I took my first sample exam (the free one) on CFAI yesterday, and I got 43%. WACK!!! I wasn’t expecting the questions to be worded as differently as they were especially on the ethics portion. The 27 questons at the end of Reading 2 are nothing like those on the sample exam. I really wish CFAI would provide more practice questions with the readings like the Series 7 exam does. They provided an entire CD-Rom full of practice questions. At least I know what areas I need to work on. Anywho, I know I have a lot of reviewing to do before the test.
SkipE99, Just remember that scoring 70% is a guaranteed pass on the actual exam. So if you score 70% on the practice exams you are in tip top shape. I recall the min passing scores on the actual exams being somewhere around 60% to 65%, so your score of 63% would be a borderline pass/fail. You still have one month to prepare so you should expect that score to go up.
I just took the #2 60 question sample exam and scored 75%. (Like an idiot I was on that testing sight a few weeks ago and clicked on the free exam to see what would happen, and the exam started. As luck would NOT have it, I couldn’t sit and take the practice test at that time so I lost out on that one) I haven’t covered much of fixed income, derivatives, or alternative investments yet, I think I got lucky on a few of those questions by just trying to think logically about the question presented. I think I rushed through as well, I finished up with probably 45 minutes to go, that could be bad on the actual exam, gotta make sure I take my time and read questions carefully and address all possible answers before making my selection. Even though 75% is designated as a passing score, I am still concerned that the actual exam will be much more difficult (actually 2nd time taking it so I know it will probably be more difficult). I am planning on hammering through as much of FI, derivatives, and alternatives as possible and also taking the #3 sample exam and both mock exams prior to the real one. I don’t think that anyone would do this but, try not to get lax on the studying even if you are scoring well on the practice exams or mock exams, try and continue taking it to the max to the end. We’ll all need it come the 7th of June.
I took that sample exam as well. I ended up with a 70. However, for some questions (especially Ethics), I run through the Schweser effect. That being, if I encounter an easy question, I automatically assume its a “trick” question, and talk myself out of the most obvious answer. Then, I try and justify a borderline answer, especially on the “most-likely”, or “least likely” based ethics questions. Its messing with my head!!
Got 83% on the CFAI 60 Q sample exam (with lots of time left) Got around 80% on Schweser Practice Exam 1 , and thought the exam was much harder and more time consuming compared to CFAI…some of the calculation questions are ridiculous, you’d never see a question half as long on the actual test I figure. I would advise everyone to do the CFAI sample. DO NOT go into the exam thinking its going to look & feel exactly like the Schweser tests!
just tried my sample exam got a 73 should i be worried
nahsuar Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I took that sample exam as well. I ended up with a > 70. However, for some questions (especially > Ethics), I run through the Schweser effect. That > being, if I encounter an easy question, I > automatically assume its a “trick” question, and > talk myself out of the most obvious answer. Then, > I try and justify a borderline answer, especially > on the “most-likely”, or “least likely” based > ethics questions. Its messing with my head!! Same here. I have averaged mid 80s in ethics on Schweser, but got a ~50% in ethics on the CFAI sample exam. Got a total of 70 as well.
can you review your exam? I can’t review where I went wrong.
I got 57% on the first one, that’s basically right after finishing my reviews. I am now averaging mid 80’s on 120 schweser qbank exams set at CFA weights…we will see how i do on the next CFA mock exam.
interesting, thanks for the clarification ssnd.
I felt like the ethics questions on CFAi exam #2 were way easier than the sample exam. I took #1 last weekend, got 33% on ethics, this weekend I got 77% with no addtional ethics studying (I am hitting that next week).