Finished AM in 1hr 45mins PM in 1hr 20 mins

CFA Level III
#21

Saving this one.

#22

Why is this hard to believe?

I finished each session of each level in 80-90 minutes except for the AM level 3 one which took me 150 minutes.

#23

i gave the paper a head start and waited an hour before opening up the booklet.

#24

I am curious, did you make any guesses or you knew answer to every question?

Also, such a speed in AM implies very short answers. How many words, on average, did you use to justify an answer in the template type questions, for instance?

#25

That’s amazing. I couldn’t even do PM in 1hr 45mins. It was a bit over it. Glad they do not test speed but the distance covered.

#26

In my experience, thinking the exam was easy means falling in every possible trap - and oh boy, there was a trap every 3 or 4 questions (both AM and PM).

#27

why do you say this year’s papers? why you didn’t pass in the previous years or how can you compare with previous years?

#28

I am sure he/she must be a super human! Even if someone knows each and every answer, I am 99.99% confident one can’t finish so fast unless he/she is not from planet earth! Hats off to Killua!

PS: No offense against anyone but just can’t believe what I am seeing!

#29

PM was fair. Quick answers but you either know or you don’t. I finished half of it in 1 hour so decided to take my time and go to toilet etc. Did the coloring in the last 20 minutes.

But finishing in 1hr20min was still very impressive… guess you must know the stuff back to front…

#30

I knew the exact answer to every questions. I was able to pull out the answers required quickly probably because of being well-prepared. I did not write in bullet forms. I wrote in long sentences but I was able to write quickly because I know exactly what to write.

#31

Folks, if one finished the AM/PM fast this could be so either great or not so much… based on my experience, L3 AM is not a joke… most candidates underestimate the gravity, hence only half passes each year, it takes real effort to understand how concise and complete morning answers must be for some and for others it could be easier…

While answering and finishing too early is good, it gives you extra time … but it is also not so good as it raises your overconfidence …

#32

Folks, if one finished the AM/PM fast this could be so either great or not so much… based on my experience, L3 AM is not a joke… most candidates underestimate the gravity, hence only half passes each year, it takes real effort to understand how concise and complete morning answers must be for some and for others it could be easier…

While answering and finishing too early is good, it gives you extra time … but it is also not so good as it raises your overconfidence …

#33

My God, this thread is giving me more anxiety and head spinning than the real exam on Saturday morning!

#34

I can^t agree more

#35

The paper wasn’t that difficult, both AM and PM. However I finished my AM right on the dot. The paper wasn’t tough but it was definitely lengthy. I believe there wasn’t enough time to reflect over a question if you didn’t know the answer straightaway. I can easily believe someone finishing PM in 1 hr 20 mins though. The PM questions were either straight definition questions or plug and answer so if you knew your stuff, you could definitely finish the paper in half the time.

#36

I don’t believe it for one simple reason. I did not struggle on the am portion AT ALL. I write incredibly fast and I did not expound on my answers more than necessary. Without stopping my pen from moving I wrote for 2 hrs and 30 minutes straight. Only way you could do it under 2 hours is if you had a special needs exception from the CFA and were able to type your answers. I can type 3x as fast as I can write.

#37

Cool story, bro. Great effort but good luck getting into a top I-banking role without finishing the AM in sub-60 minutes, though. My boss said that when he took L3 a guy finished AM with less than an hour left and when he left the test there was a message on his pager, he called the number and it was a recording telling him that he was fired from his analyst job at Goldman. You might still be able to get into a less prestigious shop though, I heard Morgan has recently relaxed their standards as they had already met their quota for Asian CFA’s.

#38

Cool anecdote bro. Never happened.

#39

I actually agree with the PM… PM was incredibly easy. i dont know how i did in ethics or GIPs, but as for the remaining questions, I’d be surprised if i missed more than 2… I do think other than ethics&GIPs, i honestly got 100% on the PM. AM was tough because i didn’t have time to finish

#40

I swear on my curriculum