Big issue which has me worried is if something said Explain vs. Discuss. Discuss = you better have compared and constrated things and wrote a lot. Explain slighlty less so. My bullet points may not suffice.
They provide that with the curriculum and yes, it’s a big difference. Justify vs. discuss vs. identify, etc. All very different and the graders look specifically how you answered the question vs. what they specifically asked.
BTW - not trying to stress you out, just saying what I’ve heard from more than one grader.
How many graders do you know? Is it true they all fly down and grade the exams in one week.
I didn’t really pay attention to the glossary… now kind of worried about it. I even told myself to pay read it, but once I opened the exam book, I was in exam mode. And yes, they are picky about ensuring the answer is written in a way that matches the command words.
Which explains why alot of people get lower marks in the AM than they anticipated.
Don’t want to disclose, but more than one. CFA is pretty unambiguous about the definitions and have been for years - it’s why they bold the words “justify”, “discuss”, etc. They aren’t trying to trick you, but it’s how they frame the questions. They’re very specific.
…and yes, they fly in from all over the world. Once you pass the exam and earn the Charter, they’ll invite you as well. Some enjoy it, some don’t.
So basically if it said “discuss”, and you just wrote two words, even if those words explained it (e.g. low correlation"), you would lose points.
I’m not a grader and won’t say either way. It’s also relative to the amount of time for each question. Since time = points - they’re looking for more “meat” on higher time questions vs. lower time questions.
No reason to stress now, the exam is over.
Whatever.