This will sound obvious to some but I didn’t justify my thinking in the correct format. When it asked low ability of client x, I would only state the fact. You need to justify this by going into a few more steps, I was either being too brief for what I thought was a simple answer, or going into too much depth for a question with more marks/minutes.
I assumed I knew the content well enough and had the correct reasoning for answer, not showing the grader the why or the how. Let me down big time and I ended up doing poorly, hoping this year is different but tbh I’m not that optimistic. Have never needed tutoring for an exam but if I fail this again year I will give it some serious thought as I clearly have no clue how to pass this thing.
Yes I think I see what you mean. I was having the same doubts when grading myself on practice exams.
For eg. If I choose a collar vs a long put because a collar is cheaper, do I have to explain, “the collar is cheaper because the option premium received on the short call decreases the cost of the structure” or does it go without saying that a collar is cheaper than a long put.
And honestly I’m not sure I did the right job on the exam for these kind of issues, though I tried - and hence I beautifully ran out of time…
And maybe I explained the obvious, and not elaborated enough on where I should have.
Guideline answers were always so wordy and exhaustive, it is difficult to decide what a grader really looks for.
Same story bro. I failed two times in a row, and this was my third attempt. 1st time i was underprepeared and i didn’t know how to approach AM. 2nd time i drilled the material well, but again failed with AM (guess my answers were too vague + lack of English). This time I relied solely on curriculum, and I bought grading services (which I believe helped me a lot). I’m pretty confident with AM, but now I have really bad feelings on PM. I really tired on this sh*t, and I’ve already decided, that if I fail again, I will take a brake for a year or two, and then come back and take my f****** charter.
Carbon copy experience! First time, poor morning show, but a respectable band 8. Second time, only put in 70 hours i should never have turned up for the exam but i did anyways and left out 40 marks in the AM, was too difficult to recover from that. There are no bands now but I know I got 50% overall (AM + PM) so probably same or lower band.
This third time, I left out 15-20 marks but rest wasn’t bad, I think on the day I could get 55% in morning which will be enough, but like many of the re-takers, something was not right about that PM. I don’t think I’ll get more than 60 there and that puts me in a very dangerous and narrow corridor, between 55 and 60. In that corridor, it’s more of luck or karma than anything else.
same boat mannz, I’m borderline pass/fail and it’s a treacherous place to be - passing would be lucky which means more effort required for next year should I fail (hopefully I find the courage to re-sit…again)
The amount of pressure that we subject ourselves into, the kind of sacrifices our families make for us…is it really worth it? We are f****ing obsessed with it. All being said and done about how harsh the exam was , I congratulate the institute in one regard. The days of rote learning and relying on past AMs and taking tons of mindless mocks which have only one purpose- to up our overconfidence and embed false sense of security are perhaps over. As a trait, I have always been fascinated with what the curriculum has to offer in terms of knowledge and less with how many mocks I scored over 70. The stakes are high , indeed. Let us see.
Knowledge part indeed seems to be a recurring issue. It gets even more obvious, as you do not even specifically mention PM. By mastering the material, you are sure to ace the PM at least.
Hopefully you will pass this time. But if you don’t, take it as an opportunity to truly master the material. Especially that your essay technique certainly is OK now (not the case for me!)
Don’t quit. Instead, think of the DIY (do it yourself) world we are living in. Since L1, I have been dealing with the CFA program as a way to enable me to manage all my finances & investments by myself ! And our curriculum really has top-notch content in this regards. Here we can take advantage of it, while also earning a designation.
The breadth and the depth of Level 3 is overwhelming, however, had kept up ‘do not quit’ attitude since I began studies in mid-January. Haven’t kept a track although I believe I have put in >300 hours.
Want to generate Alpha by beating the MPS in this attempt itself!
Not doubt it was overall harsh. Plus I had never done any timed mocks previously in preparation neither for AM nor for PM though I was clearly aware that I should have made this. Luckily I finished most of questions with relatively reasonable responses (leaving about 5/180 pts subs blank) T^T
PM was difficult and I think I made 5 random guesses plus nearly 20 half half guesses. Not sure if I could pass. Best of luck for us!
This describes my experience perfectly with level 3. I’m annoyed about it too. Because, I could not have known the ins and outs of things like mean variance optimization ANY BETTER than I already did, but unfortunately, I fear I may come across as disturbingly autistic to every grader that had the pleasure of reading my answers. but Then again, there are a good number of questions where I just know I scored perfectly. So, who the fuck knows at this point.
Ditch that. That is Indian English. You may not understand. Plus in India age is always counted in -4 manner. Plus there is a troll alert in the form of P***y Kaur.