When I took mocks, I rarely made complete blind random guesses. I would say less than 5 total per mock.
With this past saturday exam, I found myself skipping questions and coming back to make complete random guesses on mutliple due to lack of time. I also always finished mocks comfortably with 30-60 minutes to spare but I was rushed for time on the real one. Very disappointed in my performance and I thought I was well prepared.
you should have seen me during the test…For all the ones that I had no idea on I dropped my pencil near the answers and would mark whichever one it landed on. If it landed on let’s say equal A & B, I would then write H and T on my eraser and flip it. Head for A and Tails for B.
Well what I felt with this exam was you could always find the one wrong answer for the ones you didn’t know…so for me at least there were like maybe 30 total that I did this and had to guess 50 50 after I eliminated one of the wrong answers.
However…god those 50 50 ones I felt like the answer could have been both maybe I should have just filled in two ovals for that question…haha
I had plenty of time to spare on this exam… But only because I guessed 10-20 questions. It was way more difficult than I had been led to believe, since the mocks were supposedly harder than the real thing, and it was the other way around this time. The mocks did not prepare me for… this… thing.
I echo your sentiments brother. You’re not alone. I had to blindly guess quite a few questions as well.
It was nutty… That is all.
AM session. “Oh Ethics was a breeze… Quants next! Feeling good!” *Reads Quants* “F**K”
Fixed Income was tough.
My plan was… if math related question, my guess would be either A or C. Word problem would be answered as B. It worked well in mocks, so I hope it worked well on the actual exam lol
DP
Yup made probably about 5-10 guesses in the AM session and about 15 in the PM session. And I never made any blind guesses on the mocks I did for preparation. Schweser mocks (which I used most in preparation) are over-rated and should NOT be used. Lesson learned.
Yes I did but not exactly blind guesses. Around 25 guesses in total and 5 to 7 blind guesses :s and I’m shit scared.
I’d like to say I am pretty disappointed with the L1 June exam. I’m pretty certain I passed but still feel the need to make an opinion. One thing is for sure, many a fundamental topics were left out of this exam. I think the majority of those who pass will pass out of luck as opposed to moving on because of a true understanding of the material and what is important when it comes to analysis. Again, this is because it seemed much of what actually matters was bypassed while little obscure and insignificant topics were asked about which turn into trivial questions left for luck.
For example, there was one FI question I was on the fence about. After the exam I went back and checked the curriculum. The info around this question was covered once, in a few sentences, in one paragraph. How can one justify putting such insignificant questions on an exam? This topic literally was a few sentences out of the thousands of pages of the curriculum and it was on something so small. It really bothers me that the CFAI would test on such trivial matters and leave out the fundamentals! Is it because the fundamentals are easy? Maybe for some they are, so be it! If they are not for others then they’ll weed out the right people instead of keeping the lucky people. Bottom line, those who can’t get through the fundamentals have no business even being there.
I couldn’t agree more. I was truly shocked that so little of the fundamental material was tested. It often felt more like a game of CFA Trivial Pursuit. Do you remember the half a phrase on page XXX of Volume X that we , the CFA, casually mentioned as an aside? Probably not but we are going to make this a main point and skip two entire readings of fundamental importance instead. Very, very strange.
Yes I agree with you all. This exam did not test many of the fundamentals… I would be interested in feedback from a June 13 or Dec 13 test taker to compare.
People who passed level 1 recently, did you feel like this after the exam???
This is happening in L2 as well. I was dissapointed to put in so much work and be tested on one-off trivial subjects that were obscure and unrelated to the central theme of the LOS. It’s a shame CFAI is trying to weed out candidates based on a “Jeapardy” type approach where trivial facts are tested as much as sound concepts.
I totaly agree with you, it s exactly my feeling also! A nother point is about the few questions related to calculation! I was almost choked and was waiting for the afternoon session to include more calculation…
i dont remember making any blind guesses…maybe couple of them, but on contrary i believe i guessed 1/3 of the exam which includes either 50-50 or atleast the quetions in which i was familiar with the options.
I agree with so many of u here. I distinctly remember a question that’s pretty much equivalent to asking "What is the last name of Star Wars’ protagonist? Luke a) Skystalker b)Skywalker c) Starwalker.
It’s ridiculous to think I was preparing for questions that test critical thinking.
I remember that exact question and remember picking a) Skystalker
i too had to pick answers im not 100% sure of because of lack of time, but since i practiced mocks the same way u did , i can say that we have a chance to pass the exam for the experience holders say cfa results will depend upon the sheer hardwork that u put up for the exam and not solely on the actual exam day. stay positive !! and update ur profile as level 2 candidate 