dpak Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I actually think you guys are a lot better off > than those that pass 3/3. > > The reason is that to me (and I’m a L3 re-taker) > if I were to look at somebody who took more than 3 > attempts to pass this series of exams, it shows a > tremendous amount of dedication and perseverance. > So, would you prefer to hire hedge fund managers who lose a lot of money before being profitable?
As a guy who failed L3 in June and did a ton of practice tests (and is probably very bitter), I feel there’s an element of luck to getting through un-scathed. As an example, I feel like I still know the VWAP/ISS calculations back-*sswards, even today after 3 months off. I don’t recall seeing on the test - remember it was on the 2008 a.m. exam, which I took the weekend before as practice and aced… But, there’s nothing on the 2009 exam (that I remember). Instead they put a whole section on Econ. in the a.m. I don’t even remember reading Econ. last spring!! Not saying my fail was undeserved, just that maybe there’s hope the next time round. p.s. If VWAP was on 2009 and I’m forgetting, then I’m the ***hole.
I’m on my 8th exam this year. needed 3 attempts to pass both L1 and L2. Failed L3 this year - 9th band. really thought I had it, too. I never opened the CFAI books last time around, so I’m trying to get through a few of the more important topics this fall - reading lightly, anyway. Then planning on hitting Schweser hard in early January. It’s so frustrating - I scan through some of the LOS’s and think to myself “I KNOW THIS STUFF!!-how did I fail??” but evidently I dropped the ball. good luck everyone.
Hello Mister Walrus Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > So, would you prefer to hire hedge fund managers > who lose a lot of money before being profitable? No, I wouldnt extend the argument that far. I say with regards to this exam. You spend quite an enormous amount of time to go 3/3 alone and my hats off to those folks who’ve been able to do it. All Im trying to say is there’s something to be said for those who fall down and are willing to get back up.
Dear AFJunkie and anyone that is still taking a swing at this thing after many years, First off, you are noble to give it a try again. If possible, try to forget everything that has happened and look forward. Not easy, I know. For what it is worth, I spend a lot of time talking to asset managers and numerous ones have revealed to me that it took them a long (in one case 6-years) time to get everything done in the CFA program. Some pass 1,2,3 and move on in life. For me, the 5-year program was it. I failed L2 twice before passing in 2008. Oh, the manager who took 6-years to get through the program runs an enormous amount and is highly successful in this business. It’s clear to me that passing exams or not passing is doesn’t say one thing or another so long as you finish. There has been a lot of discussion here regarding overcoming obstacles and how to pound through the material etc. One of the things that helped me get the gumption to take level 2 again was the fact that I leveled with myself and admitted that I hadn’t done everything I could to prep and that what I had done was not effective enough to pass. With all do respect, I believe there might be a thing or two that was left out of your prep that cost you the exam or the techniques you used to achieve previous academic success have been rendered ineffective in some ways by the CFAIs testing style. Clearly, you have the intelligence and I believe it is just a matter of tweaking a few things and you’ll be good. Please understand that I am saying this to you “as an AF friend” and not trying to be ruthless in anyway. The other aspect is a mental one where it can be difficult to face a new style of question. CFAI is famous for dreaming-up things we have never seen. The only way I found to conquer this was not to freak-out. A declining freak-out factor can be calculated through a function of seeing many examples (which it seems you take to heart), memorizing formulas galore and lists on qualitative concepts, and comprehensively reviewing the material. What do I mean by this comprehensive review? I ordered the books in September, finished reading CFAI by December. Got Schweser. Finished reading these notes by March. All the while I was working on problems from CFAI, doing q-bank, and building-up a knowledge of what I knew I would have to pound further. Additionally, I made my own notes. Making my own notes (350+ pages) helped me solidify the CBOK. Making these notes is very time consuming, but making them forced me to write out all of my bullets to remember the LOS and then later to culminate my final review. I didn’t do this the first two years I failed L2 and I strongly believe that if I had I would have been able to pass eariler. In making these notes, the command words were something that I really took to heart so I made sure to look in the CFAI texts for answers if Schweser didn’t cover it. Boling everything done to my own notes helped provide the memory triggers. Well, I have wirtten much and I don’t want to exhaust any more time than necessary. If something I said didn’t make sense, just ask and I’ll do my best to clarify. FastEd, CFA
AFJunkie, don’t underestimate the amount of luck involved in passing the exam. You know that each time you were very close. I have no doubt that in a year, you will be CFA accepted to a top MBA program in the world.
dpak Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Hello Mister Walrus Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > > So, would you prefer to hire hedge fund > managers > > who lose a lot of money before being > profitable? > > No, I wouldnt extend the argument that far. I say > with regards to this exam. You spend quite an > enormous amount of time to go 3/3 alone and my > hats off to those folks who’ve been able to do it. > > > All Im trying to say is there’s something to be > said for those who fall down and are willing to > get back up. "I actually think you guys are a lot better off than those that pass 3/3. " I think you were extending it that far.
