Did you feel like you were adequately prepared before the exam? Which practice exams helped the most? What are you doing different this time?
Amber, From a friend who passed in Dec You’ll probably find it encouraging that I actually didn’t score very well on many practice tests at all. I got to the point on qbank where I was getting low 70’s consistently. That was including the hard, medium, and easy questions. On the CFAI practice tests, I think I averaged around 60. What I did though is took notes on any questions I got wrong or didn’t understand and studied those notes like crazy. I think the last week now, you should just focus on questions and be sure to understand why you’re getting them wrong or right. Do you have the secret sauce? The last week of studying, I only used the secret sauce and notes that I took from practice tests to study. The day before the exam, I studied only ethics right from the CFAI book. Read the sample questions they have in the readings for ethics and you should be good. Yes, I think there were verbatim questions in Ethics. I know there were verbatim Ethics questions on the exam from the text. From another friend who passed in Dec CFA… yeah, I was getting mostly in the 80’s on the Q-Bank. Never took any Schweser exams, but I hear they are much more difficult and you should feel great about a 66. My CFA practice scores fell into a varied spectrum. I think it went something like… 68, 85, 67… or something like that. The first one I took way early on in the game and wasn’t ready for it. That score was somewhat inflated because I was guessing really well on Econ which I didn’t know sh!t about. The second practice exam was cake… just easy questions. The third practice was by far and away the most difficult of the three. It is only natural to get pretty nervous at this point. But, the last week and a half is the most important. Just drill down on the areas you know will be tested heavily. Read Ethics from the CFA curriculum the day before the test… those are easy points and you can really build confidence from the onset by blasting Ethics. Also, I know it is easier said than done… but don’t worry about it. You have worked hard and you can’t do anything more than that. Being stressed out will only drag you down. Just keep working and taking deep breaths. You’ll do fine.
amberpower Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Did you feel like you were adequately prepared > before the exam? > Which practice exams helped the most? > What are you doing different this time? failed Dec. 07 and retaking it next week. 1. no. i wasn’t adequately prepared. i didn’t count hours. but i started the schweser notes in mid september and finished around thanksgiving (week before exam). 2. i did the practice exams that came in the notes, and frankly, they just demoralized me. granted, i barely finished the materials and didn’t have enough time to review information that i didn’t retain. but the schweser practice exams were so wordy and detailed, it took me forever to finish. 3. this time, i made sure i didn’t fall behind. i started around beg. february and finished in beg. of may. i’m doing qbank this time, and i’ll supplement that with the CFAI sample exams.
Thanks everyone. I have been studying almost daily since January, nothing major, just chipping away at the CFAi books an hour or so a day. I really started laying into it about the time Pepp got on here. I just don’t think I have the energy to go this again if I fail.
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I found this video very inspiring. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dT4Fu-XDygw Good luck for all you, exam takers!
This one’s even better. It’s been posted here on AF before: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCkHEV74aXk