CFA Level II - What did you do to pass in the final 6 weeks?

CFA Level III
#1

Hello Level III candidates,

Thought this would be the best place for responses since all of you have recently passed LII.

What was your strategy in the final 6 weeks.

I’ve pretty much just completed all EOCs and most TTs and have done 1 Schweser Mock (scoring mid 60s).

I’ve got 5 more Schweser Mocks and the CFAI mock.

Was planning to go through these, approx 1 a week and re-hammer the TTs.

Thoughts?

#2

It seems like you’re on a solid pace. I’ll just say knowledge retention was the key for me. I think I scored below 50% on the official mock like a month before the test day and realized I forgot a lot of what I had studied already. So I didn’t really spend more time to gain new knowledge, but instead went thorugh the materials that I forgot and sort of forgot. I didn’t do all the Schweser mocks because I felt retaning what I already knew would be a better use of time than doing new tests. It would be ideal if you can do both, but I chose to stick with the former and it worked for me. Just my two cents, good luck.

#3

I crammed! Kidding! Not.

I wrapped up the readings the first week in May, and spend the last 3 weeks reading the Wiley 11th Hour Guide, which I found to be indispendable in relearning everything I forgot, and did practice problems. I redid all of the EOC problems, the CFAI sample vignettes, and 1 Schweser mock. Then I slept the entire day before the exam… and Passed! Woot! I should add that I had the 3 weeks before the exam off.

#4

I never did any of the EOC questions, and did half of the Schweser Mocks. I crammed the FRA part, and performed poorly on all the mocks going in, never once getting more than 70%. Mainly because I sucked at FRA.

A few days before the exams I wondered whether I should just not leave it, and try next year. I resolved to study as much as I reasonably could, so that when I repeat it I would not have to do a full 300 hours.

I was lucky to pass, and using myself as a benchmark, I would say that you are well ahead.

I also used Wiley and their summaries got me through the FRA part I must admit, as I learnt some rules verbatim.

DO AS MANY QUESTIONS AS YOU CAN. Ultimately that is what saved me, even though it was not EOCs. And the “fact” that you really only need to get 2 out of every 3 questions correct. That kept me sane.

Ethics I concentrated on.

#5

Took 45 days and studied 10 hrs a day. I thought I failed. 450 hours crammed like that isn’t productive and I dont remember anything about level 2. Also failed ethics on the exam.

But here I am - level 3.

To be more specific. Cause of time constraints. Mock exams, mock exams, Shweser exams and memorized it.

#6
  1. take every mock/practice exam you can 2) do the CFAI “topic tests.” I found them later than I wanted in my studies, but that they were really helpful (and challenging).
#7

I honestly only took three Schweser Mocks. I used them to see where I was weakest and then re-read and worked problems on those areas. I don’t think it’s necessary to keep taking practice tests if you keep struggling on the same areas. If you get your mocks into the upper 70’s, i wouldn’t worry about trying to find more tests.

The last thing I did was re-read the ethics section of Schweser. And of course, crammed a sheet full of the harder formulas night before and day of. Some people say not to do this, but I think it helped.

#8

I honestly only took three Schweser Mocks. I used them to see where I was weakest and then re-read and worked problems on those areas. I don’t think it’s necessary to keep taking practice tests if you keep struggling on the same areas. If you get your mocks into the upper 70’s, i wouldn’t worry about trying to find more tests.

The last thing I did was re-read the ethics section of Schweser. And of course, crammed a sheet full of the harder formulas night before and day of. Some people say not to do this, but I think it helped.

#9

I never did any Schweser mocks, just went over the CFAI mock that was published. But I knew the material cold, read and re-read Schwerser and did some of the topic tests in the last two weeks that I took off from work.

#10

I took all 6 Schweser mocks and all CFAI AM mocks back to 2007 I believe. The Schweser AM mocks weren’t exactly like the CFAI AM exams but they still helped solidify the concepts and identify weak areas. I’d definitely recommend doing them.

#11

OP is talking about level 2 , i think you are talking about your strategy for level 3.

#12

^ good call. Don’t do what I just did on the exam.