Ethics: from 65% to 80%

Hi guys!

What is your strategy regarding ethics? I have read the CFAI chapters, did all the EOCs and topical assessments, and I am averaging 67% (either 2 mistakes in a vignette, or a couple of 50% and 83% mixed together).

I desperately need to step my game up, ethics is 10% of the exam, and supposedly an easy topic. Anyone has some sound advice?

Same here - I am in the same region. It’s frustrating because it is one of a few topics where I have seen zero improvement whatsoever.

I think I will just ignore it for now, do some practice questions and spend two days reading it again.

Yeap same here - funny thing is I was in the same situation 6 months back in Dec. I just kept doing questions and scored well on the exam.

No strategy that I can think of

Let’s do this - how about we make a list of contentious issues/topics which are bound to create confusion?

I was too for dec L1… it’s just a very frustrating portion of the exam because it seems out of our control.

Amen to that. How everyone keeps thinking it is a “given” or an easy part of the exam I will never understand…

For me it’s just the opposite of an easy topic. It’s a nightmare.

If you know any topic by heart and you understand the material, you will know the answer even without lookin at the choices. But with ethics, I sometimes disagree with the supposingly “right” answer…

My strategy is to memorize the conflictive and frequently tested topics (periods of retention, name designation, amount of acceptable gifts, etc.), re-read the others a thousand of times, and pray.

Cheers up

Come on guys what’re you saying - ok, ethics is not straightforward but it’s not THAT hard.

Doctors have successfully replaced a human heart with a pig’s heart so I think it’s more than reasonable for CFAI people to expect people who’re smart enough to tackle FRA, Equities and Derivatives to be able to answer question on real life ethical dilemmas.

So yeah.

having just done a ‘live mock’ I’m changing my strategy a little. I found I had lots of time and often got tricked.

so… I will be justifying why each answer is right, then choosing the best justification. (I just did ethics-Kostecka and got 100% using this method).

I also panicked a bit when the FCFF question seemed to take 15mins… but still had 45mins left at the end. So in summary, take your time, focus on each answer just as much as you do on the question.

I also found myself with a lot of time left. Will be trying out your approach. Thanks.

Repitition folks- Has anyone honestly put as much effort into ethics as they have another equally weighted subject (corp fin/FI). Do 2 vingettes a day , either in the morning ,before bed or at lunch. (Old Mocks, EOC, Scweser EOC etc.) I don’t think the provider of material is crucial on ethics, but it’s about drilling the various concepts in a trivial matter because nobody retains such drab material simply by reading.

I’m in the same exact spot getting 66.66666666 on ethics like clockwork.

Get it.

Shouldn’t you always “prove” that the answer you marked as correct is actually correct?

thats the first time i’d seen Kostecka. so to my mind it’s valid ( i spent more time than normal).

(proving, you just mean scoring right?)

You just want to hammer questions (better, vignettes) with Ethics. Do one vignette a day until the exam (debriefing it, of course) and you should have a good chance at 70%.

^ Great advice. If only someone had posted all these tips & tricks 5 months ago… Like, what does “to revise” mean? It sure isn’t starting to look at everything again 3-4 weeks before the exam.

No, I mean you prove an answer is correct before you choose it as your answer. Look over choices A, B, and C. Show why two answers are incorrect and show why the one you pick is correct (prove the answer you pick, given sound reasons).

I am gonna print out 17 ethics item sets from FinQuiz Qbank to do from now until the D-Day ( June 6 . Yes, we will be taking the exam on the D-Day). I did around 400 ethics questions when preparing for level 1 exam but I admit that I have been neglecting the topic for level 2. Gonna fix it as soon as possible…