Reading the trending topics, a number of us had <=50% in roughly 7-8 out of the 9 Essay categories without a clear reason why. The paper was correctly completed in the right sections.
Last year there were also a number of people in the same boat. I really want to hear first hand from anyone who bombed last year’s essay (and failed overall), yet passed this time around.
Q. Did you realise what you did wrong and was your <50% justified in each section?
Q. Was there anything you did to turnaround the situation?
Q. Did your AM section improve significantly?
I understand everyone could have all sorts of reasons for poor performance in the essay, but I’m really hoping to find someone who has been in that situation.
I can’t wait for the 2012 essay to be released next year to fix holes.
I also have the same problem. 7 out of 9 sections less than 50%. And I just can’t figure out the reason. I really want to know what did people who were in the same situation last year do differently this year. Because it’s a waste to study in the same way every year and fail unless you know which direction to go in. Any help is greatly appreciated.
i’ve got 6 out of 9 below 50. 2 above 70 and 1 in between. I would really appreciate if someone moved from a low band (2-4) due to AM session and now passed.
I need to figure out if this is a knowledge problem or a technique problem.
Imagine how can anyone get a less than 50% on those individual portfolio mgt questions where you just had to circle the right answer and give a reason. I’ve got a less than 50% on that one too.
Infact I’ve bombed individual and institutional potfolio mgt which was worth 50% of the AM exam. I know I can’t expect to pass with these scores but I would definitely want to know how I can do better next year.
Shilpi raised the other interesting point. The essay section had many several sections where u only had to circle 2 yes/no things and include 2 sentences for 8 marks. I know many skeptics might say there were tricks u missed… but I’m still shocked that I can miss so many and that everyone else picked them all. And I think it’s an ok hypothesis that the multi choice section would have more tricks than the essay section.
No it’s my 2nd time, last time I had studied barely a month. But, this time I must’ve studied over 350 hours. I’m just at my wit’s end trying to figure out how to do well in AM.
What I’ve gathered is probably studying in more detail, not missing the finer points, focusing on the command words and maybe using key words is how people sailed through. Although I’m sure I didn’t write some gibberish this year as well, I was very careful knowing how badly I needed to pass.
I’m just too far in the game to give up now. I know I won’t get peace of mind until I clear this thing. Just trying to get all my courage and strength together for my next attempt.
Sad to hear the failures here and more importantly its scary when we cant figure out where we went wrong at all! I really hope we all cross the bridge in 2013…
I have registered for 2013 L3 after clearing L2 this year, would you guys suggest any courses for AM sessions? I curious to know because I am a bit scared by the posts above!
Would schweser videos help here, are there strategies discussed for answering AM questions? Thank you for your help!
I know the feeling; failed last yr and walked out feeling like I had a chance to pass. Answered every morning essay question. I was shocked come results day to see how poorly in fact I had done; 5 of 9 sections <50 and a FAIL Band 8.
This yr I passed and felt like I had answered the essay questions better which I must have; only 3 sections <50 and two of those were the ones with the fewest points (9 and 12)
This time around I focused more on answering what they were asking. If they ask to list, I wrote a couple bullet points, if it said discuss, I wrote a couple sentences. After reviewing the 2011 Guideline Answers and vaguely remembering some of my responses, I think I made the essay portion harder than it is.
For the IPS questions, and these are where you have to score as it’s the bread and butter of the exam, use the Schweser and CFAI examples where they create boxes/flow charts for Income/Expenses/Investable Assets and plug in the numbers they give you in the question. From here, I was able to make a nice, easy to follow (for the grader) answer on the exam. It helped me keep all the information organized and formulate a response. You can earn partial credit. Write EVERYTHING down, don’t just put the answer. Write out the formula you’re using, etc…
Also, look at the 2011 Guideline Answer for the question where they have you convert the Polish currency and calculate the gain/loss; that question at first seems brutal but look how they put all the info into a chart to come up with the answer. That helped me…a lot…for the 2012 exam.
And of course time mgmt, you don’t know it, move on and come back later.
Agree with caddyshack above. Somehow I was only band 4 last year, it was a total shock and I passed this year. I focused hard on exam strategy and making sure I first read the question, “RTFQ” and then answered the question! I think I blew it last year because I had the knowledge but wasn’t able to express it in the way they wanted. Therefore getting low points. This year, 4 <50% but two were those last two that almost no one got (9 and 12 points) and one of the others was on a 9 point question.
All I can add beyond caddyshack is to reemphasize the time management, and to see the big picture, level III is all about this and how everything fits together. You CAN do it. just examine your weaknesses in the most brutally honest way possible, and make a plan to overcome next year. Prepare then go in with CONFIDENCE. take the time to read the question first, don’t just dive into an answer, I did that on one I got <50% on. Only later did I realize I hadn’t answered the question they were actually asking, and frantically tried to correct it but ran out of time. Time to read the question is built in, take advantage of it, don’t just start calculating and writing. Read. Think. Breathe. Then write.
I bombed essay’s in 2010 (Fail - Band 10), I bombed essay’s in 2012 (Pass) - the difference though - Pass Rate in 2010 was 46% (lowest) while this year it’s 52% (fair)
Actually a line by line comparison of scores in 2010 vs. 2012 shows that I actually performed better in 2010.
I think that last year I did have some confusion in the ‘heat of the exam’ about writing in templates etc but my results were worse than just that. last year I used Schweser online lessons and self marked my prac AM exams but this year I used a live course with BPP where they focused quite heavily on exam technique and actually marked my mock which made the difference.
What did I do differently this year to pass?
