Check this one out: Level II: Fail Band 10 Item Set Q# Topic Max Pts <=50% 51%-70% >70% - 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 --*
Level II: Fail Band 9 Item Set Q# Topic Max Pts <=50% 51%-70% >70% - 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 is my first try, I really gave all what I can, I don’t know if I will be able to give it another try.
I think CFAI should be more transparent and should show each person their entire score…Are they hiding something? That way, people can see what they did and work to improve themselves.
I think you can’t be too surprised if you fail ethics. It’s heavily weighted and CFAI has clearly made a point of ensuring the “minimum qualified candidate” has a good grounding in ethics. It wouldn’t surprise me if the MPS is really more of a range, with performance on ethics determining whether a marginal candidate passes or not. This is a section no one can afford to fail
Chin up guys, CFA is not for the faint hearted! Nothing in life worth having comes easy. Some ppl get lucky and might pass on the first attempt while some of us gotta work our a$$es off for years. I’m a Band 10 failure. Last year Band 9, year before that Band 3, year before…lemme not go on 
- 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 * - - Sad thing is I usually rock FSA and would’ve surely passed had I done well there this year. The item sets were just kinda messed up this year.
wlu2009 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I think you can’t be too surprised if you fail > ethics. It’s heavily weighted and CFAI has clearly > made a point of ensuring the “minimum qualified > candidate” has a good grounding in ethics. It > wouldn’t surprise me if the MPS is really more of > a range, with performance on ethics determining > whether a marginal candidate passes or not. This > is a section no one can afford to fail I failed ethics and 2 other section of 18 points max; but still passed.
After seeing some of the Passes i am still pondering this one… Level 2: Fail The table below illustrates your subject matter strengths and weaknesses. The three columns on the right are marked with asterisks to indicate your performance on each question or topic area. Item Set Q# Topic Max Pts <=50% 51%-70% >70% - 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 - - * Performance band of your overall score among all candidates who failed the exam: 10
Sorry if this comes off a bit insensitive but if you completely fail a section (below 50) I would not expect to pass. There are “easy” points in every section and not giving those up is pretty important to your success. If you fail one section but are a rockstar on the rest, that’s kind of abnormal but you’ll do fine…but when I look at cfakid’s score sheet i think: 1) you didn’t pass any of the 3 most important sections (fra, equity, ethics) 2) you also didn’t do that well in other sections including completely failing one of them (alternatives). 3) The fact that you’re still band 10 with that does NOT seem questionable…if anything it seems pretty generous.
c’mon people. bottom line is the FSA and Equity are the big dogs. If you don’t score >70% on both, then you better be >70% on most others and not be <50% on any. Ethics <50% is never going to help. Don’t post your scores that contradict this as there are always exceptions, but generally, what I typed is true. I was Band 9 last year and knew I had to pick it up in FSA (51-70) FI (51-70) and derivs (<50) as those were the two that hurt me. Did Schweser and then practice problems from CFAI books. If you are close, definitely don’t give up as you will get it next year.
What sucks about L2 is that luck does play a pretty big role with the vignette selection, especially with the small 5% sections. It seems that the big dogs are usually predictable unless they thrown in a question about Ibbotson-Chen. You could master 90% of the material but end up being tested on the 10% that you are shaky on and fail.
Dreary Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I think CFAI should be more transparent and should > show each person their entire score…Are they > hiding something? That way, people can see what > they did and work to improve themselves. I think it is really easy to figure out where you need to improve. If you were below 50% in Ethics, you need to study ethics. If you were 50-70 in FRA, you need to study FRA.
Chuck - I agree. I wouldn’t bet on being able to guess the 90% of the big sections though. Last year when I failed they didn’t test currency translation or intercorporate investments in FR&A, if my memory serves me correctly. You would think those would be “sure things” to be tested.
woogie1 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > You would think > those would be “sure things” to be tested. This is something most candiates learn the hard way. There is no such thing as “sure thing” in the CFAI. Not even close.
My only issue is, and its really more of a curiousity, is the marks relative to people that posted their passing scores in which they seemingly performed as well as i did in those three sections (some of which got <50% and failed other sections as well). It would just be nice if we actually got at least an overall percentage to compare amongst ourselves.
cfakid, that earlier post was a fail, those actually looked a bit like my marks last year when I got a band 8. I was so determined this year to nail both Eq. and FSA. I got greater than 70 in FSA, actually I do not know my exact mark but I feel I got all 24 q’s correct in FSA. I got between 51-70 in Equities but must have been really close to 70, because I know I nailed the afternoon session. The earlier posts are correct, you must nail Eq. , FSA and Ethics
Freakshow Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Check this one out: > > Level II: Fail > > Band 10 > > Item Set > > Q# Topic Max Pts <=50% 51%-70% >70% > - 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 --* Expected, these marks are not that good at all.
I had the below… only fail I’ve seen with 6 sections over 70, and the two below 50% are both single item sets. Using almost the worst case scenario of 71/51/31 I scored a 67.2%. I think I was likely only 1 mark, maybe 2 away from a pass, so I’m gonna go with the retabulation on this. Yeah yeah, I know the stats on a retabulation. Q# Topic Max Pts <=50% 51%-70% >70% - 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 * - - Your score band: 10
I feel your pain fellow band 10ers, I thought about a retab until I saw how many people were even closer… Level 2: Fail Item Set Q# Topic Max Pts <=50% 51%-70% >70% - 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 - * - Performance band of your overall score among all candidates who failed the exam: 10
TILT Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I had the below… > > Q# Topic Max Pts <=50% 51%-70% >70% > - 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 * - - > > Your score band: 10 Wow. That is the closest to a pass I’ve ever seen. Jeez, just a couple questions may put you over.
Having been a band 10er last year, I wouldn’t see it as depressing at all. You were probably off by 2 or 3 questions based on what I’ve read here at AF. Yeah, it does suck to have to wait another year to retake the exam, but going through the material a second time is a lot easier. I’m sure you will get through on your next attempt if you put the time and effort in.