I’m not sure if I am qualified to offer advice on the morning session. I passed this June, got 1 < 50%, 2 50-70% and the rest >70% for the morning (and all but 1 >70% in the pm). My thought is manage your time, if you find yourself flustered by a question, move onto something that makes you feel more comfortable and confident, and go back to the question if you have time. Get the most important facts down first. Keep it simple, try to imagine the test answer key and think of what they are looking for. Key words, short bullet points full of info and not all fluff. I wrote very little in the essay part. Obviously, write the answers in the correct places on the pages. Do loads of practice exams and grade yourself fairly or even a little bit harshly. Know the material, understand it, don’t just memorize. However, memorization of the types of answers that get points also helps (especially in the IPS sections). Hope this helps someone.
picnic Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I’m not sure if I am qualified to offer advice on > the morning session. I passed this June, got 1 < > 50%, 2 50-70% and the rest >70% for the morning > (and all but 1 >70% in the pm). > > My thought is manage your time, if you find > yourself flustered by a question, move onto > something that makes you feel more comfortable and > confident, and go back to the question if you have > time. > > Get the most important facts down first. Keep it > simple, try to imagine the test answer key and > think of what they are looking for. Key words, > short bullet points full of info and not all > fluff. I wrote very little in the essay part. > Obviously, write the answers in the correct places > on the pages. Do loads of practice exams and grade > yourself fairly or even a little bit harshly. Know > the material, understand it, don’t just memorize. > However, memorization of the types of answers that > get points also helps (especially in the IPS > sections). > > Hope this helps someone. What’s your key material for 1) the overall exam and 2) for individual and institutional questions? When you prepared for the exam, did you try to group several related readings together to study? Ladies and Gentlemen, do study hard GIPS for next year!!!
I went through the material in Schweser first (reading only). Then I went through again doing Qbank and taking notes in a notebook (3-4 note pages per reading, this became my memorization guide). 3rd time through I did all Schweser problems and CFAI EOQ problems, and used my notebook to help with formulas and lists etc. Then spent the last few weeks on practice exams and memorization. I did it all in order except saved Ethics for last. I also listened to the Schweser audio books on my commute, about 2x through the material. Multiple passes works for me because it means each time you get more and more familiar and by the time you get to the exam, you’ve seen it all 4 or 5 times, most recently within a few weeks. Some people go through in great detail, doing practice questions from the get-go, but that wouldn’t work for me because I would forget the practice questions I’d done 2 months ago.
I went through the material in Schweser first (reading only). Then I went through again doing Qbank and taking notes in a notebook (3-4 note pages per reading, this became my memorization guide). 3rd time through I did all Schweser problems and CFAI EOQ problems, and used my notebook to help with formulas and lists etc. Then spent the last few weeks on practice exams and memorization. I did it all in order except saved Ethics for last. I also listened to the Schweser audio books on my commute, about 2x through the material. Multiple passes works for me because it means each time you get more and more familiar and by the time you get to the exam, you’ve seen it all 4 or 5 times, most recently within a few weeks. Some people go through only once or twice in great detail, doing practice questions from the get-go, but that wouldn’t work for me because I would forget the practice questions I’d done 2 months ago.
The best thing you can do to prepare is to see as many practice exams from CFAI, Schweser, etc. as possible. The essay section is not luck. The morning is difficult b/c it requires to you put all the information together and none of the answers are “cookie-cutter.” Understanding the information from the books is a great start, but you have to be able to think on your feet. There is a big difference between memorizing material and identifying answer on a multiple choice exam and being able to regurgitate data from memory and put it on paper. It is a different level of thinking. I used Schweser books and took 14 notepads worth of notes. I also did all the IPS examples from CFAI books. I didn’t get through all the Schweser practice exams, but did all the CFAI prior exams. Good luck.
So it seems as if the key is to answer in short bullet points filled with key words. Does this mean that those marking are better able to mark a shorter bullet point format than longer sentences with key words and explanation interspaced? The latter would take more time and would require the market to spend time integrating the points into a bullet point format: if markers have time constraints then this will favour the bullet point format. Markers may not have time to process the larger content of a longer answer while optimising their own marking objectives. If this is the case the probability of failing with the correct responses is higher if you answer in a format which is not optimal for the marker. Two to 3 paragraphs with explanation and content versus 4 bullet points with the same differently organised content. If correct, this would imply a bias towards certain presentation formats which is a strategic but non curriculum outcome. In this case, the answers provided by the CFA in EOCs and their sample exams etc should also be in a buller point format to capture the outcomes required. The marking process may therefore be an important determinant of the result, which will result in a skewed exam marking process. I wonder if the CFA do a quality control on this issue? What is the % of passes with bullet points versus the % of passes with essay type written content? What is the distribution of the PM answer outcomes with the AM for essay written versus the AM/PM for bullet points? Do they select a sample of AM essay format answers with AM fails but high PM marks and remark the exams to check whether the markets are marking for content and not for format? There is so little we know about the marking process and the quality control of that process.