+100
Separately, if your AM responses were as coherent as your letter I think we may be on to something.
Seriously Dude!
Just wait a few months till the AM is released and you’ll understand where you screwed up during the exam. My ex-supervisor couldn’t believe she failed band 4 when she was very confident. Once the AM was released, she then understood how she had badly messed up.
+1 to that.
CFAilure, no offence, but your writing sometimes reads as the ramblings of Roskolnikov from Crime and Punshiment. The stuff you put down seems to be overwhelmed with emotion and logic that is hard to follow.
Maybe you should just drop this CFA thing and write some existential fiction, heh?
I just hope - people who post some funny notes answering the claims i never made and arguments i never articulated - i hope you are at least have a decent pay for your writing 
dude - give up. i don’t mean that in a mean way, but seriously, give up. Your perserverence is absolutely remarkable - direct it towards something worthwhile. Passing level 3 is sweet, but would I dedicate 8 years of my life to it? absolutely not. you have a limited number of years on this earth, and you’ve already wasted 8 of them on this. Seriously. Barely anyone knows what a CFA is anyways.
Tough spot your in CFAilure, I don’t think you’ll get the answer back your looking for, sure it would nice for the transperancy but it’s not really necessary either over and above what they currently provide (past exams, LOS, etc).
write again next year and own it if you have all the right answers they can’t fail you
Please - ignore my case. A guy named joh from carrambah islends have a full time job and a family. He considers entering level 1. Do you think cfai is responsible to give him idea about the amount of study time? I mean real number of hours and not “candidates report… more than 300”… I think it is, even though that joh could decide not to register at all. That is my point.
CFAilure - I agree with Cory’s post above. I have a lot of respect for those who get the charter who are not native English speakers. I am a bit worried for you in regards to level 3. I would think that level 3 may be the hardest for non native English speakers, and this may not bode well for you as you took L2 multiple times. I could be wrong and have no intention of shooting down your confidence but this is an opinion worth considering. If you have miscommunications with people here - and people are trying to understand you - this is not good for L3 where the grader is using a specific answer key and not trying hard to understand you. A better argument may be that English speakers have an unfair advantage (just bringing this up, not saying you should do this).
Something I’ve also taken away from my CFA experience is that while I do not necessarily agree with the lack of transparency on their part I partly understand what they are trying to do. They want to limit the number of charter holders as this makes the designation more valuable. The lack of transparency brings out a skill in people, the skill is that they have to figure out HOW to pass the test.
AF has lots of readers - much more than contributors. You may throll me or answer for nonexistant claims but I hope tons of people who did not react are making notes… Just a note for cfai pr dept and its reps here
This is a great letter!!! I feel the same. CFAI does NOT follow their own Code of Ethics especially in terms of transparency, fair dealings and appropriate disclosures.
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They don’t disclose the mininum pass rate, THEY SHOULD.
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They don’t give us back our graded exams, AM and PM, THEY SHOULD.
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They don’t have an appeal process for the guidline answers, THEY SHOULD. They are NOT GOD.
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They don’t change the 300 hours BS to ex 300-500hrs, THEY SHOULD.
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They don’t have a candidate advisory support line, THEY SHOULD.
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They don’t have an option to have your AM paper regraded by a handwriting expert, THEY SHOULD.
CFAI needs to be held more accountable to the CFA Candidates, we deserve to be treated like their clients, to be treated fairly with rights, with a voice in the process. Not to be treated like cattle, where so many of us experience unethical abuse by a dictatorship system that promotes capitalism and integrity over money, where they don’t practice what they preach. They run a for-profit dictatorship. The hypocrisy!
If you have more things to add, please do.
CFAilure, couple questions:
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Did you take full length practice exams? Schweser mock, CFAI mock, BSAS mock, etc.?
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If you took them on your own, did you re-create the environment of exam day as much as possible?
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If so, how did you score on those full 6-hour practice exams? Did you analyze your results and identify key areas where you need to focus on?
The system I followed is every time I took a mock exam, I would go back and review EVERY SINGLE QUESTION or ESSAY PROBLEM I got wrong, and fully understand why I got it wrong, and took notes on it. Then I’d study those notes of all my wrong answers, and fully understand them all, before I sat for my next mock. Then repeat.
Did you do all of the above? And what were your mock results like?
What are your criteria for what they should do?
Why are those the correct criteria?
I got my charter at age 40.
What’s the big deal?
From now on I’ve been ignoring any questions concerning my expierience and preparation - no offence. I sent a letter to Paul Smith, I am talking about integrity of the exam and will discuss any of his reply when it arrived. Thank you and please inform pr dept of cfai that i know smth about social media menagement . People who are writing a letter on behalf of paul smith please work a little bit quicker
I just got it yesterday at 50. I know a guy who is 60 that sat for L3. Age means nothing.
“Mr. Smith, I was in the Program from 2005 and sat for the exam in each consecutive year (I skipped only one). You can tell me everything but not that I was not serious concerning my goal.”
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“Yes, I failed 6 times on Level 2. It’s easy to fail if you cannot put more than, roughly speaking 150 hours for a round. Was that my fault? It was. Do I blame the CFAI for that? I do not.”
It seems you are very angry and accusatory with the CFAI for stating 300 hours, but you failed to even get half way there SIX times in each L2 attempt and then proclaim that you were serious in your goal to this guy? Come onnnnnn.
CFA Level 2 seven times??!! I really hope this charter will add value to your career since you are wasting so many years in obtaining it.
try not writng the exam in russian, worked for me
Everyone took the same exam – you’re not being unfairly treated relative to any other candidate.
I SHOULD be emperor of the world, but sadly I’m not. I guess all i can do is follow the rules set by a private company who created its own designation and sets its own rules and how to award it.