Gartsy! Your scores are very very impressive. Keep it up, do not slacken. Regarding the BSAS exams, I just want to be in a position to help future candidates. I probably should just buy one and take it myself, but I want to know first time Level I candidates’ perspectives on these mock exams. So far, the only thing I have heard about this year’s BSAS exam is that it is a bit on the easier side.
@ beathecfa I went through the morning session of the Boston for 2010 - I don’t think that’s it as good as Elan. Their questions do not follow the same format as the CFAI mock in 2 ways: 1) They lump together multiple sections under one heading (Ie Equity, FI, and Derivatives all under Asset Valuation) - which makes it difficult to see where you scored on (I noticed Schweser does this too - Elan does not). 2) The way they asked their questions did not follow the same wording format as the CFAI mock (using tables, statements, etc). Also, as mentioned earlier - their answers are not sufficient to be a learning tool. A lot of them are one sentence answers and were very vague in my opinion. They do reference the text, but still I think they could do better. As for difficulty - I thought it was pretty average, but some of their questions were harder than using Elan (as in I had no clue what was going on). Some of the ones that i was stumped on included: 1) P/E decreasing due to investors turning cautious 2) plowback ratio 3) ROE = ROA when the company has no debt 4) increasing D/E ratio initially decreases the WACC due to using less expensive debt first In all, as a first timer, I thought that it was good to do, but that I didn’t really learn too much from it. Also, since it doesn’t follow the format of the mock, it’s not exactly great prep for the actual exam. I only paid $35 for it though the Vancouver CFA society, so I think it was worth that - but i certainly would not pay the $100+ the BSAS asks for on their website! I’d stick with Elan for sure.
Thanks Gartsy, I really appreciate it. I am sure that I will use their materials to teach from now on. Good luck buddy!!