Took exam, feel good about it. Some over simplified questions TBH or at least that’s what I think. I knew some complex formulas that I wasn’t able to use due to them just giving you most of it.
Also, found some pretty complex questions but can’t remember right now, ha. just glad its over, good luck all.
I found some of the questions unfair in how they were conveyed.
I passed CFA level 1 in January and I found this exam substantially more challenging. This is an exam that does not focus at all on how to perform complex calculations (that being said, I feel like a good portion of my studying was an utter waste of time using UpperMark). It focus’ on interpreting values from formulas and how they contribute to macroeconomic events. In short, if you don’t know what you’re talking about then you aren’t going to pass this exam.
A lot of people poo poo the CAIA but honestly it has come a hell of a long way since it was introduced. I would recommend this charter only to people that already have their full CFA charter and are working in the alternatives industry. Going from zero knowledge on traditional valuation procedures and financial economics to doing this exam is a futile effort and is financially costly.
I will share my thoughts:
I got off to a rough start this morning. Maybe it was the lack of sleep and too much coffee. Not sure why, but I was a bit nervous for the first 15 or so questions. Finally got into the groove after that. Had to go back and recheck most of them and only had enough time to get through about half of them. Time was against me in both the first and second half. Felt good about how I finished but completely had to guess on 1 or 2 of the questions in the last set of 20 because I didn’t have time to work the calcs.
I thought it was a fair exam and between Schweser notes, the online CAIA practice exam and the Uppermark Q bank, I was well prepared. Are there a few areas I wish I could have reviewed again? Sure, I think I felt the same way after CFA LVL1.
Good luck to everyone!
I will share my thoughts:
I got off to a rough start this morning. Maybe it was the lack of sleep and too much coffee. Not sure why, but I was a bit nervous for the first 15 or so questions. Finally got into the groove after that. Had to go back and recheck most of them and only had enough time to get through about half of them. Time was against me in both the first and second half. Felt good about how I finished but completely had to guess on 1 or 2 of the questions in the last set of 20 because I didn’t have time to work the calcs.
I thought it was a fair exam and between Schweser notes, the online CAIA practice exam and the Uppermark Q bank, I was well prepared. Are there a few areas I wish I could have reviewed again? Sure, I think I felt the same way after CFA LVL1.
Good luck to everyone!
I was quite shocked with how little meaningful content was tested on the exam. As far as I am aware, pretty much every formula that they provided ahead of time was not tested. Also, what was the deal with having so many questions regarding the option view of investments? When I am performing due diligence in my day job I am not pondering if distressed debt is like a short put to the equity holders or whatever. They need to drastically adjust their testing methodology to include less theoretical crap and more content that analysts actually fair against in their day to day jobs. So far I am not impressed with the CAIA.
Hello Highbeta, I respect your comments and views. Thanks for sharing. But surely you cant complain about literally everything all the time. I mean you just whine and whine and whine and rumble about everything, surely. No test (including CFA) tests adequately. I am an actuary and despite the level of complexity of the actuarial exams and the tonnes of reading I did, the exams covered such a small percentage of what I studied. What I mostly know is not really from studying for the exam but through experience. I know you know that the exam really just gives you the basics plus a certification. It is your exposure and experience that will set you apart. Sure CAIA et al can improve on their curriculum and testing but embrace it. You chose to do it and paid the hefty fees (and I sincerely hope that you will pass). Go ye forth and talk it up. I mean you will eventually be certified CAIA…do you want your business networks to rubbish your certification? Where does that leave you and the rest of us that are hoping to get certified. Isn’t what you are doing shooting yourself on the foot by castigating the very professional designation that you hope to help you in your career? Think about it…Just saying!
It’s important for those considering taking the exam to understand what it truly tests on. When you put in 300 hrs of your life into something you’re gonna get a bit annoyed when the test is pure nonsense.
Ive been lurking this thread for a while… took the exam for the first time. Here’s my thoughts.
Overall I could have prepared more, but in the final days leading up to the exam if I had just read the book 50 percent of the time rather than crushing uppermark for hours I believe I would have definitely passed. I think I most likely just missed, and that was mostly due to misinterpreting a key theme in the ethics questions. I was doing really well ethics wise on uppermark but I personally found them to be trickier on the exam. This ate up WAY too much of my time and I had absolutely 0 time to check over my answers. I do think the exam was fair though, and if forced to retake level 1 I will just spend more time reading and reviewing the CAIA practice exam and I’ll be good to go. Definitely feeling like I came close but fell just short at this point though.
Hello Katahin, I understand your sentiments on the ethics bit. It is a little trickier in the exam. Nevertheless, from my experience, I thought I was definitely going to flank L1 simply because I hadnt grasped certain concepts really well and I didnt have enough time to go through my answers once more. But I ended up passing the exam nevertheless. Remain positive. You might be pleasantly surprised.
As for reading the core material, yes 100%. The test mostly comes from the core material. Read and reread that…make short notes and reread them again and again. Do uppermark to test your understanding but make sure you have grasped the concepts well. I wish you all the best and let us keep talking and encouraging one another.
I will say my saving grace may be options related questions and real assets but we will see. Overall I enjoyed the process and felt like it was worthwhile.
I found the CAIA Level I exam to be very reflective of the study materials, although the calculations were much simpler. I finished both sections with an hour left similar to my experience with the CFA levels 1 and 2.
Been following this thread through the studying/testing proccess and want to thank everyone for their input which has been very valuable. I used Uppermark for studying and looking back wish I looked over the actual CAIA material a little bit more but was happy with UM. The wording at some points was a little bit much and I thought they threw in some curve balls that weren’t needed but that is the way it goes and part of the exam experience. Aside from that, I am getting antsy about results. I know they say three weeks from last exam period (which is Friday, Sept 23rd the day I took mine) but I have heard/read of situations where results come back as early as two weeks. Just wanted to get everybody’s opinion on what we could maybe expect. Best of luck.