So I am a band 10 guy. I hate it.
Basically I did really well on the evening and badly on the morning. So the people who did well on the morning, any advice on how to prepare for it?
I did well enough to pass. For me - I learned to really read the question and be sure to answer the question they were asking, not what I thought they were asking. Second, time management is CRUCIAL. Third, know when to walk away from a hopeless question (last Q on AM, for example) and direct your efforts towards the questions you can pass. Bring a clock and USE it. Spend more time on the higher point questions and less time on the lower point questions. That was good enough to get me a pass.
Also, this time I tried to make sure I really answered the question, for example if they asked for a risk assessment, answer it and state WHY. I don’t think I did that last year. Practice exams helped a lot. But when you do them and compare answers, really ask yourself why your answer was wrong (if it was) and why the model answer was right. Did you just miss out on a keyword (eg you were asked to calculate something, and you didn’t provide a numerical result etc.)
Finally, think BIG PICTURE. you WILL get a question you won’t quite know how to handle. Think back over the curriculum… why is this question here, what do you think it relates to in the big picture? Expect that you will see wild questions and don’t let them throw you when you do see them.
If you want to beat the AM guaranteed get on a plane and go to Creighton for boot camp.
+1…worth every penny
Practice, practice, practice.
What is this Creighton thing that everyone is talking about.
I second a lot of what double dip said:
Pay attention to the time, it’s very east to run out of time at the end. To help with this, answer the question they are asking and don’t spend a lot of time writting things that might be true and interesting, but don’t help to answer the question. Be specific in your response.
Know when to move on. If you get a tough question you don’t know the answer to, quickly write what you can in an attempt to get a few points partial credit and then move on. Don’t waste precious minutes staring at the page hoping something pops into youe head. If you think of something later you might be able to go back and write it down after you’ve answered other questions you actually know the answer to.
Know the keywords and understand what they are asking. I printed off the keyword list and spent an hour or two just studying that so I would know how the cfai expected me to answer the question. It sounds simple and basic, but it’s critical to get that part right.
Perhaps most important, don’t panic. There will be questions you don’t understand and/or can’t figure out the formula to. Accept that you’re not getting a perfect score, stay calm and collected and move on to the next question. Letting yourself get rattled, is a sure way to fail. Once you panic, you start rushing and making silly mistakes you wouldn’t normally make and then end up losing even more points.
Study hard and take lot sof mock exams. It’s a hard exam, but it is passable. Best of luck next year.
others have almost covered everything…just a few pointers
for the AM- stick to the time alloted to the question very important…not worth spending any more than that
If your job does not entail writing regularly (not typing) then one week before the exam spend atleast 15 min on a daily basis to write anything random…this will help you on the exam day else you may know the answers but your hand will hurt when you wish to speed up