock scores if you get them. I and many others got them too. It doesn’t matter, it actually makes you stronger if you then laser in figuring out why you got them wrong. You will have deeper knowledge than your peers who will maybe get it right but forget some things on game day because they didn’t repeat and drill enough.
Cheers man you got this!
Bill, Elder I don’t get a thing. Why on earth are we so hung up on a single data point ? It could or could not mean zilch.
Picture this - it is possible that the 44% pass rate candidates had and MPS of 74% while the 25% had 72%. The bell curve distribution could be even finer than that. I am a little taken aback- candidates study basic stats in Level I and why can’t we see that the actual difference between the recent passed candidates and the historic ones could be very thin… May kor be negligible. I think Nike’s statement is best - Just do it !
You are correct, it’s one data point of course. Clearly too early to tell if it was an aberration or a new trend.
Just study hard, take it very seriously and it should be fine. If folks don’t study as hard or if they lose motivation or focus, then they are going to risk being in trouble regardless of whether it’s a new trend… or if it’s simply a one-off, case specific scenario where nothing was “new” but the results still were several std devs from the mean due to the candidate answers not matching the MPS expectations for XYZ reasons.