How to prepare for the essay

I have gone the CFAI materials and Kaplan’s notes. Now I am started to do mocks and past paper.

For the MC, I usually score 70%. BUT I have lost in how to do the essay part.

In the rest of days, I plan to do the essay part in past paper from 1999 to 2015. Isn’t it too much?

Could someone give me any tips about how to prepare for the essay part, please?

Thanks a lot!

write, write, write ad nauseum till you are able to write the “bullet” form, right answer - to your best knowledge in the allotted time. No shortcuts.

Do not, I repeat, DO NOT, read a guideline answer and THINK you understood it. Make yourself write till your hand hurts.

In this day and age of computers - our hands have gone soft, and have forgotten to know how to WRITE. So train, like you have never trained before.

also while you are writing / grading your answer - go back to see what the guideline answer wrote that you missed, see how you can incorporate that, see what you were missing, and why you missed that …

you have a couple of months to do this, do it diligently. …

also I believe arif irfanullah had posted about the earlier exams as to what was still relevant - somewhere. so while you solve 1999-2015 - leave out those questions that are no longer relevant.

Where do you find bullet point correct answers to compare?

you do not have bullet point answers to compare. you have the detailed guideline answer. Look at that. convert it into bullet points, based on time on the question (# of points) and the facts of the case. you write your bullet form answer, look at what else they wrote in the guideline and why…

whether that makes sense,

whether you could replicate the same in the time available to you.

you are essentially on a process to understand how to better write your answers.

that is all you can do, and hope that on D-Day - you have your process down to a winning formula.