Dear All, I failed the June exam with Band 8 and it seems that I really bombed Ethical (I was <=50%). I am going to retake it next year, but I would be happy to receive advices on how to improve my score in this section. I have always the impression than I know well the topic, but at the end the questions on the exam are so tricky that I have never had a >70% so far. Thanks for your imputs… Best,
Read carefully CFAI books + do EOC from CFAI books. You reallly need to master the books to be able to identify which standar is violated.
Yeah ethics was one of the ones I did well in, you have to know the exact name of the standard, not just that something was done wrong. You pretty much have to memorize all of the standards and have a good idea what each one represents.
Read the Ethics sections multiple times in extreme detail…that’s all i can suggest…
Rule of thumb for Ethics section: “Cover your a$$ from every possible angle” Memorizing the names of all standards seems extreme.
X220X220 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Rule of thumb for Ethics section: “Cover your a$$ > from every possible angle” > > Memorizing the names of all standards seems > extreme. Not if you don’t want to fail it doesn’t. You have to know exactly what each standard means. NO EXCUSES
try SOPH questions too along with all the above.
MissCleo Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > X220X220 Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > Rule of thumb for Ethics section: “Cover your > a$$ > > from every possible angle” > > > > Memorizing the names of all standards seems > > extreme. > > Not if you don’t want to fail it doesn’t. You have > to know exactly what each standard means. NO > EXCUSES I don’t remember reading a single standard name and passed Ethics without any issues. This IMHO, using common sense (and memorizing 1-2 details, e.g. how many years to keep records) is all one needs. But different people do learn differently, so YMMV.
Everyone is different, but clearly Ethics is important. Thus, I save Ethics as the last topic to study before I do the mocks. Then, I review Ethics mainly for a couple of days prior to the exam. It’s worked for me thus far.
Having bombed Ethics on Level 1, I raised my score to over 70 on this past June Level 2 test and it was one of the reasons I passed Level 2. I was extremely frustrated with Ethics until I got some of the below advice. It was simple. I was told read and reread all the examples from the CFAI. Almost every question is VERY close to the example on the exam. There is alot of material but if you just review those examples over and over, it will eventually stick. Previously I only used Schweser for Ethics and I could ace Schweser Ethics but fail CFAI. Half of the battle is identifying what answers are off topic and are not relevant to vignette. For example, misappropriation and he says NOTHING about taking employer property. Pay particular attention to the examples that also offer references to other violations. So it will say “see also duty to employer” (or something to that affect, I forget how the curriculum words it). Those questions are RIPE for the asking. It will also get you familiar with which violations are likely to affect more than one LOS so on one that only affects one LOS you are less likely to fall for the trap of thinking its more than one. Good luck! Ethics is mostly about familiarizing yourself with what they are looking for.
Ethics on the CFA exams is more of a reading comprehension test then anything else. Yes you need to know the underlying material, but getting the correct answer is often trying to figure out what the heck it is they are really asking.
^ absolutely true. This is where practicing CFAI questions (in text book and the handbook) helps a little. Really important to carefully read and re-read the questions in the exam… well, this applies to every question in the exam…
Ethics was such a craps shoot. I 51-70’d it in level 1. For level 2, i knew it was a weakness, so I studied it a lot. failed it <50 For my second time around I didn’t study it at all. not even a little, apart from answering the ethics questions that were on the mock. 70+ this time around. How did this happen? I have no idea.
I had to have smoked ethics because I failed 5 sections and still passed L2. Ethics is about practice. You can memorize the entire book and you’ll still fall for the ambiguity even though you can recite the whole LOS from memory. Just my 2 cents.
I would never count on ethics adjustment to pass the exam. My preparation for level 2 ethics was purely left overs from that in level I, I got 50-70 on ethics and that is what i expected. instead of memorizing every standard, i d focus on FRA and Equity or your other weak areas. Ethics in level 2 is so hard to improve.
Well, I think I must have read Ethics to death, and I just scored < 50%. I kinda got screwed in the exam, I didn’t understand some keywords in the item set and hence, didn’t know how to answer the questions. but i PASSED anyway! I don’t think the topic is the deciding factor for a pass or a fail. Item Set Q# Topic Max Pts <=50% 51%-70% >70% - Alternative Investments 18 - * - - Corporate Finance 36 - - * - Derivatives 36 - * - - Economics 18 - * - - Equity Investments 72 - * - - Ethical & Professional Standards 36 * - - - Financial Reporting & Analysis 72 - - * - Fixed Income Investments 36 - - * - Portfolio Management 18 * - - - Quantitative Methods 18 - - *