I’ve written 5 practice exams and completed about 30 CFA online tests.
I’m debating whether to write another practice exam or instead do ~20 online tests tomorrow. What do you suggest?
Funnily enough that’s about my profile too. Done about 30 topic tests + 5 mocks.
I’m at that stage where I’m mentally paralysed - so much to cover but not sure what to focus on. Then I end up wasting time.
Any suggestions out there people?
I’d personally go for the topic tests. I, too, tabled an extra mock exam in order to focus on topic tests. I always planned to finish every topic test (which I did), but decided it was a better use of my time to take a second look at the 83 topic tests. For tests that I got a 5/6 or 6/6, I just quickly reviewed them. For ones that I got 4/6 or lower, I am almost done retaking all of them. I split the 83 topic tests into 3 manageable days and today is my third day. My thought is that the CFA institute is very unlikley to test an area that isn’t covered at all in the 83 topic tests, and as such, getting comfortable with all 83 should provide excellent coverage.
The topic tests saved my ass last year. Especially for derivatives. I recommend doing topic tests on the subjects your weakest on.
I’m reviewing the topic tests like crazy now. Going to do derivatives again.
Thanks for the advice here guys (FinanceAspire and Knight90). I rechecked and I’ve actually covered 40 (so that’s about half).
Since we have Wed, Thu and Friday left, do you think it’s a wise use of time to do the rest, and then redo them all? Ofcourse on second round it will be more gazing through them faster. Or am I being too ambitious? In essense, it means I have to cover 120 vignettes: 40 new, and 80ish 2nd time.
FinanceAspire - how did you manage to cover them all in 3 days? Did you spend long reviewing each or did you have a particular strategy?
Thanks for the advice here guys (FinanceAspire and Knight90). I rechecked and I’ve actually covered 40 (so that’s about half).
Since we have Wed, Thu and Friday left, do you think it’s a wise use of time to do the rest, and then redo them all? Ofcourse on second round it will be more gazing through them faster. Or am I being too ambitious? In essense, it means I have to cover 120 vignettes: 40 new, and 80ish 2nd time.
FinanceAspire - how did you manage to cover them all in 3 days? Did you spend long reviewing each or did you have a particular strategy? I’ve actually got a shortcut strategy - do you think it’ll work?
What I plan to do is read all the answers to the vignettes and absorb as much as I can. Then I’ll go back and try to answer them. As long as I can answer them it means I’ve understood it, correct?
Wow. The CFAI website is sooo slow right now. Trying to wrap up my topics tests, and it’s lagging.
Anyhow, I printed all of my topics tests to PDF and stored all the scores in excel. I identified 34 of the 83 as ones where I can simply review the pdfs that I printed. The remaining 49, I just took again. I split into 3 days, (28, 28, and 27), so if you think about it – it’s totally doable even if I hadn’t done them before. It would be much more painful, but still doable. 28 topic tests is less than 1.5 full exams, so that shouldn’t take more than 9 hours plus review. Since you already did 40, you should be able to wrap these up working diligently for 3 days. I’m surprised more people don’t stress the topic tests. Thinking about it…the institute only gives you an official mock of 20 vignettes. These additional 83 vignettes are likely to form the backbone of the exam in terms of concepts tested, in my opinion.
The shortcut strategy mentioned above sounds good to me. In fact, when I review the tests I scored 5 or 6 on, I just read the answer explanations and only revert back to the vignette if something pops out at me.
I can barely access the site because it’s so slow. Do you feel generous enough to share those PDFs via Dropbox or something?
“By accessing this assessment, you agree to the following terms of use: The practice tests and mock exams are provided to currently registered CFA candidates. Candidates may view and print the exams for personal exam preparation only. The following activities are strictly prohibited and may result in disciplinary and/or legal action: accessing or permitting access by anyone other than currently registered CFA candidates and copying, posting to any website, e-mailing, distributing, and/or reprinting the practice tests and mock exams for any purpose.”
Sorry folks. Hate to be a stickler, but seems like a no no.
I’d recommend not even answering the questions and just submitting? Might quicken things up a bit.