Do you think you passed?

CFA Level III
#142

None taken

#143

Hi everyone, retaker Band 10 here, I often peeked at the forum but only joined today, probably a bit late for that but I can’t let go of the exam… Now that I have realized I can fail and I am not invincible, waiting for the results is too much to handle … Especially since my feellings about my performance in this exam are best describesd as… “Meh…” !

Last year I was very confident about the AM and not so much about the PM. I had only done 6 schweser Mocks and was not aware of the CFAI mocks… I know… young and foolish!! The results are below and I interpreted them as being a poor morning and a poor afternoon… I was surprised I wasnt in Band 5! I realize now that the morning wasnt so bad compared to many here but the afternoon was even worse than I thought.

As a result I did like 12 mocks and focused all I had on the AM. I feel very strong about the AM, I did not encounter difficulties like many here with circling/commenting on the right boxes or difficulty with question 1. However I felt even worse than last year on the PM… I never trained so hard but the level of details in this exam was amazing… I can not tell whether its a 50% PM or a 70%PM, it could be both but I faced a lot of hesitations at least on 15/60 I would say and maybe more… so… Meh…

See the lowest Band 10 results you have ever seen below:

Essay

Q# Topic Max Pts <=50% 51%-70% >70%

1 Portfolio Management - Institutional 14 * - -

2 Portfolio Management – Institutional 17 - * -

3 Fixed Income Investments 19 - * -

4 Alternative Investments 20 - * -

5 Portfolio Management - Performance Eval. 15 * - -

6 Portfolio Management - Risk Management 14 - * -

7 Portfolio Management - Individual 18 * - -

8 Portfolio Management - Individual 16 * - -

9 Portfolio Management - Asset Allocation 15 * - -

10 Economics 14 * - -

11 Portfolio Management - Indiv/Behavioral 18 * - -

Item Set

Q# Topic Max Pts <=50% 51%-70% >70%

  • Economics 18 - - *

  • Equity Investments 18 * - -

  • Ethical & Professional Standards 36 - * -

  • Fixed Income Investments 18 - * -

  • Portfolio Management 18 - * -

  • Portfolio Management – Individual 18 * - -

  • Portfolio Management - Monitor&Rebalance 18 - - *

  • Portfolio Management - Risk Management 36 - - *

We have divided the group of candidates who did not pass into 10 approximately equal score bands. Your score band below shows how your overall score on the exam compares with the overall scores of candidates who did not pass this exam. For example, a score band of 1 indicates performance in the bottom 10%, a score band of 10 indicates performance in the top 10%.

Your score band: 10

#144

When i left the exam last year, my feeling was that if i can get 70+ in ethics i have a very good chance. I got 70+ in 8 case studies including ethics. With most conservative estimate, i had atleast 46/60 correct in the afternoon.

I was hoping for 95+/180 in AM, i attempted 158 mins worth (left 22 mins due to time mis-management). That’s like 60% from what i attempted.

My morning results were far poorer than i expected and i suspect they were due to selecting wrong options on couple of big questions (and hence i didnt get any credit).

I was band 10.

There is a ‘concentration’ risk in AM and that’s why its harder. In MCQs, one mistake means maximum loss of 3 mins, it can be a far more with AM.

In hindsight, attempting the AM in the sequence of what i knew properly would ahve saved me but i attempted in order. And that meant, partially guessing with AIM (its last year exam so i am not disclosing anything!) at the expense of leaving one private WM question altogther (which i would have known relatively better).

#145

My post was actually in reply to your question…

#146

Thanks, that’s rough… sorry you had to take it again.

#147

Did you write too much you think? And Ethics would have passed you, probbaly like one more ETHICS multiple choice and you would have passed.

#148

I wrote the exam in erasable pen and now I am concerned that some parts could disapper because i had to erase a couple of things and did not realize that it could have also erased the text on the other side of the page.

#149

last year band 8. This year felt good after morning although I missed one question however felt good overall.

Afternoon was definitely more tough than last year. Maybe I under estimated this year as last year was a cake walk in afternoon.

Overall I feel a bit better than last year, hoping its good enough to pull me through.

#150

I agree with you 100% on this question. That indvidual question and the first institutional question I thought were the toughest two questions in the morning and i totally expect a below 50 or 50-70 score on those two questions

#151

I left 30 marks blank in AM( mainly questions i dont have much of a clue and cant even think of any sensible BS to write in the given time).

More comfy with my PM ( about 20 questions i’m somewhat uncertain to extremely uncertain, and 40 qns i’m fairly certain). so dont expect my PM score to fall below 40/60, ( but an estimated PM score in the range of 65 to 75 probably inst strong enough to carry me through)

Estimated i have a shot if i can score 60% in AM ( out of 150 marks). but AM is too much of an wildcard that it’s futile to estimate your score. (first time taker who didnt even do one single mock due to lack of time, i skimmed through past 3 years guideline ans though)

I know i’m an ill prepared candidate so probably dont deserve to pass. (but still exhibiting pretty servere withdrawal symptoms in constantly checking out this forum and still preserving a tiny stray of hope). MIght be some over confidence bias here since i passed L2 with a rather less than adequate amount of studying. Ironically i probably studied more for L1 than L2 and 3 combined ( where i actually cared to learn the material), now i just want to pass an exam and get this over with.

#152

Don’t worry. I also used erasable pen and erased plenty. Had some time to go through everything again at the end and nothing had been erased unintentionally.

#153

I actually did this too and then towards the end I went back and changed the order. Hopefully it doesn’t make a difference.

#154

Same. Hoping that’s a good thing.

#155

The anxiety is becoming worst because I remember some of the questions but not what I wrote down which makes me clueless to my score… the next two months is about emotionally preparing myself to fail which would be a great set up for a pass. either way I know I was very close… the exam was hard, but it was hard for everybody which lowers the curve…

#156

the wait is brutal!!

#157

it will get worse on, and shortly after, July 26 when all the L2 people that passed start inquiring about L3.

#158

oh dear! just pray for me, please.

南無阿彌陀佛

#159

I knew nearly very answer on the test, but got a PCP so noooo…, see you in 2030

#160

what are you acused of? did you know all the answers because of the google glasses you where wearing? Good luck with the pcp!

#161

good luck with the pcp, which everybody fears. very sorry to hear that.