I just failed my 2nd attempt. Feeling that I would get a pass after I finished the exam, this was very much to my surprise. I surely did feel that I knew all the materials and well prepared for it. In fact, in each AM and PM exam, I had 1-1.5 hr left to double check all my answers. Now, even though failing as a band 10 wasn’t easy to take, I have to face the reality and make a decision. Should I retabulate the result? Should I register for Dec 2010 exam which will be my 3rd attempt? or should I just give up? Knowing that Lvl 2 is at least twice as hard as lvl 1. Maybe getting a CFA isn’t right for me. Level I: Fail TItem Set Q# Topic Max Pts <=50% 51%-70% >70% - Alternative Investments 8 - * - - Corporate Finance 20 - - * - Derivatives 12 * - - - Economics 24 - * - - Equity Investments 24 - - * - Ethical & Professional Standards 36 - - * - Financial Reporting & Analysis 48 - * - - Fixed Income Investments 28 - - * - Portfolio Management 12 - * - - Quantitative Methods 28 * - - Your score band: 10
To do list in the following sequence: 1. Retake (don’t bother with retab unless you erased and changed your answers a lot) 2. Enroll December and start study NOW. 3. Re-read all CFA textbooks from beginning and do all EOC. 4. Drill Quant and Derivative hard (which you have <50%), and FRA hard (which you must get 70+ in order to pass since it is heavily weighted). 5 Improve you Econ part too. 6. Go back and redo all EOC again for second time. 7. Official mock + whatever practice exams from your 3rd-party study materials 8. Good luck on December 4th.
whui Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > To do list in the following sequence: > > 1. Retake (don’t bother with retab unless you > erased and changed your answers a lot) > 2. Enroll December and start study NOW. > 3. Re-read all CFA textbooks from beginning and do > all EOC. > 4. Drill Quant and Derivative hard (which you have > <50%), and FRA hard (which you must get 70+ in > order to pass since it is heavily weighted). > 5 Improve you Econ part too. > 6. Go back and redo all EOC again for second > time. > 7. Official mock + whatever practice exams from > your 3rd-party study materials > 8. Good luck on December 4th. +1 You were in Band 10!1… don’t get discouraged. I am sure the material will still be fresh for you and next time you will be well prepared if you follow above points. I hope to see you in L2 forums in January 
Thank you for your input. Much appreciated. However, even if I registered for Dec 2010 and I passed, it would be my 3rd attempt. It took 3 attempts for me to get through Lvl 1. I don’t know how much $ and time I will have to spend in lvl 2 and 3 (I expect myself to fail them at least twice - sorry…very low self-confidence right now). These are the things that currently puzzled me. And I always think that Dec exam is harder than the June exam. Don’t know how you guys think.
I will add a point # zero to my original list before #1. whui Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > To do list in the following sequence: > 0. Change your screen name to “passman” immediately, get rid of the negative energy, then climb up, dust yourself, wipe the blood from your face, and continue the marathon. > 1. Retake (don’t bother with retab unless you > erased and changed your answers a lot) > 2. Enroll December and start study NOW. > 3. Re-read all CFA textbooks from beginning and do > all EOC. > 4. Drill Quant and Derivative hard (which you have > <50%), and FRA hard (which you must get 70+ in > order to pass since it is heavily weighted). > 5 Improve you Econ part too. > 6. Go back and redo all EOC again for second > time. > 7. Official mock + whatever practice exams from > your 3rd-party study materials > 8. Good luck on December 4th.
The question is, do you really want to be an analyst? Is that honestly something you want to spend your life doing? If the answer is yes, the answer to your question should be easy. If not, these exams really *are* a lot of time, and a lot of other things can get done in the time it takes to properly prepare.
3 attempts at passing Lv1 is not an indication of your chance of becoming a CFA. it’s about your passion. if you want to, you can
guys … can u guys please upload the elan material ? or can u send it to me on … parthesh_shah1@rediffmail.com
whui Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > 0. Change your screen name to “passman” > immediately, get rid of the negative energy, then > climb up, dust yourself, wipe the blood from your > face, and continue the marathon. +1
This is my forth attempt to pass Level 1. I was in a band 10 category for the last two times. I have mixed feelings, but still decided to register for Dec. 4.
@ failureman qqqbee suggests you to go for “retabulaction”
I think the part you need to worry about is that you are finishing in nearly half the time with a great deal of confidence, but are still failing the exams. This means there is something fundamentally wrong with your understanding of the material. Are you trying to memorize exact questions & answers from the curriculum?
everyone here has posted great advice. change your mental state. it doesnt matter how well you know the material, if you think you will fail you WILL. stay positive and dont dwell on the past, dont dwell on any of it, or youll go insane. you also have to ask yourself if you can commit to the time it will take to study for this exam. being your third attempt you are going to have to be willing to work a lot harder.
Well certainly losing hope is something very bad, i waited for 1 year before mentally preparing myself for Dec-10 exam and my preparedness is 2 fail even 7-8 times. Dude if u have the willpower to clear, u ill definitely suceed.
forget about the whole cfa thing if u struggle to pass level 1…