Exam - Twice a year?

Why does the institute allow level 1 candidates the option of sitting the exam twice a year, yet the other years only once a year? In my view, they should at least also allow those who have had a ‘bad day at the office’ at level 2 another bash in December (sour grapes!?). Then level 3 can continue as once a year…

I wish if they conduct all 3 levels twice a year. If I happened to miss the exam narrowly I have to wait the whole year to sit on the next try.

I second that becasue it a shame that you have to wait one whole year if you just messed up on the exam day.

I wish they would offer L2 & L3 twice a year as well. I don’t see why they wouldn’t. More test takers equates into more money revenue for CFAI. It’s not like they wouldn’t have a decent turnout for the exams either.

I think once a year gets people to take the exam more seriously If it was offered twice a year, I would take it only half as seriously But yea agreed. Its a b1tch to wait a whole year to take it again when you only failed by a question or two

Personally, I wouldd love another crack at level 2 in December (but I’ll unfortunately have to wait a year). Nerves got to me on the day, and I really struggled with my time on the AM paper. Had too many late nights in the run up to it, and those FSA questions swallowed up most of my time when I should have just moved on. Instead, I was determined to get the answers, which meant I had to seriously rush the rest of the paper (which made things even worse…). Back to the drawing board I guess. To all those that think they’ve failed - chin up. I honestly think you could know the syllabus more than most and still fail these exams. Half the battle is getting your head straight and watching your time.

Yes 1 year is too long. You forget most of what you learned the previous year so you have to study all over again. If there were only 6 months in between tests, you could use the foundation you had previously to perform better next time. I took L1 in December 07 and failed. I studied for about 4 months but didn’t really know what I got myself into. After results came out, I took it in June 08 and studied for 4 months and passed with flying colors. I thought that was a good length of time off to prepare again.

Here’s the response I got when I asked CFAI that question a couple of weeks ago: Dear Mr. xxxxxxxx, Thank you for contacting us. We appreciate your comments, suggestions and feedback. In the recent past, the CFA Institute only offered each Level of the exam once per year. Within the last few years, we opened up a second Level I exam date due to the extremely high number of candidates. However, for Level II, we do not currently have the amount of candidates to justify a second exam sitting. Please rest assured that we have received feedback similar to yours, and our upper management continues to re-assess our exam offerings. If we begin offering Levels II and III in December, we will notify our clients as early as possible. Thank you for your patience and understanding to the CFA Program. We wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors. Should you have additional questions, please feel free to contact us again. Warm regards,

Doesnt sound like they have completely dismissed the idea of a December exam then…

my fear is that if they offer L2 and L3 2ce a year it could start churning out more charters. in a span of 10 years there would be a hell lot of charters in the market and a possible dilution of the brand. i dont want that :slight_smile:

^took words right out of my mouth.

How about a compromise? They offer every level twice per year but jack up the MPS or make the exam more difficult. Then the frequency premium would be offset by the difficulty discount. CFAI’s policy sound like a trade restriction to me, resulting in trade below market-supportable levels.

I wish they would switch it to December. Nothing sucks more than having to go through a beautiful month of May and being stuck in a coffee shop drinking iced caps.

ATH Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > How about a compromise? They offer every level > twice per year but jack up the MPS or make the > exam more difficult. Then the frequency premium > would be offset by the difficulty discount. > > CFAI’s policy sound like a trade restriction to > me, resulting in trade below market-supportable > levels. Veto.

For me it really sucks because I have tax season from February through mid-April. I passed L1 last December and would love to sit for L2 next December. Instead, I have to wait until June 2011. A colleague of mine who’s somewhat on “the inside” (he grades L3 exams) said the reason they give L1 twice a year is that some countries require passing L1 as a prerequisite to working in the securities industry.

