Ethics Rules of Thumb

I feel like I have a good grasp on the Ethics section, but going through the Mock exam there were several that were very tricky. Tricky in the sense that two standards definitely seemed applicable and the test almost made you intuit what the CFAI put a higher priority on.

My question for the group is do you have some sort of mental process you go through on the Ethics questions? Some sort of systematic mental model to not get tripped up by the question wording or similar looking answer options.

Also good luck to all tomorrow!

You should know the basic concepts right now…

If I hit a question like that I just ask myself “what seems like the more inappropriate actions for the world… not for CFA”… usually its correct.

How are you guys treating today? Studying most of it? Reading ethics? Relaxing?

My rule of thumb with ethics:

If in doubt, go with the answer that suggests the strictest procedures and/or the answer with the most severe violations. This only applies when I have absolutely no clue.

On ethics I just feel that I’ve done enough of them to know what they are asking. When I find two close answers I go back through the question and try to find keywords that I may have missed. Every question should have a pretty clear answer given the keywords in the problem.

As for today, studying until ~2pm then taking it easy. Will probably do some quick formula review toward the evening. Then off to be early.

On the Ethics questions, I make sure to underline words like “most likely”, “least likely”, etc. I find that it keeps me from accidentally skipping those words, and also focuses my attention as I’m reading on whether it’s a positive or negative type question.

I’ve found this very helpful on non-Ethics questions as well.

My plan is to read summaries and do EOCs once more for the last book. I’ve spent the week doing just that on the other books.

If I feel the need to study past 3pm, I might re-do a few of the mock questions I missed the first time and review a couple of the more complicated formulas.

Today I am studying ethics for 2 hours, FRA for 2 hours (secret sauce chapter), taking schewesr test 5 afternoon, reviewing it… then sleeping… no rest for the weary.

Im thinking the same. Probably just going to review that Schweser QuckSheet Critical Concepts that was included in the materials. I am not even going to bother with questions I am tanking; instead focus on the questions where I am getting ~ 50% right

For Ethics, Ive done so many problems already and agree with the previous two responses. Re-reading the question for key words is great advice which I had not considered.

@Garrett; to each their own, but you dont want to be fried tomorrow!

I haven’t taken any meds to get through this (all natural brain power lol) so I think working all day with no rest whatsoever will hurt me more than it would help at this point.

I wish I had some meds right now…

I have sort of a ritual going on right now and I don’t feel burnt out by it. I feel motivated by and comfotable with it. I don’t want to break it before the test. I want to use it throughout the test… I’ll rest by 5pm saturday.

fair enough!

I also find it useful to read the answer choices first, especially on the longer questions, before reading the question. Then when I read the question, I have a better sense of what violations to look out for and/or what procedures might be proper to apply.

the questions on GIPS and code of ethics will be straightforward… that is about 25% of all ethics questions… the “hard” ones are going to be very specific based on words like “require/recommendation” … approximately/same, never/exceptions… to get 100% on ethics sections is going to be luck a solid understadning can guarantee an A