I gave L3 in 2013 and failed Band 8. I think i did well in PM but AM was really tough, I still have not got any clue as to how to approach AM.
Could neone of you pl. refer me to Any posts on handling AM here?
I took a break in 2014 and have now registered for 2015. I still don’t know how to approach L3 AM. In 2013 I failed to finish atleast 2 AM questions, I think i was too descriptive.
Do you have to be very descriptive? one mistake i did was not to practice many AM exams.I think i am missing some point here. Could you guys help me understand how to approach morning session?
I still remember during the exam I was on like finishing question 4 and it was 1 hour 10 minutes left, and I had to go to the washroom. During the break I actually thought I was gonna fail, but gathered all my energy and wrote like crazy. Left the room feeling very good considering everyone was saying wow no time…
practice answering briefly to EOCs and past exam questions. AM on level 3 is always a monster…one in 100 people leaves the room confident that they smashed AM… and that confident one is the guy proctors get to see next year as well
They’re a nightmare to do, take a lot longer than you expect and you’ll constantly be fighting the temptaion to skip to the item set questions but don’t, do all these questions.
Agreed - if you can consistently get these right, even if it takes several reviews, you’re well on your way to success in the AM. Like gringo said, it’s easy to want to skip to the item-sets which are easier and quicker to answer (I like seeing results NOW), but you get more out of the constructed response questions.
The problem with doing all previous AM questions (I did) is that the way the questions are asked seems to be changing. And the exam is no longer straight forward. A lot of unrealistic scenrios and tricky questions.
I did every single past AM questions I could get my hands on, binders, notes…etc and was still like WTF when I started the AM session.
Compare the 2014 L3 exam (when it comes out) to all previous L3 exams and you will see what I’m talking about. Look at the way the questions were structured in 2014 compared to previous years.
^ they definitely like to make sure the exam paper is a new experience. people talk about tricks etc, i think what they do is put a slight twist on things and test if you know the material well enough.
in fairness, if the required return calculation, for example, was the same format every year then people could just learn it without understanding it and still get it right.
Why will you spend so much time on an exam paper that’s “old experience” when the upcoming one is going to be a new experience? All the previous exams up until 2013 were at least closely similar in exam structure, so I can see the benefit of reviewing previous exams in those cases.
Atleast, you can agree the exam experience seems to be changing drastically from previous years.
Plus, I think the further backwards you go in years to do past exams, the more irrelevant the exam and set of questions you are reviewing.
Frankly after doing a bunch of Schweser Mocks and CFAI past exams, I found the AM to be pretty straightforward. Now, I was below 50% in 3 categories and 50-70 in 1, so perhaps I didn’t exactly ace the AM but did enough to get through.
I think the most important thing is to understand what they’re asking. Even though the format is open ended, the questions are usually asking for a very specific set of information. Writing 3 paragraphs showing how much you know on a subject is almost certainly a bad idea - they just want one or two specific concepts. I found that the blue box questions were not particularly representative of actual exam questions - they would often be way more open ended than actual exam questions.
Also, focus your study efforts on the important questions. The first question on the AM WILL BE AN INDIVIDUAL PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT question, and it will quite often be in multiple parts and worth 20-30 pionts. They’re going to ask you to calculate a required return, or an ending portfolio value or something of this nature. Also they will ask at least one, and probably two questions on Institutional Portfolio Management, and it’ll probably be about a pension, foundation or life insurance company, although you can’t rule out banks and other insurance co’s, etc. Know this stuff cold.
Another thing to think about, that I learned from in person instruction, is that a ton of the material is not particularly testable. They through a lot of vague conceptual stuff into the cirriculum, but the smart canddiate will realize what is probably not going to show (or, more importantly, if it does show up will probably be a very small point value, and most canddiates will miss it along with you).
300 hours is not nearly enough time to learn the entire cirriculum - but it’s more than enough time to pass the exam with a healthy margin of safety, if your study time is correctly allocated.
Read the question – specifically, what are they asking for?
Open-ended answers in paragraph format is a recipe for disaster.
Respond *only* in bullet-point format – this will keep your response short and concise.
How many points is the Q worth? If it’s only worth 6 points, don’t you dare spend 10 minutes or longer trying to come up with the perfect answer. Write something to the best of your ability in 5 minutes, and move on.
Remember that if you spend 10 minutes trying to answer a 6-point question, you’ll have to shave extra time off another question later on (which you’re likely to get wrong since you felt rushed).
Practice, practice, practice – under timed conditions. You have to make it as close to game day as possible, so when you step up to the plate again you’ll know what to expect and better budget your time.
This is foolish. Of course the best practice for the 2015 exam would be the 2015 exam itself. Unfortunately, you don’t have that luxury so take the next best thing - this year’s exam. Want more practice after that (which most usually do and would highly recommend)? The next best option is the 2013 exam. After that? 2012.
Avoid past AM exams written AND administered by the writers of the test you’re seeking to pass at your own peril. As far as practice exams go, everyone I know would make them priority #1.
mentioned this in a different post, but i didn’t find the early 2000s exams that useful if i remember correctly.
they touch on a few topics, but the way they ask is different. but it definitely helped (not as much as the recent years).
practicing for the AM? u just have to do it. plan spending 10-15 minutes per item set. won’t be that bad.
for the portfolio management problems, i practiced more on itemizing the information into income statement format more so than the actual calculation. the calculation itself isn’t that hard compared to the vague ‘this year/now’ statements (for time).