I have no shame lol. I scored a 75 on my second schweser pm practice exam yet I have been totally crushed in all three am sessions (inclusive of 2008 cfai am). I haven’t even fully graded, it’s just too damn bad. What to do? Am is so unimaginably difficult for me, the depth of active recall/undertanding of the material is simply beyond me. Any hail Mary suggestions?
i bet you’re grading yourself too harshly. hang in there, man. 75 is good on the pm. you will improve on am by test day and if it’s slightly low, you will offset it with a huge pm. which = pass.
Thanks man. I will give it all I have, but right now feeling worn down.
Start yourself an IPS outline…I haven’t revised mine, so it is a complete draft, but a good start, IMO. Objectives: Return: 1.Statements: a.Income needs b.Protect standard of living for future c.Education? d.Emphatic/Contractual Bequests 2.Calculations a.+/- portfolio from time 0 to time 1 b.expenses the portfolio covers time 0, gross up by inflation and divide by time 1 portfolio value c.Add inflation Risk: 1.The clients willingness to take risk is below/average/above 2.The clients ability to take risk is below/average/above 3.Below/average/above based on: a.Amount of income required 5-7/5/0-5 b.Risk Aversion Score? 7-10 is below risk tolerance, 1-3 above c.Work more? d.Cut down on expenses? 4.Overall the risk tolerance for client is below/average/above based on…. (err on conservative) and could throw in education statement Constraints: Time Horizon: 1.Preretirement – length 2.Retirement – length + buffer “20 years or more” 3.Could have more sub periods, but must have implications to how portfolios is to be managed for them to be included. Liquidity: 1.Income need 2.Emergency spending need 3.Might have others specified in case not as frequently test-> Taxes: 1.Low-Cost basis stock 2.Trust 3.Copy & Paste tax rate Regulatory: 1.Watch if person is on a board (insider restrictions) Unique: 1.Pull anything unusual of different into here 2.Desired Bequests (not emphatic or anticipated accomplishable by return calc)
Thanks sponge bob. I do have an outline, but I think I will make a blank one and fill in the blanks. Ughhh. What gets me is the lack of consistency. For ex. In a scbweser ips for non life, u can just spew out a canned response with little pulled from the vignette, whereas for the individual ips your are customizing based in the ips. The active recall of stuff (like have to identify what statement is what kind of forecasting issue) is a pain. Oh well enough whining I guess.
BTW, the above is for individual only.
Sounds like you and I are in similar positions PB. No real problems with the MC stuff, but trying to get out the information in the written response questions is killing me. I’m just not very good at it. But we have to keep pluggin away. Try to do as many practice questions as we can I guess. I’d say that’s the only way to get better at it.
My buddy who passed l3 last year swears the average passing AM score was in the mid 50s, based on people posting there results on here (results include score ranges for each essay, and you know how many points they are worth). Seems pretty low, but just keep cranking out practice IPS.
TIP Make sure that when you finish a written practice test, you sit down and go through a DETAILED DEBRIEF session. What did you miss? Why? Did you miss details in the question? Are you reading too quickly? Is there a knowledge gap where you need to re-read part of a chapter? Did you actually go back and patch up this knowledge gap? This may sound obvious and I apologize if it does, but a lot of people actually don’t do it. They simply grade the paper, shove it in a drawer, and wonder how they did so poorly. Then they move on and try to do better on the next paper. That will not work. A thorough debrief will. A lot of people fail the final CA exams in Canada (all essay form) because they fail to debrief properly during preparations. Debriefing practice exams is just as important as writing them, if not more as debriefing is where the learning happens.
i feel like i’m the only one doing really poorly on the PM and a bit better in the AM…a bit frustrating to see i’m the lone wolf, maybe that makes you feel a bit better Philly?
Well jeks, I would love to be in your position. I think its easier to make up ground in the last few weeks on item set based question than written response. How are you doing in the Ethics and Gips questions on those exams? Since a good portion of the PM pratice tests rest in those two areas. Need to remember everyone that Ethics and GIPS is 15% of the exam, so hit those two areas hard in the last two weeks here.
Thanks BigBabbu, that’s very kind of you and I’m definitely going to take your advice on the GIPS/Ethics components. Also wanted to mention that with what you’re going through you are an inspiration to all of us!!
My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next. Keep fightin’ Philly!
bhill020 Your TIP is great. The problem why lot of candidates do not follow it is because it’s too time consuming. Any TIP on how to speed it up ?
derswap07 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > bhill020 > > Your TIP is great. The problem why lot of > candidates do not follow it is because it’s too > time consuming. Any TIP on how to speed it up ? What I try and do after I finish a test is write down the topics for all the areas that I just messed up on. So for example, I may list out 1. Foundation IPS Legal requirements 2. Fixed income relative value characteristics 3. Interest rate caps & floors 4. etc… Then I start by checking off my list. I make sure I understand a topic before I move onto the next one. After that review is done, then I take another test. It ensures that I will not make the SAME mistakes on the real test. And just got slaughtered on the BSAS AM exam, I really need to review some FI, Institutional IPS, and Alternatives…well, onto review.
derswap07 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > bhill020 > > Your TIP is great. The problem why lot of > candidates do not follow it is because it’s too > time consuming. Any TIP on how to speed it up ? If you don’t take the time to identify and focus on weak areas that you get wrong, then it will be very difficult for you to achieve incremental improvements in your scoring. Not sure there are any shortcuts here. Try to narrow in on the specific LOS rather than for example, re-reading all of Fixed Income because you got a Fixed Income Q wrong. I think wanderingcfa’s approach above is perfect.
derswap07 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > bhill020 > > Your TIP is great. The problem why lot of > candidates do not follow it is because it’s too > time consuming. Any TIP on how to speed it up ? I wouldn’t try to save any time on the individual and institutional IPS, because you will definitely see similar questions on the exam.
Actually, I just bombed schweser PM 3 - got a 68%. So now my schweser PM’s in book one look as such: 65%/75%/68%. I thought I would have improvement this week but now it seems like I am going in reverse. I thought 3rd PM in schweser was extremely difficult. Maybe I am getting burned out, I feel down and out and maybe that’s affecting me. So Jeks, maybe you will feel better now. Cause I am sucking all around. Seeing bad scores is totally demoralizing.
PhillyBanker Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Actually, I just bombed schweser PM 3 - got a 68%. > So now my schweser PM’s in book one look as such: > 65%/75%/68%. I thought I would have improvement > this week but now it seems like I am going in > reverse. I thought 3rd PM in schweser was > extremely difficult. Maybe I am getting burned > out, I feel down and out and maybe that’s > affecting me. > > So Jeks, maybe you will feel better now. Cause I > am sucking all around. > > Seeing bad scores is totally demoralizing. PB, I have noticed a pattern with schweser exams over the years. I never really saw that much improvement test to test because they are trying to throw in every possible testable concept. So each test is different. While you may find one test easier than another, based on personal strengths, overall it is hard to show steady improvement (especially over a short time frame). That being said, it DOESN’T mean you aren’t improving. If you are reviewing your mistakes you are getting stronger.
Philly are you actively reviewing in detail after each exam before writing another? Those up and down scores look reflective of someone not doing detailed debriefs and filling in gaps. As I said, difficult to get that incremental improvement if you don’t do this. I think McLeod has said before (and it’s so true) that getting to 65% is one thing (without too much work), but it takes an incredible amount of work to move every 2 - 3% increment above that level.