This helped me too:
I have a time management tip that saved my butt in the AM. I brought a digital watch with me. Whenever I started a question in AM portion, first thing I did was look at the allotted time (equates to number of points). Then I would subtract a couple of minutes from that question and write down at the top of the page the time that I should be done and moving on.
It only took an extra moment but was incredibly helpful in keeping me on pace. I didn’t worry about whether I would be squeezed for time towards the end because I was building in a buffer. I likely saved an enormous amount of mental energy that wasn’t spent on stressing about time. It allowed me to go back to questions I left blank or answered weakly.
I actually borrowed that digital watch from a friend the week before, and I’m SO glad I did.
yeah okay this is bad advice. I didn’t touch cfai and just did Schweser top package.
Plus you’re rich and good-looking, so you’ve got that going…
#WhichIsNice
Ditto. This site is fantastic. Also, S2000magician’s website is a great help as well.
I think the main advice I would give is to finish the reading as quickly as possible and get to active learning, specifically mock exams. And even more specifically the essay portion. You learn so much faster when doing the exams versus revision based on notes. I would suggest at the latest completing the readings by the end of March so that April and May can be all mock exams.
On a side note, figure out which method of writing works best for you. I had so many people telling me to do a pencil with bullet points, but I did a pen with sentences (even paragraphs). I realized early on I was much more comfortable getting my thoughts down like this.
Finally, the time requirement is no joke in the AM sessions. I routinely did my essay mock exams in 2:15 (first run average). When exam day came I finished with 2 minutes to spare. So you really need a good feel for the pacing.
Jay this is a golden write up. Thanks so much, if there was only some way to sticky this to the main L3 forum. Thanks and congrats again
Thanks everyone for your input its really useful! Seeing a lot of Marc Lefebre love, i went for the IFT video package but wondering now whether I have made the wrong choice
To all L3 candidates out there, here is my strategy:
Stage 1: First reading including doing the EOCs (you’ll most likely forget what you read by April)
Objective: to get a background knowledge of what L3 material is about
Since you are most likely forget the material in this stage, you may use third party material to accelerate this Stage
Stage 2: Practise problems topic-by-topic (Start this stage 3-5 weeks before the exam)
Objective: significantly consolidate knowledge of each topic, understand the question style for each topic, learn how to write short essay answers
Use EOCs, topic tests, mocks, past essays and practise one topic per day/s (no need to use third party at this Stage). This stage will highlight major weaknesses in your knowledge, take time to review the guideline answers and the CFA curriculum (not prep provider curriculum!)
Stage 3: Practise full AM/PM in timed conditions (re-do past CFA papers if need arises)
Objective: consolidate knowledge of ALL topics in one shot and improve ability to write exams under time pressure
At this stage, you should be ready for the most commonly tested questions. Minor weaknesses will be revealed, take the same approach as Stage 2, and carefully review guideline answers and the CFA curriculum.
Stage 4: Review weakest topics and practise EOCs
Objective: consolidate knowledge gaps in weak topics
Same as Stage 2 & 3, review guideline answers and the CFA curriculum in areas where you are weak at.
---- Note -----
The above may not apply to ethics, GIPS - you may need a different strategy for these two.
* GIPS was beautifully summarized by Kroko. Just search this forum for it. I slightly regret not using it… I failed GIPS as a result
* My approach for Ethics was as follows: Do it backwards. Read EOC guideline answers (ALL guideline answers including wrong options) and highlight the relevant sections in the actual reading. Do the same for topic tests/mock ethics. You may also do the same for the reading’s accompanying case scenarios. Once you have done this, you will realise that ethics reading will be lighter than expected as you only have to go read through the highlighted sections. I didnt use this approach in L2, where I failed ethics. This approach helped me pass Ethics with 70+ in L3.
This probably will be my last AF post. Good luck L3 candidates. Thank you AF for making my study months less boring…
People are going to give their preferred providers, “secrets” to passing, and can’t lose strategies. But at the end of the day, none of that matters. These tests are about studying in a way that is efficient and works for the individual studying.
For me, that was using Schweser for all 3 levels (no, you don’t HAVE to use CFAI materials to pass level 3). It was doing mock exams and topic tests. And it was drawing connections between different parts of the curriculum in order to have a holistic understanding of what’s going on. This helped me pass in 3 consecutive June exams.
My only advice is:
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Don’t get wrapped up comparing your mock exam scores to others in the months leading up to the exam (they’re probably overstating).
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Don’t get discouraged when you are 5 books behind where other people you know are studying at (they probably started too early).
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Don’t get overwhelmed, keep things in context, and study in a manner that works for you. If you just try and adapt strategies that other people passed using, you are doing a disservice to yourself. Take ownership of the process - at this point in your life/career you should understand what it takes.
Stop counting and comparing hours studied, just work until you fully understand and can test the material. These tests are more of a work effort than anything else. If you put in the time, and study appropriately, everybody can pass.
