Candidates that have started doing topic tests, which one do you think is the hardest?

CFA Level II
#1

Which topic test really trips you up?

I’ve done all of them so far, and the hardest by far for me is FRA Eriksson. That thing is ABSOLUTELY insane to me, I don’t even know where to begin. So frustrating!

#2

I have only done FRA - can only crack 5/6 on 1 or 2 of them. Lots of time left. There are a few things that we are required to do that seem really out there. The one with the cellphones… I forgot the name.

Yes - very frustrating. Wish I finished the curriculum like 3 months ago. The questions are a lot differen than the EOC IMO

#3

Agreed, some of them are nearly unfair with their phrasing and have something akin to a “sleigh-of-hand” feel to them. CFAI really pulls out all the stops to trip you up.

I’d rather have them be overly difficult though than overly easy.

#4

FRA - National Resort. I knew what they were asking but had trouble pulling out the necessary info. It was a bit wordy. 70 days left. Finished the item sets and EOCs. Run it back.

#5

Ethics are the hardest. I have impression that the correct answers in Ethics are based solely on one’s (author of question) subjective interpretation of standards and codes.

All other vignettes are fair. Some are dificult, but just because the all questions are from certain concept that I am not yet well mastered (eg.- derivatives swaps).

#6

There’s two I think in Corporate Finance, where I couldn’t even find the formula in the book! I’ll have to go back and see which one, but it was ridiculous.

#7

The first one of Derivatives is a bit.ch (swaps)

Ethics are hard too. Found many item sets asking about ROS (research objectivity standards)

Corporate Finance and Fixed Income also had their difficult.

Got well on Quants, Eco and Alt Invest.

So far until now.

#8

This L2 studying leads to associality and I started talking to myself…

#9

I am doing better on the first few Corporate Finance ones I have tried which is boosting my confidence. 70 days left, gents!

#10

precise 69…an interesting number.

#11

I’m getting 1/6 or 2/6 for the ethics topic tests…is this for real??? What are you guys getting for ethics?

#12

My gosh I’ve been consistently getting less than 30% for these tests. Even someone who guessed the whole exam could’ve gotten higher…

#13

I am currently on 3/6 on average on Ethics after 3rd round. The worst result related to all other topic tests.

#14

Jeez, I got 2/6 for FRA Eriksson, and 1 of the correct ones I guessed entirely…so basically 1/6.

#15

I got also 33 % and even 0 % on last attempt on one vignette among all. I measure result for entire topic on avr basis (all solved vignettes within topic) in this phase. Usually I try to solve at least 4-5 vignettes by 1 attempt in each topic.

Since there are also vignettes in almost each topic which I am able to solve stable on 83 % or 100 %, I am not worried about below average result on certain vignette. It’s just telling me in which area I still have poor performace. During next 30 days I will dedicate study to cover those areas. I plan to take first mock latest on 20th April.

I prepared MS Excel spreadsheet for performace measuring. It contains: result, solving time, then average, mode, median etc. in cummulative and performance by topic. So I am able to track my progress.

#16

From what I remember the L2 practice vignettes provided online by the CFAI were distinctly more difficult than the actual exam…especially the FRA (for me at least). There was 1 FRA section test that I did 4 separate times over the course of a few months and I don’t think I got higher than 2/6…ridiculous.

I found the vignettes in the real exam to be night and day from the online tests…much, much easier in my opinion. So my message is basically, don’t let bad results on the sectional tests bum you out. Just keep at it…

#17

FRA - Galaxy, 2/6…and I thought that was easier…fml

#18

S666

Thank you for this info. Appreciated. This information is valuable

for us. Anyway, no matter of this fact, my target still remains 80% of success on average

Mock latest 7 days before exam.

#19

Great info S666, thanks.

I think it is the same patter seen in L1. The mocks and online exercices were harder than the actual exam, however, there were some questions to prevent the 100% score :wink:

#20

Ok what about the timing. Is it 18 minutes enough to do some fra and equity questions