* Think about if you were marking this, what would you give the marks for? So if the question is one of those where you select and option and explain and it’s worth 3 marks then you probably get one mark for selecting the right option and 2 for explaining. For the 2 marks given for the explanation, you need to have a sentence or two with the answer and probably another with EVIDENCE which brings me to the next point.
* You often need to quote evidence from the question as part of your answer. Hence taking the format - Answer the question then show why based on the source material. It may feel silly just repeating what’s in the source material but why take the risk of not doing it?
* Practice writing in templates etc - do proper mocks so you are used to the format & write in the templates
I think that the ethics tiebreaker thing is less of a factor in L3 as well so don’t rely on that if you think you are borderline - instead focus on the points above.
I am in the same boat. Did decently well in PM but blew the AM Section. My way of preparing AM session was biased: I read a lot of samples and but didn’t actually practise enough as if I am taking the exam. My illusion of having read the answer = knowing how to answer is what caught me this time.
Thanks for posting the question and so many useful replies. Will go at it again next year.
I got MURDERED on the essays last year and failed miserably. I got <=50% on the last 5-6 questions. Band 3, which I didn’t even think was possible. It was my worst exam day of all time and I have taken a ton of tests. To start with, I was working on about 3 hours sleep and hadn’t slept for more than 4-5 hours for a month (new job, and a 3 month old at the time). Felt like I was in the movie Insomnia. Anyway, I only brought one pen (leaving several in my car) because I had no idea we had to write essays in pen. Well my pen ran our somewhere around question 3 and the downward spiral started there. I was sitting there wondering if anything would even get graded, which was a huge distraction. So, a few pointers…
Control what you can control. What I mean by that is, show up on time with the appropriate amount (maybe more) of pens pencils and TWO calculators. Don’t be one of the people that doesn’t get into the exam on time and has to wait until after 9 to get into the facility. This is more a general comment that specific to the essays.
As for the essays, after reading and re-reading past exams and the secret sauce you can get into a little rythm with regards to how you phrase most of the items for the individual and institutional case. I found comfort in not having to search for the words or how I wanted to phrase certain common questions.
I found it invaluable to review the old AM exams, but do not fall for the trap of going back to far. 4 years is the max. I would commit to knowing those last four years inside and out, but at a minimum you should feel comfortable with the exams. The ultimate question I asked myself and the one that you should ask yourself is this, if they were dumb enough to ask me the same question on exam day would I get at least 85% of it correct if not 100%.
How you review is also a key. Be hard on yourself when you grade the essays. DO NOT think that an answer is “good enough” unless it hits on the key points or phrases that are used by the CFA and Schweser. in the beginning you may find your self spending almost as much time correcting a paper as you did actually sitting down to take it. I think that is time well spent hammering home concepts.
Start early. Nothing wrong with starting in the fall. And don’t leave all the exams until the last minute. Read through an AM exam in January or so. This will give you a feel for what you are in for.
I got crushed both years, but band 5 last year and a pass this year. I remember comparing my scores last year and thnking it was the afternoon that caused my problems. Now I am convinced that the difference was the afternoon, not the morning. No scores below 50% with 6 sections above 70% in the pm… I am willing to bet my morning scores were very similar both years, but the afternoon was the difference between a band 5 and a pass.
2012AM is probably a bit more objective and needs more calculation than 2011. I don’t like the conceptual questions in 2011AM.
I should have practiced on the real AM questions earlier…but I started it after I read Schweser Notes, solved EOC and bluebox examples, and some Q banks. An alternative way is to sort the AM questions by chapter and solve them like EOC. (Some EOC, especially thsoe long questions, are indeed from old AM questions.) It’s too bad that I found a AF post to suggest this in later stage of the game.
I would say my minor improvement in AM this year may be from luck and a simple stragey – just skip it if it’s not worth the time in the exam. I didn’t finish the last quetion this year. Overall, I answered the same way as I did last year, although I might write some answers in the wrong place last year. Last year: 6 Qs < 50%; this year: 3 Qs < 50%.
Given the same level of effort, PM score is easier to improve, at least to me.
Don’t try to “solve” what you perceive to be the AM problem because you’ll never know what it was…that said, focus broadly on the challenge of what AM presents, which is writing.
Write a lot, until your hands bleed. Literally, track how many pens you use and pieces of paper you go through. Write notecards, notes, explanations for multiple choice questions, etc. Cross-check what you write against the CFAI text and see if you use the same EXACT terms that CFAI uses. For example, talk about portfolio rebalancing strategies in terms of risk aversion, selling/buying insurance, attitude towards trending markets. The graders scan answers for key terms, know them. This builds semantic memory, whch helps the answers flow out of your brain on test day…if you write enough, you internalize your decision-making approach to answering essay questions
as you write, support each answer with a strongly worded, but succinct fact from the text using keywords. If you do this enough and cross check versus CFAI, you learn what they want you to say
know which sections are always tested in the AM and focus on crushing those sections.
do the blue boxes in the CFAI text 2x
don’t waste a lot of time on multi-choice mocks at the end, stick to writing and past AM exams. Over and over
do all of the past individual and institutional AM sections many times. Know them cold.
start in September and build slowly. Don’t be fooled into thinking you’ll remember a lot his time around because you took it already, you won’t
I think this is where Schweser may have thrown me off.
Their advice was to write the minimum that was necessary. It ends up being literally 2-3 words for some 2 mark questions. Of course, as long as it’s the right key words you’ll be okay but I’m curious as to whether anyone adopted their ultra-concise is more approach and passed.