Dax2IB Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I haven’t touched any of those volume 2 > exams… > > But let me tell you a funny thing that happened > during my Level 1- Dec 2008… During the last two > weeks of prep i borrowed the Volume 1 and Volume 2 > from a friend who did not solve the questions, so > unaware of the intensity of the toughness… > > Randomly i picked the Volume 2 and started > solving. The scores were too bad that i got fever > 2 days before the exam, just out of the fear i > might fail. I traveled to singapore (there was no > center in India) with a temperature above 100 and > with a high dosage strip of antibiotics and some > how passed, I knew i did well in the exam. Inspite > of the fever i had, i decided to celebrate and > booze and roam on the streets of clarke quay… > the temperature used to go up again…then consume > pills…celebrate again… This whole cycle went > for 2 days until the pills got completed. > > I boarded the return flight with no more pills, > the fever went up so high. The flight crew gave me > some injection shot , which made me unconscious. > The moment i got down the flight, i was admitted > in the hospital straight away… > > I was diagnosed with typhoid and had to take a > medical leave for one month… > > I would never forget the Volume 2 Level 1tests in > my life… > > Yet not decided whether i should touch them for > Level 2 classic!!
Dax2IB Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I haven’t touched any of those volume 2 > exams… > > But let me tell you a funny thing that happened > during my Level 1- Dec 2008… During the last two > weeks of prep i borrowed the Volume 1 and Volume 2 > from a friend who did not solve the questions, so > unaware of the intensity of the toughness… > > Randomly i picked the Volume 2 and started > solving. The scores were too bad that i got fever > 2 days before the exam, just out of the fear i > might fail. I traveled to singapore (there was no > center in India) with a temperature above 100 and > with a high dosage strip of antibiotics and some > how passed, I knew i did well in the exam. Inspite > of the fever i had, i decided to celebrate and > booze and roam on the streets of clarke quay… > the temperature used to go up again…then consume > pills…celebrate again… This whole cycle went > for 2 days until the pills got completed. > > I boarded the return flight with no more pills, > the fever went up so high. The flight crew gave me > some injection shot , which made me unconscious. > The moment i got down the flight, i was admitted > in the hospital straight away… > > I was diagnosed with typhoid and had to take a > medical leave for one month… > > I would never forget the Volume 2 Level 1tests in > my life… > > Yet not decided whether i should touch them for > Level 2 Awesome! I think I’ll skip Volume 2 for the sake of my health.
actual was on par with the mocks and Schweser book 6 I thought, even though there were a few curveballs that I was not expecting (don’t want to mention specific because that would be a CFAI violation). The exam was pretty fair, not as calculation intensive as I expected.
malek_bg Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I came through a post > yesterday saying that last year’s exam does not > even look like the sample and mocks that had been > provided by CFAI last year. I can attest this. The mocks/samples were focussed on prime topics like Time Series, FCFE and stuff… off which none of them turned up in the exam. These exams are a decoy to try to divert you from your focussed prep. I wouldn’t be surprised if this years prime focus is PE and Taxes and 0/120 questions turn up on them.
Hey jasonms, This is a good Ethics question;) Is mentioning questions that had shown in past exams a violation? I remember having seen a question when preparing for L1 in Schweser I guess which was stating that someone in Australia took the exam then managed to get in touch with someone in the US to let him/her what was in the exam and we were asked whether such a behaviour was a violation or not, obviously it was… but now, we are dealing with someting in the past, far in the past, so is discussing past exams’ questions really a violation? that s just out of curiosity guys;) M.
