If you fully understand and can apply quickly all the CFAI blue boxes and all the EOC’s, I am convinced it is impossible to fail. At some point you must properly time yourself under time pressure. To understand EOC’s and BB’s each candidate should use a blend of CFAI material, videos, Qbank, and outside sources. Covering every single EOC is a major time commitment in and of itself (in truth, I did not cover every single one - I knew that if I failed, this was the reason). Making my own set of notes (not flashcards, like I did for Lev I & II and an unsuccessful try at Lev 3) seemed to help immensely. Lev 3 is so conceptual, I think you need full-blown notes versus flashcards. Thank you Rolo550 for that tip.
cheer up!!
You can pass next time!
Went 3 for 3 … My advice is to study early because things always come up and slow your progess down. I started in Oct and read only CFA books twice, did EOC & blue box examples twice. I made notes and read my notes like 5 times. I think for L3, reading/understanding the material is more important than doing EOC or BB examples because you need to write “something” down quickly on the test day and the CFA book problems don’t cover all topics. Yet, you still need to do them and at least 4 past exams to see what graders are looking for.
Thanks for all the advice. It is really helpful.
Dear alll this is my 3 rd time amd i failed again. Never before in any test have experienced this. I am really desperate and do not know how to improve my result. Ihave read cfai over and over again. All mocks and smaple exam out there. And every year i end up with < 50 on the essay. Eg individual ivestor part is not rocket science. But for some reason, are maybe the way i answer to the question is not what they expect. I am so desperate and frustrated. What specific writing skills did u do to prepare eg ffor the individual and institutional sections?
Can you please guys help me and fill in this short post-results survey
I passed 3 for 3 and I prepared the same way every time, however Level III is a different beast than Level I and II. The short answer questions take the exam to a new level. Read the curriculum for sure but it’s vital you do as many practice exams as you possibly can. The same question can be asked different ways - some harder to interpret than others. I CANNOT stress this enough, sometimes CFAI loves to leave questions open for interpretation. You must quickly be able to know exactly what they are looking for - pratice will help you develop these senses. Practice writing neat from the beginning, I found I took more time on the real exam because for the practice exams I used very brief short form chicken scratch - I can’t say this enough, practice writing your solutions like it’s the real thing (this is what I feel my mistake was - I took some questions too fast and was too brief and would do this differently next time)
A thorough understaning of the material is the ONLY way to pass Level III. By this Level most people do well on the multiple choice, so you cannot afford slip ups here. Your test preparation doesn’t need to change provided you did fairly well on Level I and II. My advice to level III takers is to simply start earlier than you did before and do more practice exams, as many as you possibly can. When grading your answers for the short answer read every single solution, even if you got the question right (another thing I would have liked to have done better in my prep)
people will tell you to read alot or not read alot etc etc, by now everyone has their own methods for these exams, personally I read every single word in schweser and CFA - it works for me and I got good scores. I don’t think one person will say to read more vs. do more practice exams though lol.
Exactly my method. Especially cos I’m not working in finance, it’s difficult to grasp the materials. I read and did questions in both curriculum and schweser twice. Registered b4 first deadline, and spend abt 2 hours everyday since then. Till Chinese New Year I finished 1 round, took 2 week break and then started all over. By mid apr tried to start practice mock exams.
If possible try to start early as you can. U should plan for some unexpected things. Who know during apr my owner SMSed to scold me everyday early in the morning that spoiled my mood the whole day. So I hardly put something in my head in apr and had to find house to move. So during May had to put in double the hard work to catch up…
DEC 2009 lvl 1 Failed
JUNE 2010 lvl 1 Failed BAND 10!!!
DEC 2010 lvl 1 Pass
2011 lvl 2 Failed
2012 lvl 2 Pass
2013 lvl 3 Pass.
I got so use to failing on the first attempt. For level 3, I started light studying in october and cranked it up starting january. I watch a lot of motivational videos during the process and I refused to fail level 3. Other candidates may be smarter than me, but I made it in my mind I would not be outworked! Watch my signature video “CHAMPION” everyday when you decide to start studying again.
Passed all 3 levels in the first attempt. I used schweser for all the levels and the POA for all levels and for each study session was
i View the schweser video, and take down notes - I literally wrote off each slide shown in the video presentation
ii After viewing the video for each study session , jump into the schweser text, wrote notes again
iii On studying the text, went off to tackle the EOC in schweser and then went off to complete the question for each study session from the Q Bank
iv First revision - On completion of portion, revised each subject by doing EOC from the CFA text books
v Second revision - Revised each subject followed by a subject wise test using the Qbank ( you get to choose between basic concepts to the more advanced ones when preparing a test for ur self by using the Qbank)
vi Third revision - after completing a subject wise test, revised the entire portions a third time and then got off on taking the CFA mocks and the schweser tests
Time Taken
Level 1 - started by end of December, studied for approx 42hrs a week, managed to complete the portions by early April
Level 2 - started early December, completed by end of April - approx the same amount of time per week
Level 3 - stared by early November - Big mistake, I was absolutely burnt out by march and hence was only able to complete my portions by end of April even after having started so early.
Well there u go, that’s how I did it… By the end of the day to each his own.
Best of luck to all those taking up the 2014 L3 exams, the portions relatively simple, it’s only a matter of being able to put in the number of hrs.