This is my first (and likely last) post on the forum, but I will say it is a great resource when there is a question that you can’t figure out how the book got to that solution, or when there is an opaque concept that doesn’t make sense. So thanks all for the help over the past few years and good luck to everybody else who is still working to finish the program.
I appreciate it but naw, it doesn’t deserve a sticky. This isn’t a secret sauce. It’s just what I did and what worked for me. We all learn differently and have different strengths and weaknesses. The best thing to do is evaluate how we all made it work, think about how you learn and what has worked for you in the past, then develop your own plan and go for gold.
All the best!
Blue box examples, end of chapter problems and past exam questions.
You should be able to get past exam questions going back 10-15 years. Be able to do anything that’s still revelvant to the current curriculum frontways, sideways and backwards. Understand the concepts behind the questions, what the answer key is looking for and then be able to do all possible variations to the question.
For example, if the question deals with the Fed model than be able to do the same thing with Yardeni model or with CAPE.
Pretty much everything in this years exam (both morning and afternoon) could be traced back to a previous exam.
There’s only so much they can test you on, there’s so much repitition year over year, and we have great resources at our disposal (for free).
If you think you need Schweser or any other resource you’re kidding yourself. Someone in my office gave me the full set of Schweser books and I didn’t even open them. Found absolutely no need. Everything I needed was in the curriculum and the past exams.
Honestly, I don’t understand how the pass rate isn’t higher given that we’re bascially spoon fed the exam.
Oh I completely forgot.
Be sure to print or bookmark this blog post by our one and only S2000magician: http://www.financialexamhelp123.com/inflation-in-required-rate-of-return-to-tax-or-not-to-tax/ It’s one of his freebies but it’s extremely valuable.
When you start doing Individual IPS questions from past exams, you’ll find out why understanding this simple but sometimes vexing concept is extremely important.
This is both my first time and last/only time posting on AF. This has been a really useful tool for my CFA studying, so thanks to everyone on these forums. Much of what is below will echo what’s already been said, but hopefully there are a few new useful pieces of advice…
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Read the CFAI books. For L1/2 I read Schweser and did the EOC and BB Q’s out of the CFAI (never read the content as it was too verbose etc.), but for L3 I found it to be essential. My intuition is that the amount of material in the L3 CFAI books is about the same as that for the L2 Schweser Notes (maybe I could be wrong), so my recommendation is start earlier rather than later as you’ll want to leave a lot of time for practice.
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GoStudy has really good condensed notes and they’re question grid that covers old CFAI exams and relevant material is also super helpful. Use this to supplement the material in the CFAI books. It’s a good base for any notes you might take. I would not take notes on the CFAI material (outside of making flash cards), it takes up too much time.
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NYSSA classes. I took NYSSA classes for all three levels. Nathan is a great instructor, IMO. The one frustrating thing about the class is that your pacing will be dictated by the class schedule, but I would just read ahead and watch the videos on topics I needed help on. I never went to class in person. Didn’t have time b/c of my job and I just thought that it would be more efficient to do it on my time.
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Go back 5-6 years on the CFAI practice exams, but then make custom AM sections only focusing on core topics/weaknesses pulled from exams going back 10+ years. This is where the GoStudy grid I mentioned earlier really comes in handy. It will save you time when trying to find the right questions. It’s really obvious that there are certain topics that are tested every year on the AM in one form or another. A lot of this material, in my opinion, is really intuitive once you get the core concepts down. However, there is plenty more esoteric material that is less frequently tested that can make its way onto the exam (people who took this year probably have a good idea of what I’m talking about). People tend to spend time practicing things that they’re good at. I know at least for me, I practiced a lot of behavioral biases q’s because I was good at them and it was a “core” topic. While I passed, I would have been better served seeking out topics that I was weaker at. GoStudy’s question grid for past AM exams can be really useful for this.
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I 100% agree with everyone here that you should take your mocks under true test conditions (quiet, at a desk, timed, no distractions). The one thing I might note, however, is limit yourself to 2.25-2.5 hours for both the AM and PM sections. It will force you to go faster and be more succinct in your writing in the AM (ironically, very much unlike this post). That being said, don’t make the perfect the enemy of the good when you are studying.
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Hours put in does not equate to success on the exam. Always be asking yourself if you really know the concept or if you’re just going through the motions. Start doing CFAI topic tests and CFA EOC/Blue Boxes early. Be OK with f’ing them up. Active engagement solidifies knowledge of the content. Fail early and grade yourself very harshly so that you fail often. It might sound counterintuitive, but this will increase the odds of your passing on exam day.
Finally, I have to really applaud the people on these forums who just failed for the first time (or failed again) and are still going HAM on L3. I am 100% serious. I think that in life you have to have a growth mindset and understand that the only people who succeed are the ones with grit that keep going despite any setbacks they might face. We set the bar too low for ourselves if we’re constantly clearing it. You guys are motivating as all hell and I wish you the best of luck.
Just bumping this thread I started in the summer for L3 candidates as we enter the final month.
Hope it is useful
Rex