Dax2IB, I am happy you are alive, or else I wouldn’t have been able to read this etory you wrote. I fell out of my chair laughing and in amazement. Good luck buddy! Dax2IB Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I haven’t touched any of those volume 2 > exams… > > But let me tell you a funny thing that happened > during my Level 1- Dec 2008… During the last two > weeks of prep i borrowed the Volume 1 and Volume 2 > from a friend who did not solve the questions, so > unaware of the intensity of the toughness… > > Randomly i picked the Volume 2 and started > solving. The scores were too bad that i got fever > 2 days before the exam, just out of the fear i > might fail. I traveled to singapore (there was no > center in India) with a temperature above 100 and > with a high dosage strip of antibiotics and some > how passed, I knew i did well in the exam. Inspite > of the fever i had, i decided to celebrate and > booze and roam on the streets of clarke quay… > the temperature used to go up again…then consume > pills…celebrate again… This whole cycle went > for 2 days until the pills got completed. > > I boarded the return flight with no more pills, > the fever went up so high. The flight crew gave me > some injection shot , which made me unconscious. > The moment i got down the flight, i was admitted > in the hospital straight away… > > I was diagnosed with typhoid and had to take a > medical leave for one month… > > I would never forget the Volume 2 Level 1tests in > my life… > > Yet not decided whether i should touch them for > Level 2
I started my practical exams early and had vol2 before vol1, in late April. It is really tough, although I hit 71% as average of all 3, based on so many guesses I chose the timing carefully as April, since I dont want to do it in May or days before the real thing, because I will get sick as well. after the vol2, when i am working on vol1 and any other practicals, just feel like heaven BTW, i still have bad dreams about those terrible questions though, always imagine the real thing will be like them … 
Hey bg if discussing past exams was a violation then you should see the Marc, the guy who does equity on L2, and he is always quoting past exams. I guess some stalla notes were discussing past marking strategy of CFA. God knows how they got it. Well so did the people at Schweser. About these practice exam books. Last year, I tookn them a week before the exam and I was scoring 78% on Qbank and all. But I was in the 30s and 40s in this exam. Crying my eyes out. Went to Schweser website asked the lady there what I was supposed to score? Got back responses from some crazy people 70-80. And I thought to myself, say goodbye to the exam. I guess the advisors name was Jodi. She said I did not need to panic. These books were designed to be 2-3 times tougher. But it helps tremedously if you do one complete exam. Cause at L1 the morning session seemed like a breeze…
agree with that. I am doing all of Book 7 just becuase it makes the actual exam seem like child’s play… L1 last year was nothing compared to the Schweser exams. Doing the schweser exams is like running with a parachute attached to your back. Take it off for the exam and your will be flying
7-3 is even worse! Agreed this will make the real look like child’s play, but is it so hard that it is a waste of time?
I suppose it depends on what else you could be doing with your time. If you have sections that you need to back over or if you haven’t completed all of the Book 6 exams/CFAI samples and mocks, I’d probably do those first. Doing CFAI questions or Q-bank is also an option. But if you’ve gone through everything else and need something to keep you thinking, I guess Book 7 is one way to do that as long as you remember not to let it crush your confidence. Though, PLENTY of people have passed without touching Book 7 so its certainly not a necessity!
Then, I would like to ask swaptiongamma, what do you think of the value of mock/samples? The primary stuff they focus there are decoy? I don’t get it.
I just did book 7 Exam 2 AM, got 65%…The lowest score I got since testing.
Book 7 Exam 1 AM - 65% Book 7 Exam 1 PM - 70% Book 7 Exam 2 AM - 75% Book 7 Exam 2 PM - 73% I have not been timing these though…been taking my time as some of the vignettes are very long! But I figure, the more tests and questions I can do the better…
In regard to the questions…after L2 exam last year people started posted the questions from memory and someone got very creative and created a list of all of them…mainly as a tool for us to get a feeling how we did. The memory was pretty good (probably had 70% of the questions covered). Chad did remove it from the board after a couple of days, probably a good idea. Keep in mind also that this board goes down a few hours before the exam is given at the first location (Western Europe) and does not go back up until after Asia takes the exam on Sunday I will reiterate…I took book 7 exams last year and got in the 50-60% range…and aced the actual exam. Do not expect book 7 to be represenative of the actual day. I would recommend reading the answers and explainations, you will pick up a few things there.
I find Book 7 to be an excellent source to learn/review, but not a good gauge (I might have written this somewhere else, in case I repeat myself).
i got the 75% last week on book 7 2am. Missed 5 of 6 on deriv. messed up me score
Thanks Jason, I do find the explanations of two practice exam books helpful. Would you say the coverage of Mock/Sample represent the coverage of the actual exam?
and book 7 might not be representative of the true test but you really have to pay attention to what you are reading and think twice on what your being asked vs. book 6 where it all seems rather straight forward. i think this will be a good lesson for me to apply on the realy deal.
I just bombed book 7, exam 2… AM 60 PM 53 Total 57 Not feeling discouraged because of these posts… i feel like i am learning things as i go thru and they are adding value… It tests all of the little nuances, so the more of them and the more problems i see the better i will feel that cfai isnt tricking me on test day. For the record, scored roughly 60 on exam 3 and thought this was much harder…