… mE
Passed on the second attempt (band 7 first go) and used CFAI and the secret sauce. Blue boxes, EOC questions and above all practice exams were crucial. I agree with whoever said no need to time your practice exams, focus on form first and the speed will come. Best wishes!
I went 3 for 3. I am unusual in my studies as read the CFAI material for all three and then supplemented that with the Kaplan classes. I did the 3 day class for level 1 as signed up on Feb 19th so did not get material until March. For levels 2 and 3 used the online classes from Kaplan. I found it gave me two different perspectives on same material and the classes kept my studies on track so would be done reading by the first week in May so could do practice tests. For level III I did 6 years worth of the old CFA essay exams, plus 6 Kaplan Mock exams and also did all the blue box problems in the CFAI book
"Dear alll this is my 3 rd time amd i failed again. Never before in any test have experienced this. I am really desperate and do not know how to improve my result. Ihave read cfai over and over again. All mocks and smaple exam out there. And every year i end up with < 50 on the essay. Eg individual ivestor part is not rocket science. But for some reason, are maybe the way i answer to the question is not what they expect. I am so desperate and frustrated. What specific writing skills did u do to prepare eg ffor the individual and institutional sections?"
If you are like me and a terrible writer it might help to take a English Business writing class as the test answers need to be concise statements. There were lots of grammatical and spelling errors in your post. I doubt they dock points for those on the test but they need to understand what you stated. For example your sentence “Eg individual ivestor part is not rocket science” is missing some information. I assume you meant to state “The individual investor part is not rocket science but I still get less than 50 percent on the questions”. When I took the test I took something my freshman Physics teacher told us on the first day. He asked “How do you balance an Elephant on a pin” and then after a pause he answered 'First you assume a spherical Elephant". Good luck on your next try and just remember passing is based on a cumulative of both written and multiple choice so you can get 50% on the written as long as you do well enough on multiple choice to pass.
Hi Mills,
Sorry you have to go through it again.
There’s a significant amount of luck in who passes and who fails: The test results are probably bell shaped, with a mean of about 60%. I read someplace that no one has every scored 100%, so call 96% a 6-sigma event. That implies s=6%, give or take. Half pass and half fail, so the curve is been cut right at the top. All this means there isn’t that much different between a band 10 fail and my lofty 64.3% 40/60/80 pass, right?
You went 2 for 2, and then wiffed this time. It’s a tough break, and could happen to any of us. Your results look to me like you know what you are doing, but just need to tune up a bit, peak at the right time and show up at the test rested, fit and ready.
Yes, you should do the mock exams and all of that so you feel confident before and during the test, but build on the base you already have and don’t show up exhausted.
My 2 cents.
This video from 8EEZBaby is kick ass!
I AM A CHAMPION!!!
First attempt at L3 - Used only Schweser - made the exam my bitch (7/11 over 70% in AM and 7/8 over 70% in PM - none below 50% in AM or PM)
Don’t use Schweser as an excuse for failing guys! 
It is said enough often that mock is important. In preparing my 2nd attempt, I did the 6 mocks from schwser, 1 mock provided by cfa, and 13 previous test paper from 2000 to 2012. Knowing I screwed up AM the 1st attempt, I practiced some of the AM sessions multiple times. I wasn’t scoring very well on the mock until towards the end when I ran out of undone mocks unless I went for papers before 2k. I work a demanding job too, but I know this amount of work can be done if I plan ahead and stick to it and start early too. And I know with that amount of work I have a better chance to pass. Good luck next year and start planning.
3/4 - took Level 3 twice - failed band 10 the first time.
Briefly, two things I’d recommend: 1) know as much material as you can. Seems obvious, but I was always more of a practice question/mock exam studier, but with Level 3, I learned that it’s more important to try and know as much as you can, especially for the AM section. For example, there were two questions on 2012 AM on options (exam publically available btw) and I was lost having not seen a lot of option material in prior years.
- This is harder to do without actually taking the exam, but really get a game plan for the AM section. Know how the answer templates/sheets work, be very aware of time, and for the non-template answers, clearly label the question your answering, leave space for crossing out and re-doing, and take the extra little time to write clearly and concisely (instead of rambling off the first thing on your mind). I was destroyed by the AM section my first time around - and destroyed it this time around (ironically I didn’t do quite as well on the PM which everyone thought was easier).
My 0.02 cents.
For anyone who has the time, I recommend reading the entire CFAI curriculum. I did it because I wanted to be completely at ease with the perspective of the authors of each reading.
I read the entire curriculum from January to mid-April, taking notes.
I then spent about 6-7 weeks doing questions. I did many of the EOC questions, about 8 mock exams and some questions from other sources.
A background playing competitive sport is probably helpful. Treat yourself like an athlete preparing for the Olympics. Attempting to answering questions has to be as absolutely routine for you in the last last two months as a golfer practising his putting or a tennis player practising his serve.
For people who are married with kids, I would suggest them to use Arif’s videos. Listen to the videos 2-3 times. If you don’t understand something read from CFAI. Finally do open book mock tests(keep 2 tests for may 15). Reread the mocks a couple of times. Don’t worry about the blue boxes, Arif will cover those. This is how I passed on my 1st attempt with less than 300 hrs of studying. Honestly, this exam is about how well you understood the material. Happy Studying!! EDIT: Arifs videos are little slow, play them at 1.5x in media player to save time.
whack L3 with everything u got! theres gotta be light at the end of the tunnel!