I know that reading this forum makes me feel more nervous about the CFA exam. Even though I scored 75% on the free CFAI sample exam, I feel like everyone else here has studied more and is better prepared. It seems that everyone here but myself is taking every mock exam under the sun and has gone through most of the 4000+ question Q-Bank database… I think many people here are overdoing it. Given that I finished the CFAI sample exam with time to spare, I don’t expect serious time issues. (On the other hand, speed was critical for the SAT and GRE exams.) So the primary things are to know the material and watch out for the nuances. Lightning-fast speed shouldn’t be necessary, except on some of those tough Schweser exams. On the flip side, at least I’m not complacent. I know it’s possible that I might have been lucky when I took the sample exam. Since then, I have practiced on many Q-Bank ethics questions, and I know covariance cold (which I messed up on in the sample exam) and have done some studying on quantitative. I also need to study alternative investments, which I barely looked at before taking the sample exam.
I believe the people on this forum are the ones who will most likely be in that 35% passing rate. I have taken the Level I before and failed, however I thought it was going to be lot harder. In my opinion, 75% on sample exams on CFAI or schwesers is a good score. I strongly recommend you at least try to score better than 75% on your ethics section because that’s the “make it or break it” section. The actual exam was surprisingly less quantitative and more relational (for example what happens to this ratio and that ratio if x occurs).
Eh, not really… though the candidates scoring 85+ on Schweser and CFA mocks is pretty damn scary.
exactly how hard of a die hard value investor would you say you are?
There is nothing wrong with 75%, but I don’t see how getting 85% is overdoing it. It takes more of an edge off come exam day, increases your knowledge base and will likely help you more come level 2.
cfacowtown Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > There is nothing wrong with 75%, but I don’t see > how getting 85% is overdoing it. It takes more of > an edge off come exam day, increases your > knowledge base and will likely help you more come > level 2. Yes, I am indeed aiming for 85% by filling in the holes in my Ethics, Quantitative, and Alternative Investments performance and improving my (poor) understanding of leases and tax stuff in the financial statements section.
You and me both diehard, taxes and me need to have a sit-down and work out our issues. At the moment its having a timeout…on the “I hate you wall”…I’m ranging 80% - 90% (fairly big variance). My biggest problems are in quant and FRA, so I am not taking these scores for granted.
I feel that it makes me a little bit nervous, but for me personally, that is what I need. It pushes me to study harder and keep at it. A lot of people are very encouraging though, which is very nice. It also makes me feel more at ease that there are so many people that take this test that have no background in any of it and/or are just completely stupid. Good luck, you sound like you will do fine!
Not really nervous. It helps me to keep in track and see where do I stand as compared to others. Yeah, at points here and there I lose bit of my confidence too when I see scores around 85% while mine is not even touching 70% in practice exams yet.