honestly...what is a acceptable practice test score?

CFA Level I
#1

New to the forum…

I started studying in feb and probably should have sooner because im having trouble with the practice tests…so far ive taken 4 (half tests) over the past week and my scores are(in order): 63, 64, 73, 65

I dont seem to be improving, and honestly, some of the questions Im just making an educated guess.

A friend of mine took 1 schweser practice final last year the night before the exam and got a 68, yet he then passed every section with a +70 on the actual LV1

Ive heard others say you need at least a 75…

any help? Would I just be better off taking the qbank tests? I seemed to score better on those, but if those arent representative of the exam I dont want to waste my time! So frustrated…

#2

For one don’t get frustrated…I think a lot of us are in the same boat. Those scores aren’t the end of the world, I got one exam in the low 60’s and just tried to focus on where I went wrong. At this stage, I would keep chugging through the mock exams and go back to the parts you get wrong. If you have time, look at all of the problems or note where you guessed. Some of the more expert members can probably give you more advice, as I’m sitting for the exam first time in June also.

#3

U guys talking abt ur scores in percentage terms or is it the score out of 120???

#4

percentages…if i was getting mid 60s out of 120 point wise id be at the bar right now instead of studying : )

#5

You should get > 80 to feel a bit safe.

#6

For real? > 80% or 80 out of 120? And greater than 80% to feel a bit safe? Ouch, I may be in more trouble than i thought as I only scored over 80% once so far (81%).

#7

>80% for being bit safe?? Pls tell me its 80/120… bcause I never scored above 75% in my mock tests… can you pls make it clear…

#8

Ye no way he means greater than 80% overall is this is quite difficult due to the variety and mix of questions along with the volume of material you have to cover. Personally I have done 3 full Schweser practice tests and the CFAI mock Schwesser I got marks of 74,73,69 and CFAI Mock I got 70. I feel like I have some room for improvement for sure but these scores I think are along the right track.

#9

@swatty27:

Ur scores are a out of 120 or are those in percentage terms?? bcause ur post says u "got MARKS of "…

#10

There are a few things to bear in mind:

  1. If you’re scoring 70+% - that’s great, you don’t have much to worry about, but you do have to think about the next point.
  2. The actual CFA exam is slightly different to the Schweser mocks. Where the questions are the same ‘type’ (i.e. tests the same topics in the same format) they tend to be easier, but there are quite a few curveball questions, mostly around conceptual material rather than calculations. This is a side effect of Schweser not actually covering some parts of the CFA syllabus in the interest of efficiency.
  3. I’d highly recommend getting the free mock from CFA Institute and using that as practice. Try not to keep your score on that paper as the definitive one however - instead try and use that paper to ‘calibrate’ your idea of what the questions are going to be.
#11

that’s what i needed. thanks for that.

#12

No problem!

#13

>80 / 120 :slight_smile: not 80/100.

#14

If you are interested in learning more about what to expect, I recommend clicking around the CFAI website. Navigation seems a bit weird but there are a lot of useful articles and documents.

http://www.cfainstitute.org/cfaprogram/Documents/the_cfa_program_our_fifth_decade.pdf

This one discusses the development of the test and how it has evolved to the current form. It is an interesting read at the very least. IIRC, the test is scaled down based on the top 1% of scorers so you wont be penalized for missing the questions that nobody could get.

#15

Ye that should be percentage scores not raw marks. Confusing the way I posted it.

#16

Those were percentages not raw marks. Sorry for the confusion.

#17

Scoring 75%ish on Schweser mocks and just scored 71% on the CFA mock.

I’m feeling more confident, but Econ is still ruining me. If I can’t get more confident with it then I may skip over it and come back to it at the end on the day of the test.

#18

I’m stuck in the 70s. Just did two Elan’s today and got 73% and 72%… before that got 75 and 71 on some CFAI mocks a friend sent me from a couple of years ago. On two schewser’s I took before that (from a version that is a couple of years old) I got a 78% and then a 70%. So my last 6 have been 78%, 70%, 71%, 75%, 73%, 72%.

I’m no longer sure if switching between materials is helping or hurting as I feel it is definitely an adjustment every time I switch from one provider to another.

Oh well, I have four more Elan’s to do and then the 2012 CFAI mock and then its time to lace up for the real thing!

#19

those are good scores mbaer2012…my average across 6 mocks is 70%. Were all of your mocks old though, or were the Elan’s new?

#20

The Elan’s were new, just bought them yesterday. Everything else was old. I wanted to start with the old stuff first then moved to the new stuff once I felt really comfortable with the test and felt ok with my scores. I definitely felt like i was getting similar scores in the old vs new stuff. I started with the old stuff mainly because it was free… I’ll try to do full mocks every day up to the test. I might take it a little easier the day before the exam.