AF junkie, I am taking the CFA level3 exam for 8th ‘consecutive’ time. I still am kicking myself everyday for not passing back 7 or 8 years ago when pass rates were so much higher. In the good old days, all we used were the Schweser notes. Buying the CFAI reading were for losers. Now the exam is getting harder and hard. I was a band 10 last year, and this year I am was a bad 9. My ‘opinion’ is that the pass rates are ‘political’ (Oh no!, the pass rate is too high this year in L1, so we need to drop the L2, L3 pass rates). I ‘think’ the CFAI program is becoming more about how to maximize profits by failing more people. If the exam were truly ‘objective’, then the pass rates should be consistent and the CFAI should reveal the true scores to show transparency. The bar just keeps going up and up. (Kind of like GMAT scores for MBA School). Most candidates do well on the general material, but the pass-or-fail outcome depends on the few ‘esoteric’ formulas that no expected to see on the exam. sh34
8th consecutive time??? once u pass this thing u would be very confused in march to june period
BiPolarBoyBoston Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > AFJunkie Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > I usual overcome academic obstacles with brute > > force. I don’t think I am naturally very > > intelligent, but extremely tenacious in my > > approach. CRAZIEST thing was that I knew the > > material backwards and forwards, I put in a ton > of > > effort. I took all 6 Schweser exams, all the > CFAI > > practice and previous CFAI essay exams and the > > Boston CFA exam. I passed all multiple choice > > sections in the 70-80% range and thought i did > > well in the essays…then I failed the real > > thing, band 9. I actually did much better on > the > > essays than the multiple choice on the actual > > exam. Every time I fail its by a hair. I think > I > > am cursed. > > How are you going to study differently this time > around? I was thinking about simply over-preparing > too and then spend a few weeks working on essays. I am probably going to prepare the same way. I mean, I knew the material. No doubt about it. I just lost it on exam day. Cant explain it…but this time around should be even easier since i will have retained some of the information.
Dear FastEd, It seems that you have mastered your own studying technique which allowed you to crack the CBOK thing. What I’d really appreciate is that you teach me how to link the command words in LOS in schwezer for example with the CFAI books. I find it very hard to link both. this is my 5th time to fail, and the result is getting worse. I put so much effort in the material both CFAI and the notes. I used the schwezer exams as well as the CFAI past exams and I used to get the passing rate >70. It seems that your technique pays off can you share it with me ? Thanks
I passed this year in a 3rd try.(level 1-2005/level 2-2006) First, you must have confidence in passing. If you have failed 7th time, probably you have lost it. What I found was that the exam doesn’t fit at all the way you describe it. If you’re weak in morning session, you have the chance to make ends meet with afternoon session(and vice versa). The test is not for Novel prize winner nor Ivy league graduate. For all the question you meet in test, there’s a answer which you will find with your hard study. I recommend you take exercise problem in your curriculum book thoroughly. All the help I got is curriculum book, schweser notes and online tutorial. And the best you can do is make your own answer for the test question before you look up guideline answer.
