This. But even more questions. I was smashing through 100 question quizzes. I think I completed about 95% of the Qbank by exam day.
I’m going to go ahead and call BS on this. I would imagine that the proportion of people who fail level one three times (God bless them) and go on to earn their charter is massively dwarfed by those that fail thrice (or twice, or once) and do not. You just don’t hear about those unlucky bastards because they don’t post on Analyst Forum calling attention to their failures.
^Word up on the survivorship bias. The doctors tend to bury their mistakes.
I’ve never heard anybody claim to fail L1 twice and go on to get their charter. I only know of a couple people who claimed to fail L2 or L3 twice and pass on the third time. (That’s not entirely unexpected, since the tests are vastly different and test different skill sets.)
But keep listening to other L1 candidates and people who just passed L1. I’m sure they have solid advice regarding a test they’ve never taken.
OP, what’s your GPA in your degree? Ever thought about doing a masters in Econ? The pay is really good- much better than an entry level analyst position.
I disagree that you get nothing for passing L1. For some, these exams are challenges, and though they may not get a raise at work, it can be rewarding to pass just a single CFA level for some. There are people I’ve met that are JUST taking L1 and were not even going to pursue a charter if they passed.
As for the magic forumula of how to pass a CFA exam, everyone has their own opinion and there’s lots of different ways to do it based on how smart you are and how your brain works. There is a common notion though in this forum that ‘anyone can get the charter if they just study hard enough’. I don’t think that’s true and I think innate intelligence and problem solving skills plays a HUGE role in CFA success.
That said, I think there are some that could literally never pass L1 no matter what they do (much less L2 or L3). So, in that sense, I wil reluctantly agree w/ Greenman that there are some retaking these exams who will never ever pass (not insinuating that of the OP). But it never hurt to try and you never know how things will turn out so telling all the retakers to quit is bad advice imo.
This is just plain nonesense. This is akin to going to law school and never taking your last final or the Bar exam. Sure there is something to personal development, but you can do that in a Library.
In my humble opinion, GPA don’t mean Sh!%. I know plenty of people thta went to better schools than me and that I am sure had a better GPA in undergrad, but can’t get past level II. This exam is about having above average intelligence and working your A$$ off to learn the material. You don’t get a chance to suck up to a prof, get extra credit, or get homework points in the CFA.
^ I would argue that a large % of Charterholders have above average intelligence. I don’t see any ‘average joes’ walking around with CFA on their business cards.
EDIT: misread your post - thought you said “average intelligence”
Overwrought. GPA obviously matters, but it’s also clearly not the end-all-be-all. If this guy has a 4.0 in econ from the Zoolander School for Kids Who Want to Do Econ Good, it’s not really that impressive. 3.8ish from a brand-name school actually is impressive and will open doors.
Nice work on the George Dub reference. Classic sound bite.
It doesn’t mean you’re smart. I know plent of people with good GPA’s because they did what they needed to do in university. Don’t mean sh%^. Just means you did you’re homework. The CFA is all about you and the F’ing exam. That’s it. No homework to get extra points, no special projects, no visiting the prof during his office hours to act like you really care. Just you, the exam and the material.
Reminds me of the kids in HS that take a foreign language and get an A in the class because they did the homework and memorized the grammar rules, but if you dropped them in the middle of the foreign country of the language they are studying they wouldn’t even be able to carry a two sentence conversation to save their life. College is nothing but grade inflation and gaming the system. Like I said, I know plenty of people with Tier I MBAs that for some reason can’t pass Level II.
Wasn’t speaking at all about GPA and the CFA. I am saying maybe the OP, provided he has a high enough GPA, will forgo in the CFA for a graduate program in econ instead. For the record, my mentor who happens to have a charter was a straight C student in university (or so he claims).
Point taken.
Hey OP! I would recommend studying for one last time in which you take many practice questions. I would also recommend you spend an equal amount of time looking for a job as gap in a resume is something which can become toxic the longer the gap becomes. If you review the trends of answers from members here, you will notice that all the level I guys are heavily motivating you to take the exam for the 3rd time while the more experienced veterans (who don’t rely on hearing about it from someone they know) are a lot more wary of taking it a third time. I would argue that given the fact that you could not pass level 1 in two tries you will probably never get the charter. The reason why I say this is because of how much more difficult level 2 is compared to level 1. (I would say at least twice as difficult and that is due to the sheer scale and detail of material that needs to be at had when taking the exam). I’ve heard that level 3 is as hard or harder than level 2 (and is really a different beast due to the different exam format). That being said, if you cannot pass level 1 in two tries i would seriously reevaluate my decisions on whether or not I want to proceed with obtaining the cfa charter. (There’s a reason why it’s so respected, and the reason is that not everyone can get it)
Success on the CFA exams comes down to practice. The final month before the exam (for any level) should be almost solely based on doing practice problems. For level I this means grinding out hundreds of multiple choice questions. There is no secret formula to passing these exams. Unlike Allen Iverson, I’m talking about practice.
Did you do sufficient practice? If yes, then consider quitting. Level II is considerably more difficult than level I and level III poises a whole new set of challenges.
No, I have not done enough practice questions and that is why I would give it another chance.
So that begs the question…
Why didn’t you do enough practice the first time?
Knowing that you didn’t do enough practice the first time, why didn’t you do enough practice the second time?
Since you didn’t practice enough the first or second time, what makes you think you’ll practice enough the third time?
And if you can’t practice enough to pass L1, what makes you think you can practice 50% more for L2? And another 25% on top of that for L3?
Not commenting if OP (or anyone still on this side including myself) can or cannot get the charter, I am very confident that L I can be passed by anyone who was able to get a bachelor’s degree in whatever. Can you have a terrible performance on the exam when you underperform your level of knowledge? Surely. If this was the case on the second try, question how to avoid it? But L I is not a particularly difficult material, only some people need 100 hours some others 800. Whether it is due to lack of background education or lack of appropriate concentration, discipline or sheer difference in intelligence, that’s another thing.
But I have to agree if someone engages in this program because has to have (this or some other) fin. designation and Level I passed has no value at all (I’m thinking personal value) then it’s a question: should you continue or not?
Read the full CFAI text this time. And crush all the EOCs and any other questions you can.
I think reading the material over again will be good for you given the amount of time you have to prepare this time around.
I have never used third-party providers, and passed L1 and L2 first attempt with 4 months studying for each. I have among the worst memory of anyone you will meet, but I studied hard and followed my study plan.