After reading everyones failed attempts at passing the level 2. Here is the RIGHT and ONLY way to pass level 2.
Before I give you the secret sauce, I passed level 1 and 2 first try (dec 2012 - june 2013) and I never scored higher than 68% on any practice exam or mock for LVL 1 or 2. I only did about 10%-15% of the qbank and averaged around 70% on the qbank. I also didn’t do any of the EOC questions in the CFAI text (although, I do recommend doing these). Time spent studying was about 300 hours lvl 1 and 400 hours lvl 2.
The emphasis is not on pounding out 25 mock exams and doing all 2 million qbank questions but to understand what you did wrong, review it, understand it and to read the section over again to solidify the missed concept.
I did 4 mock exams in the month of May. Morning on saturday and afternoon on sunday and then spent the entire rest of the week reviewing and understanding what I got wrong and filling in the gaps.
This test isn’t about memoriziation and brute force, which is how you probably got through your undergraduate degree but understanding and learning.
I used CFAI for Ethics and Scheweser for everything else.
Good luck and don’t make the same mistake you did while practicing for the exam as you did failing it.
So question, if you understood it and conceptualized it so well, why couldn’t you score higher then 70% on the mocks? maybe you passed because you were really good at guessing if the answer was A, B, or C on June 1st?
Also, sweet condescension dude :), the day after passing open up a new thread stating THIS IS THE RIGHT AND ONLY WAY TO PASS. You’re the best.
Zinn… lol… young one… no two tests are the same, so mistakes made on the first test are very unlikely to help you on the 2nd test. However, after a certain point, taking numerous amounts of practice tests becomes costly as the marginal benefit is not there due to an overlap of material being tested.
And yes, I plan on getting sub 70% on practice exams, guessing and being borderline band 10 my way to the charter.
I kind of agree with the OP in that the key to passing the exam is being able to understand and conceptualize the topics and as obvious as that may sound, I feel like we become too concerned with getting through doing a certain number of questions/mocks and hoping we will pick up the concepts along the way. I am certainly guilty of this as time is always a major constraint for all.
However, in order for you to give yourself the best chance of passing, understand the concepts primarily in the reading stage of your studies and then you can get away, for example, by attempting only 2 mocks or only doing all the EOC’s just once (as opposed to two or three times as some have posted).
Then again, 48 hours ago I was sure I was going to fail and here I am giving advice on how to pass. This was just something that worked for me.
Ha, + a million. Anyone who has seen any of my posts knows how I feel about that kind of nonsense.
Ok, I don’t think anyone will argue that a candidate who has a solid conceptual understanding of the material is generally in a better spot than someone flying off rote memorization, but people have certainly passed by simply memorizing a bunch of stuff, and no passing score is any better/worse than any other. Also, there are lots of ways to skin a cat - different people learn different ways. You rail on the folks doing a bunch of q-bank questions, but for people who learn by doing (rather than reading or watching), those can be much much more effective than readings or lectures. Personally, when I study, I skip straight to the EOC questions and work thorugh those, using the text as a reference material as I go. This is just the best way for *me* to "understand and conceptualize, and just because that method worked for me, it doesn’t mean it’s the “one and only” way to pass. Hell, it doesn’t even mean it’s the right answer for a single other candidate.
tl;dr - use whatever method gives *you* the best chance to pass. There’s no right or wrong answers here.
Do you think Schweser fully prepared you? Though I passed level 1, I feel as if there were many instances where I sat looking at the questions as being completely foreign to me. At the time, I wish I had read the actual curriculum
I agree that the marginal benefit of practice tests diminishes - I was more perplexed at the marks you were getting when you claimed to fully understand the material.
Using your method, the base number of practice tests would be 2 - 1 as a diagnostic, which you said you would spend a week to review thoroughly, then a 2nd test as a way to assess your progress over the 1st test. In that case, wouldn’t it stand to reason your 2nd test should reflect higher scores then 70% and 68%?
I think the best advice anyone can give is to give yourself way more time than you anticipate needing. I failed last year and passed easily this year i’m quite sure. There’s no way to anticipate where you get tripped up along the way and lose time. Whenever you feel yourself losing motivation take a look at the mock. That will scare the pants off of anybody. It’s important to really drill home a lot of the material and be able to damn near do it in your sleep, and have lots of practice writing the test, that goes a long way as well.
Another thing I would do if I could go back and restudy is really try and hammer home the material on the first readthrough, or find someway to keep it fresh. I probably ended up reading the Schweser notes 3 times so I could really remember all the points and formulae.
That’s my 2c for next years crop of poor souls. Hopefully it helps you in finding your own successful formula for passing.
Fact. Arrogance and ego are the only way to make it to the top.
@stunnerrunner - There wasn’t much on the first or second test that was foreign to me. Sure, they definitely made a lot of questions tricky, but I definitely felt prepared with Schweser. I walked out of the test thinking it was a lot easier than what I prepared for. The only thing I would of done differently was to do the questions in the CFAI text + Schweser material.
@Zinn - It all depends on where the starting point is. My first test was sub 60. I think Schweser does a good job on testing different material within each test, so you might not see that benefit on the 2nd test.
Broberts06 - a bit confused: “I failed last year and passed easily this year i’m quite sure” - you posted 25th, marks were sent 23rd, did you pass? also I think you are speaking on L2 test but your name says L1 Candidate - which one is it?
Otherwise, completely agree with your piece of advice…starting very early this time around ha ha.
Seriously make the time to study and stick to your schedules (whatever they may be). Falling behind can be discouraging and can affect your chances.
Be realistic with your short-term goals in which topics you want to have mastered by a certain time. If you find yourself losing time, make sure you know the core subjects inside and out (FRA, Equity, Corp. Finance, Ethics). Being very confident and comfortable with these 5 topics will give you a strong shot at passing.
I used the CFA Institute books for about 60% of the curriculum and Schweser for the other 40%. This all depends on level of knowledge in particular areas, but I used the CFAI books for FRA, Equity, Corp Fin., Ethics and FI). Made sure to read the chapters (take notes in the margins while reading) and do the EOCs afterwards along with the Blue Boxes while reading. Use Schweser notes when falling behind.
CFAI mock is a HUGE help. In my opinion, the mock that they give you is more comprehensive than the actual exam so it gives you a chance to hit a lot of different areas (most of them won’t even be tested on the real exam). This lets you focus on spots where you need to buckle up a bit. I also bought the BSAS mock exam which I found very similar to the real one. Schweser mocks are a huge gamble because each exam / session is very focused on particular areas whereas the actual could throw in 3 or 4 different concepts into one item set. To put into perspective, I failed the CFA mock, passed the bsas mock and failed 2/4 of the Schweser mocks. Don’t let mock results discourage you or give you too much confidence. They DONT count!!
The last month is the most important. Try to take that last week off if you can (it was huge for me) and put in 10+ hour days to get prepared. It’s hard to not burn out, but you’re so close to your goal so might as well just suck it up.
I started studying at the end of December and took a week off in March/April (which helped a lot). At the end of the day, it’s a marathon that mostly forces you to spring, but it’s totally achievable. I passed L1 and L2 (2012, 2013) and was getting my MBA at Boston College part-time while working full-time at a buy side investment manager. Obviously, some b-school classes helped, but you’re mostly on your own with L2 as the topics get very deep into the weeds. Good luck!!