KingTuT Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Dear FastEd, > > It seems that you have mastered your own studying > technique which allowed you to crack the CBOK > thing. What I’d really appreciate is that you > teach me how to link the command words in LOS in > schwezer for example with the CFAI books. I find > it very hard to link both. this is my 5th time to > fail, and the result is getting worse. I put so > much effort in the material both CFAI and the > notes. I used the schwezer exams as well as the > CFAI past exams and I used to get the passing rate > >70. > > It seems that your technique pays off can you > share it with me ? > > > Thanks KingTuT - I’ll do my best. First off, in understanding the command words, some of them are not particularly helpful in terms of describing what you need to know. For example, “discuss” xyz topic. What does that mean? Example, LOS 23.b from last year’s curriculum states “discuss, in relation to capital market expectations, the limitations of economic data; data measurement errors and bias; etc.” This LOS has a long list of other stuff but I will just focus on the first part to make my point. As noted, I’d read the CFAI and Schweser materials. In looking at the Schweser notes from this LOS, they give you nearly 4 pages of information in a format that covers the material, but would never suffice in giving me what I call the memory triggers. My guess is that you know this info, but in generating a review strategy, it can be difficult. In my own notes for the first part in this LOS. Once you have done the readings, now I believe it is time to note a few key concepts for the LOS to unlock the info you have stored in your cranium. Note: this technique will likely not work unless you have done the readings and worked through the problems. In the LOS I cite, there are TWO aspects to note. First is the overall concept of limitations in economic data: My notes: Analyst needs to understand the definition, construction & timeliness & accruacy of any data used, including any bias. Now, the measurement errors and bias portion of the LOS: My notes: 1) Transcription errors 2) Survivorship Bias 3) Appraisal (smoothed) data There could be other things to add to the list for you, for example, but this was enough to get my mind thinking about all of other details in the readings. Another quick example which might be even better because I see it as a cloaked way to get a concept tested that you didn’t see coming… Take for example: LOS 23.n “demonstrate the use of economic information in forecasting asset class returns.” Schweser, which I do think is very good as a general rule, combines this LOS with another one. I think, however, this is dangerous way to study and I wish they wouldn’t do that, but so be it. Their discussion was much more qualitative than I think the LOS could possibly be tested on, so I submit the following: I tackled this LOS by thinking about the word forecasting. That sounds like a quant issue to me so I focused on the forecasting techniques given in the curriculum…for example, the Taylor Rule, Singer-Tarhaar approach, Grinold Kroner Model, expected return for bonds etc. Burried within these equations are several economic concepts. Some of these things are called out in LOS elsewhere, but my larger point is that the qualitative discussion alone would be insufficient in my view. In my notes, I wrote down those equations. Here are a few other items to pass along regarding my review and prep process. 1) As the exam approached, I made special note of strengths and weaknesses I had which were primarily identified through doing about 1000+ qbank questions and 3-4 practice exams. I divided my time out and forced myself to review a concept in a given amount of time. I would set an alarm, when it went off, I moved on to the next topic. 2) I spent a lot of time on the CFAI examples. I did the mock exam and practice exams. 3) If possible, take the week off before the exam. 4) I spent time studying earlier in the day (5am to 7am) as I have a family and I found that I would remember the material much more readily when I studied in the morning. 5) I went through every LOS and checked-it off to see if I had reviewed it. It was always amazing to me how I could do this and find things I hadn’t focused on…example the Cadbury report recommendations from last year. This is a lot to consider but I just had to do this to compensate for my troubles in dealing with the CFAI way of testing. It is unique and challenging to anything I’d done before. Walking out of the exam I felt I had a good, but not guaranteed chance to pass. If you look at my scores, I did well in some areas and biffed on a few. Hope this provides some guidance into my thinking and studying techniques. Again, more than happy to answer follow-up questions. FastEd, CFA
Wow man! Great to hear you still trying. Good lcuk this year! It is a tough exam.
FastEd, that is a lot of work. A lot more work then what most people put in. Did you kill the exam?
Not as much as I had hoped, but the reason why I had to do all this is because I struggle with the new types of questions that CFAI dreams-up. Seriously, they work excpetionally hard to find ways of testing things that seem very straight forward. Unreal.
How much time did you put in? Sounds like you must of put in 500-600hrs
I didn’t keep track, but it wasn’t 500-600 hours. If I had to guess, 300-350. I really don’t know forsure.
AFJunkie Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I am probably going to prepare the same way. I > mean, I knew the material. No doubt about it. I > just lost it on exam day. Cant explain it…but > this time around should be even easier since i > will have retained some of the information. Um, I mean this in the nicest possible way, but if you prepared in that same way and failed five times in a row, doesn’t that imply that you’re not doing it right? People can be kind and say it’s just luck, but 5x is not a statistical fluke. You are doing something wrong.
If you used Scheser the last time, I suggest using Stallar (sp?) now and vice versa. Using the same reading material may trick you into believing you’ve mastered the topic and thus you just flip through. Plus, you may retain knowledge of the practice problems from before and so you wont really be trying to solve them. Using new reading material will force you to pay attention. Just my 2 cents.