is it just me or what? we have just over 30 days to go… time is running out soon! i used to be so well-prepared, last 2 yr at this stage i have already completed the mock exam, book 6 doing some final reviews and memorization, but this yr i hvent hit the past exams yet… damn damnnn
Don’t worry about it. Everyone feels underprepared up to the day of the test. You still have lots of time to pack more stuff in your brain. DO practice the written exams. I would suggest doing one full length written portion without time constraints. Then try another with time constraints.
30 days is plenty monki! Come’on - we’re in this together. Let’s do it. I am starting practice exams next week and hitting em hard. Here’s my schedule: Next Week: Practice Exam # 1 Schweser Reinforce Following: Practice Exam # 2 Schweser Reinforce Following: Practice Exam # 3 Schweser CFA Practice Exam # 1 Reinforce Following: CFA Practice Exam # 2 Followng: Exam week cram time
Lots of time. Keep plugging away. This week I started working through the past exams posted on the CFAI site. http://www.cfainstitute.org/cfaprog/courseofstudy/essaylevelthree.html These are the likely the best indicator of what we will see in a few weeks. I am finding a ‘core, satellite’ format. There is a core that is going to be on there in the AM: IPS-indiv, IPS-inst, req return, ability to take risk, formulate constraints, behavioral, econ, asset allocation, maybe perf attribution, GIPS. Then a satellite of secondary stuff that is pot luck: trading costs, monte carlo, black litterman, qualities of indexes, and on and on… My goal is to familiarize myself with the core and the types of questions from the past few years, then brush up on as many of the satellites as I can. Hit the core right out of the park and then go over .500 on the other stuff that might surprise you when it shows up. Even the areas I feel good about, I am missing points on. On an Inst IPS Q, I calced a required return and did not include port expense that was given in another section of the vignette… If they try to pull that this year I feel better about catching it now. I am noticing little tricks like that where they lob out a question they know you prepared for and they get you all excited, “I know that!” then you miss some little thing they snuck in there to spice it up.
Good strategy StLouis. Also, I had a choir conductor in college that said “it’s fine to make mistakes in rehearsal - that’s how you avoid making them when it’s showtime.”. So at this point, you really ought to take some practice exams. Don’t stress yet about doing them in 3 hours. Just get a sense of what types of questions they can throw at you and see where your weak areas are. Chances are that you know more than you think, which will reduce panic (but probably not eliminate it).
i think lots of people have phobia about doing the exams… but you could even just look them over. that was really eye-opening to me in the last 2 weeks, and made me realize i have to remember some of this stuff… basically, don’t necessarily feel compelled to write the exam right now if you don’t want to, but at least see that half the exam throws u right now
it’s weird, sometimes i feel like i have all the time in the world and other times i go into complete panic attack and feel like i need to start a study extravaganza!
jeks Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > it’s weird, sometimes i feel like i have all the > time in the world and other times i go into > complete panic attack and feel like i need to > start a study extravaganza! I’ve actually been feeling that way a lot lately too. Some days I think that 5+ weeks seems like too much time left, not sure what to do with it all, and kinda wish the test was in 2 weeks so I can do practice tests every other day and knock this thing out of the park. Buuuut… then there’s the majority of days when I freak out and think that there’s no way I can learn everything I need to in the next month. I’m guessing that like most of us, my preparedness level is somewhere in the middle of the two extremes.
I feel like I am just wasting my time at this late stage…as I am getting my ass kicked by end of chapert R23 problems as we speak…
I just finished the 2007 AM. I have to say taking a break from EOC and qbank was huge for me. Huge. I was into that irritated with every incorrect phase. Now not so much. The actual questions are hard but clear. You will know some of them cold so those aren’t hard and that gives you that warm fuzzy feeling. Others you think you know and then they drop some: **spoiler kind of** “Hey you think you can spit out that Grinold-Kroner equation? Nice, impressive. Oh, you need an inflation expectation to calc that? Don’t see it do you. Yup that’s right beotch it was in the last table. Sorry -1” **end** It is hard to get mad at sh*t like that. I mean that is what makes this fun for you sick sadistic types like mwvt who are printing up their tickets and what not already.
