How do you prepare for the essay questions?

Free advice for the IPS… I passed in 2008 by the skin of my teeth, but did 70+ on both the individual and institutional questions. Yeah, the rest of the morning was UGLY. * Collect the recent actual morning exams and compare the IPS questions side by side. See what patterns are there both in the questions and the answers. When I did this in 2008, I noticed that the answer to the risk tolerance question was higher risk tolerance in the exams from 2005-2007. The guideline answers have some good tips on why that is. For some reason the acronym TIAGO sticks with me. A creation of my own. Time horizon… Income… Assets… Goals… Orifice (?). Nah, I forgot what O stood for. * Draw a timeline. Visualize the “magic point” in time that the question is asking about. If you don’t get that right you’re lost.

actually- i’m looking at a 2005 exam right now. Overall risk tolerance, at least for question #7, was Below average. so — that advice sucks. But thanks for passing the test. We need hope.

and btw frisian, WTF are you still doing on this site, having been done with this for …3 years now???

frisians a bum!

you see what happens after you pass the CFA

It is good that they drop by and provide some insights. thanks man

Ha ha. I come around the L3 forum from time to time just to emphasize that the morning session is a biyatch. That’s all I can do now. I probably got 50% on the 2008 morning session after studying maybe 600 hours. I’d probably get 5% on the 2011 exam if I had to take it with y’all. You really need to know how to take the test, and there will probably be time pressure. Be prepared for that.

cfalover Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > what does it mean to “memorize” IPS? It appears to me that the IPS has the best chance of scoring the highest especially IPS for institutions. Most of the risk objectives, return objectives and constrains are quite standard for the respective institutions. Variation (which can be anything) will end up under the ‘unique circumstances.’ The worst part is the risk tolerance for individual. The above and below average willingness/ability are so subjective. In my line of work, the ability to take risk is measured mathematically. But in this exam, it is based on gut feel. So silly!