Misk13 (IP Logged) [hide posts from this user] Personally, I wouldd love another crack at level 2 in December (but I’ll unfortunately have to wait a year). Nerves got to me on the day, and I really struggled with my time on the AM paper. Had too many late nights in the run up to it, and those FSA questions swallowed up most of my time when I should have just moved on. Instead, I was determined to get the answers, which meant I had to seriously rush the rest of the paper (which made things even worse…). Back to the drawing board I guess. To all those that think they’ve failed - chin up. I honestly think you could know the syllabus more than most and still fail these exams. Half the battle is getting your head straight and watching your time.> When I read your post, is exactly what I want to say. I’ve messed up AM session solely because of nervousness. Even after dedicating my life for past 7months, ruined it in just 3hrs. I couldn’t digest the fact that I couldn’t perform well in the exam.

anonymous007 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Here’s the response I got when I asked CFAI that > question a couple of weeks ago: > > Dear Mr. xxxxxxxx, > > Thank you for contacting us. We appreciate your > comments, suggestions and feedback. In the recent > past, the CFA Institute only offered each Level of > the exam once per year. Within the last few > years, we opened up a second Level I exam date due > to the extremely high number of candidates. > However, for Level II, we do not currently have > the amount of candidates to justify a second exam > sitting. > > Please rest assured that we have received feedback > similar to yours, and our upper management > continues to re-assess our exam offerings. If we > begin offering Levels II and III in December, we > will notify our clients as early as possible. > > Thank you for your patience and understanding to > the CFA Program. We wish you the best of luck in > your future endeavors. Should you have additional > questions, please feel free to contact us again. > > Warm regards, what’s the email ID where you sent the suggestions to? I need to make some complaints actually :stuck_out_tongue: Im tryin to find the ID on the site but can’t

Auro Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Misk13 (IP Logged) > > Personally, I wouldd love another crack at level 2 > in December (but I’ll unfortunately have to wait a > year). Nerves got to me on the day, and I really > struggled with my time on the AM paper. Had too > many late nights in the run up to it, and those > FSA questions swallowed up most of my time when I > should have just moved on. Instead, I was > determined to get the answers, which meant I had > to seriously rush the rest of the paper (which > made things even worse…). > > Back to the drawing board I guess. To all those > that think they’ve failed - chin up. I honestly > think you could know the syllabus more than most > and still fail these exams. Half the battle is > getting your head straight and watching your > time.> > > When I read your post, is exactly what I want to > say. I’ve messed up AM session solely because of > nervousness. Even after dedicating my life for > past 7months, ruined it in just 3hrs. I couldn’t > digest the fact that I couldn’t perform well in > the exam. is your name Adel too?! you’re talking about what exactly happened to me … I even took 40days off work and studied full time … but the AM could screw me easily … PM? I nailed it (I think) …

ZeroBonus Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I think once a year gets people to take the exam > more seriously > > If it was offered twice a year, I would take it > only half as seriously > > But yea agreed. Its a b1tch to wait a whole year > to take it again when you only failed by a > question or two there is no such thing as not taking the exam serious bcos of twice a year frequency of giving it… do u actually fancy the idea of gettin your result in august and studying AGAIN for another 3 and a half months to re do it … dont know about u , but having L2 in december doesnt affect how i would take the test one bit in fact you would perform better on it becos you wont be soo terrified and soo haunted by the fear of failing which works against you for L2 and 3 not for you. when i was doing one of my other designations and failed its second paper i repeated it the same year within months and passed, thats building on your knowledge for you becos you deserve to patch things up and pass if your already close. what the CFAI does is ensure your terrified of failing becos its one day a year, so you get more nervous than you should and then if you do fail you wait a year so that you cant even decently build up on your pre aqcuired knwdge for the same level but you have to re build it bcos you forgot so many things. what a waste plus the high status of the CFA comes partially from this limited one day a year window of being able to get a shot at it, maybe if they make it once every two years it would become more prestigious :slight_smile:

i do know this for a fact… in the near future L2 will be twice a year. and for all those idiots who think their charter is worth more because people only get one day a year to take a shot at passing the exam wake up and go look at other designations, none have their status tied to restrictions on exam availability. I dont blame CFAs who may work against us right now to put stupid obstacles like exam dates in our path to become charter holders, becos as you can already see theres idiots who havnt even passed level 2 yet and are worried about CFAI churning out too many charters and the value gettin diluted. its amazing how many homeless CPAs are roaming the streets because of their diluted status.