I believe the overall candidate pool has been lowered in quality. Everyone has a college degree now, even idiots. I also think the lower pass rate trend has to do with the rise of the 3rd party providers. Many candidates don’t even touch the CFAI material now.
There was another user thread on here and someone said they’ve failed the test 3 times, going for a 4th and yet to EVER do a mock. I think another said they’ve failed 2 times, going for the 3rd, and only on this attempt have they touched the CFAI material.
I think theres alot more of these people that don’t post on AF then do, and they constitute a large part of the people failing every year.
I would like to see the pass/fail % for people that put the time and an honest effort into studying for the exam.
AF is definitely upward biased. I’m sure the vast majority of people who fail L2 are those that barely got by L1 and are now serial retakers of L2, did well in L1 but mailed it in when studying for L2 (they pass the next time), or people who have a hard time with English (this # is growing as test is increasingly global). L2 requires a fair amount of English comprehension.
Completely agree with you CD. My scores on mocks taken several weeks back (none since and none planned this week, focusing on review and sharpening up strength areas/ topics not covered well first time through) had a huge deviation amongst them on full mocks, 79/80/63/68. All/most of these points can be attributed to which item sets happen to show up, what type of questions were tested within the items set material, and perhaps the greatest factor was my ability to either correctly make an educated guess or incorrectly make one. Some exams I was on fire and others I couldn’t buy a bucket. I think by the time the test comes I should be okay regardless of what shows up after doing a real review now, but for anyone who is going in borderline / fairly unprepared, luck will play a HUGE factor. Get your four leaf clovers ready…
2011 AM = 65%
2011 PM and 2012 AM = 70%
Slightly better than the first mock I did but below where I’d like to be. For 2012 PM got mixed on the VIE and the unit root stuff. Got 3/6 for both of those cases.
I believe a large part of the reason that the pass rate went down from the 90s and 80s to now is because the CFA charter has become a ‘gold standard’ and you have all sorts of underprepared and underqualified candidates trying for it. Back in the 80s and 90s the vast majority of test takers were life-long committed investment professionals and not those attempting to ‘break into the industry’. I think what has happened to the CFA designation is great and those trying for it from other industries are to be commended, but none-the-less that is why I believe the pass rates are now lower and for good reason.
suggestion 1 above makes a lot of sense. Suggestions 2 and 3 are crazy IMO.
Good point about English comprehension. Probably 3-4/6 questions on each item set are non-calculation based and alot of time I usually read through the Q’s 2-3 times to be 100% confident of what they’re asking (Best response, incorrect response, etc.) so that I don’t make stupid mistakes, and the long vignettes are not necessarily easy for a second language to understand. I read/write/speak french fairly decently, but I couldn’t begin to think about doing a test like this in that language. I don’t really think it’s fair that they only administer these tests in english.
Straight from from the CFAI:
"Pass rates are calculated from those candidates who actually sat for the examination. Approximately 25 percent of enrolled candidates who register do not sit for the examination (are no-shows) each year.
Falling pass rates over time reflect, among other things, the expansion of the candidate pool, candidate aptitude, and candidate preparation habits."
http://www.cfainstitute.org/cfaprogram/Documents/the_cfa_program_our_fifth_decade.pdf
I got 55% on the CFAI AM Mock. Last Schweser score was 70%.
Yeah, I am same to you. I spent 2-3 hrs every night to do one part of mock. The following day was used to check answers and review (appr. 3hrs two). I also got avg 70% in all mocks (09-11).
Doing one whole mock is impsle for because I gotta work. It’s nearly 9 pm after my dinner. Still, I strive to work out one part of mock with food in my stomach and tireness blowing my mind.
I intend to finish 2012 mock with the left days, AM in Thu, check in Fri, and the whole PM part in Sat. I think you should also take 2012 mock no matter it’s hard or simple from others’ perspective.Personally, 2011 mock AM is pretty difficult
to me. But I think it’s a good experience. It’s better to feel more and better mentally prepared than being panick in real exam.
67 - 78 in scwheser practice exams, and just turned out a 63 in cfa mock. Starting to get worried…
easy there girl. Pint of Guinness to put you at ease.
Are you guys comfortable with scoring around 70% on mocks? Judging by reading a lot on these forums, that appears to be the consensus…
I find 70% awfully close to the perceived MPS of 67-69%… At least for my comfort level anyways, I would prefer to have some wiggle room for exam pressure/stress… Its fine if you can consistently score over 70% but a single nasty vignette can screw you on the real thing.
What are your thoughts?
Based off of last year’s MPS of 58% they should be fine…
Not comfortable hovering around the 70 zone but not much I can do about it now, except load up on caffeine and keep studying. Got 70 in the afternoon cfa 2012 mock, messed up four ethics questions, v annoying.
- Alternative Investments 18 *- - - Corporate Finance 36 * - - - Derivatives 36 *- - - Economics 18 * - - - Equity Investments 72 - - * - Ethical & Professional Standards 36 - - * - Financial Reporting & Analysis 72 - -*- - Fixed Income Investments 36 - *- - Portfolio Management 18 * - - - Quantitative Methods 18 * - -
This was a pass last year, however don’t expect any curve that easy again in this life time
That’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. No contest.
I am scoring mid-high 70’s and although I am somewhat comforted in knowing this is decent compared to others it doesn’t comfort me much knowing that the MPS could be as high as 70% (I think more likely around 65-68%) and that I am only about 5% away from that. Its like scoring 55% on a normal exam when you need 50% to pass. I wouldn’t feel comfortable then.
Well I’ve been kicking myself for a year for not putting forth a solid effort in 2011, seeing now what an opportunity I missed. Hopefully all of that energy and time I’ve put in will pay off come Saturday.
Can someone please explain to me the answer to #43 on the pm exam. I don’t understand why you’d need to subtract .9696. It’s not a bond that matures and pays principal. I keep coming up with answer A!!