Yeah, I freaking love that crap.
slouiscar Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I just finished the 2007 AM. I have to say taking > a break from EOC and qbank was huge for me. Huge. > I was into that irritated with every incorrect > phase. Now not so much. > > The actual questions are hard but clear. You will > know some of them cold so those aren’t hard and > that gives you that warm fuzzy feeling. Others > you think you know and then they drop some: > > **spoiler kind of** “Hey you think you can spit > out that Grinold-Kroner equation? Nice, > impressive. Oh, you need an inflation expectation > to calc that? Don’t see it do you. Yup that’s > right beotch it was in the last table. Sorry -1” > **end** > I can almost see you crap shite eating grin, slouis. You are doing pretty well on the practice exams and you like it.
did the 2007 test today too… not bad, not great. but doable. that inflation rate being hidden was freaking bs.
Have you taken the 2006 exam yet? If so, how did 2007 compare? I think that I might jump to the 2008 exam and then save the 2007 for the weekend before the test. Logic being that if the exam is going to freak me out, I want that to happen with at least 3 weeks of time left.
i skipped 2006 and started with 2007 because everyone was talking about how easy it was. i didn’t need to kill my confidence by bombing on something that everyone thought was super easy… 2007 seemed about right. pretty difficult, but doable. you will kill it, mcleod. i’m expecting something like this in a month. the 2007 pass rate was also in the 50’s. my buddy passed that year. his comment was “they graded pretty generously on the essay, i think.”
I found the 07 modestly easier than 06. I fumbled a couple of IPS points on the 06 as there were some tricky little easter eggs hidden in the vignette. I also thought the 06 had a couple things that differed from the current LOS. That said I would agree with cfasf1, both were solid difficulty, doable, a sprinkling of wtf. (I about smashed the mouse through the top of the desk when I figured out the inflation expectation thing.) mwvt, I didn’t want to take these as practice exams per se. So, while I keep track, there is really no time pressure and I am only doing half at a sitting. We are getting to the time in prep where you can eliminate that month long cold sweat, borderline pass/fail and turn it into a “hey, I should have, should have done ok on that”. So I hope to use these past exams as a jumping off point. What is the core and how do I get those right. What type of satellite stuff is on there / was on there recently. How can I catch the little tricks that are certain to show up and what kind of crap have they been pulling. That these are available is a pretty big advantage to us, imo. I am far from confident and certainly not grinning. There is way too much out there that was not on the 06 or 07 that could show up in 09. And I know there a number of topics that I have no clue how to BS my way through. Also, I have no idea how to award points, there are questions that were a big loss and they could be worth more than the ones you sail through. So I have no idea what I scored on these really. That said there are questions you will sail through and that will help you begin to see the light at the end of this tunnel. More important, I think, is that if on the 09 they attempt to crack wise and weed out 50% by asking you to calc an endowment RR while they hide the mgmt fee way at the end, or if they ask a question in part D that needs inputs from a table provided earlier that you used in part B, you are trained and ready for that nonsense. Ray Lewis baby, in my under armor. I plan to work through the 2008 this weekend.
Hopefully this exam isn’t Dan Krieder, cause he owns Ray-Ray.
Wow, I hope the exam is Kreider. I could sleep easy for the next month knowing I was heading into the room against a test that boasts 150 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns in 9 seasons for three teams. I mean if you get released by the Rams… you aren’t scaring me. …that and I would bring my 2 defensive POY awards and a super bowl MVP trophy. Kreider owns Ray-Ray. even people in Lancaster would laugh at that.
slouiscar Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I plan to work through the 2008 this weekend. I really think you should be timing yourself on the real past exams, particularly 2008.
frisian Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > > I really think you should be timing yourself on > the real past exams, particularly 2008. That makes sense. I did half a night and then graded and reviewed. I timed myself on each question and then squared up at the end. I wanted to take my time understanding just what the CFAI was really after, rather than feel like I had to rush. I figured I would save the time pressure thing for book 6. But with all the hoopla about the 08 I guess a firm 3 hour go at it would make sense. I am finding I go over a minute or two here and there, but I am under on just as many. I think if a q says 25 and you are flirting with 35, it is time to move on. On the flip side I get a little nervous if it says 16 minutes and I am done writing in 5. One related note. I have talked with a couple people who passed LIII in 08 and the sense was that time was not as big a deal as it is being made out to be. They had time for all q’s. I mean they didn’t finish with 40 to go or anything but it wasn’t like they got halfway through the exam, looked up and there was like 30 minutes left…