Just did it : 71 % AM / 75% PM
Need to practice AM now and review again!
Yeah, the PM I got a lot of correct answers just due to process of elimination. Not really knowing the exact answer right away.
AM: 78%
PM: 80%
I have never practicing so much as for this exam. Hopefully it will be rewarded. Otherwise, really don’t know what would I make different next time.
I had a very similar experience. I only flat out guessed on one question (got it right woooo!), but there were more where I really had to read all the available choices to deduce the correct answer, than those where I identified the correct answer right out of the gate. PM included a tricky collection of item sets for sure.
https://www.cfainstitute.org/programs/cfaprogram/candidate/Documents/level_III_mock_exam_errata.pdf
important note on Question 15 of the AM portion. Wage growth is not a part of the discount rate. only income volatility and risk free rate…
There is difference between inflation rate as nominal growth rate and real wage growth rate. In first case if you calculate with nominal growth rate in nominator, inflation should be added to real discount rate in denominator. Real growth rate is increased always for occupation volatility rate.
AM - 65
PM - 73
Both sets had tricky questions where I knew the reasoning but selected the wrong answer anyways. Taking it on a screen doesn’t seem to help me either.
PM 65%
PM test was very difficult with what I thought was a lot of oddly worded questions that tricked me and didn’t test my knowledge. Some questions I still don’t agree with. “the most appropriate criteria for a custom security based benchmark for small cap fund is to include cash position weighting.” The limits on VAR analysis given by reinfelds is most likely correct? -VAR doesn’t use positive results to measure risk." -yes it does. It takes Er and minus X SD.
Q33 which comments that can alter protfolios duration is most likely correct? Doesn’t and IR swap alter duration?
Q 37 Which investment manager more likely meets teh criteria established in the endowment’s investment policy statement is manager B because his Beta is highest in his sectors. Why would a higher B indicated his stated style?
A few more that I wont type. Very frustrated as I scored in the 70’s on the AM and PM live mock exam.
So…in a 95th confident perspective, how much is considered a pass score?
I did 5 schweser and 2014,2015 and 2016 + kaplan mock averaging 65-75%…
But I take the AM CFAI mock today and I get 29/60! I found a lot of questions very tricky or subjective…
Im angry and confused dont know what approach I have to take now…
Tomorrow I will do the PM and lets see…
S
I feel AM is much harder than the PM. I see most people also post a higher mark for PM than AM.
A good way to quickly pick up is to sort your wrong answers and try to understand the points in the LOS that you missed.
With 65-75% in Kaplan, your knowledge base should be enough and you should be fine, don’t lose faith!
Will be tackling both later this week, focusing on TT right now a couple of AMs…NEED MORE TIME! I took too long reading over the stuff and going over EOC :’(
Gameday,
Q33 - IR swap alters duration but receiving (+) fixed and paying (-) float increases duration. You need to decrease duration.
Q37 - Exihibt 1 says manager B is a value manager. The RBSA indicates that his returns are highly correlated with value stocks. Manager C is not the right choice even thought he has a higher IR, because he claims to be a growth manager, but his returns are correlated with value stocks. This style difference fails the criteria.
Finished PM today.
AM - 77% PM - 85%
Lots of issues with the PM test. Hopefully someone can shed light on these:
Q16 - Sunnydale - none of the answers is correct. The answer key indicates that Westmeyer does not pay dividends, but that information is not part of the vignette.
Q18 - Sunnydale - garbage question. Information provided never stated whether salary was pre or post tax, whether penion was pre or post tax, and said that living expenses = salary, leading you to believe the net flows from salary + spending = 0. This question is purely intended to deceive.
Q19 - Answer C seems incorrect. The benchmark should be applicable to the _ plan _, not the f*ing plan sponsor.
Q20 - Plan sponsors conduct micro attribution?
Q24/56 - since when are liquidity and cash valid properties of a benchmark??
Q25 - approach seems wrong, this is a fixed income firm, managing only fixed income assets for a (in this scenario) a specific client. The asset allocation has already been done by the client…how is a top down approach at THE FIXED INCOME FIRM starting with asset allocation??
Sorry, lots of questions, but I got most of the rest correct so trying to help out when I see it.
AM: 77%
PM: 75%
Found PM a lot more tougher unlike what most here seem to suggest.
Thank you…
I am doing the PM and the 2013 tomorrow and then review!.. good luck to everyone
AM: 35/60 = 58% (completed in 2 hours)
PM: 37/60 = 62% (took full 3 hours and plenty of guess-work)
41/60 - 68.3% PM today… i think yesterday I was quite distracted…
Anyway I expect the difficulty in the exam to be a little bit lower than these mocks and more in line with the rest of the preparation material!
Good luck
S
did PM last night, 72%. I’m content given Sunnydale case = absolute death (took me over 30 min), and I absolutely bombed last 2 sections - need to brush up my performance evaluation/rebalancing this week.