Here are some interesting statistics relating to CFA L2 exam in 2008 as released by Stalla last Saturday during their free problem solving workshop: Pass rate: 44% People who didn’t write the exam (a.k.a. no show): 22% Top 3 regions with highest pass rate (highest first): Europe, US, Canada. (I believe the percentages are around 46%, 44% and 43% respectively.) A related comment is that the portion of calculation oriented questions is around 35-40%. This seems to be an overall statistics based on prior years of L2 exam. The overall curve for pass rate is on a steady decline. About 1/5 enrolled in the program earned their Charter.
where does stalla come up with these numbers??? If pass rate is 44% globally, and the leading countries scored 46%, 44%, 43%… you would think the rest of the world would have scored 43%, just to make the average right… something doesnt seem right there… either that or it looks like the pass rate is consistent everywhere and this barely would be worth reporting by stalla. How was their free workshop btw? Was it a lot of marketing of their products or a lot of actual going over material? A lot of us were wondering
quite interesting. It would make sense if different regions were consistent
I see the US and Canada is behind Europe. chedges, prepare for battle.
eltia, please comment on the free stalla workshop on thursday…I want to know if it is worth it to sacrifice one weeknight of studying thanks
I went to the free one in Chicago for Level I last year. It wasn’t really an obnoxious marketing ploy at all - though obviously there is an element of that. They went over some questions and gave some decent exam/problem solving strategy tips and handed out some workbooks with practice problems. I thought it was worth the 3 hours, if nothing else just for a change in study routine. Also, never having taken the exam before, it gave some insight into test day, etc. That was helpful. It is also worth noting that this was about 3 blocks from my work, so no extra investment of time or transportation was neccessary. All of that said, I am leaning towards not going to the free one this year, so take that for what it’s worth.
If you combine the statistic of US and Canada as a region (North America), I think North American had a higher pass rate in L2 last year than European. Stalla didn’t say where the statistics come from. I would presume they obtain the numbers from CFAI. The workshop last Saturday was ok. Peter Olinto was the speaker and he showed us a few tricks on how to solve complex FSA problems (e.g. how to calculate translation loss, how to handle consolidation method, and also equity valuation). He went pretty fast though, so I believe only a few people among the audience managed to follow his tricks. His writings on the overhead would probably be easier to read if he has more time on hands. Olinto told us his background is in accounting, so naturally he has a lot to share about the FSA section. There was also a lucky draw at the end, which they gave out $50 Stalla gift certificates to the winners. I didn’t win anything though. 
From the American point of view, i do not understand why we arent winning the CFA race… Its written in our native language, our language accounting (US GAAP)… come on guys, lets pick it up here… Disclaimer - I already failed L1, which was written in my native language and native accounting standards
"If you combine the statistic of US and Canada as a region (North America), I think North American had a higher pass rate in L2 last year than European. " If the pass rate is simply (Number of candidates who pass)/(Total number of candidates), it is obviously impossible mathematically for Europe to have higher pass rate than both US and Canada individually, and at the same time to have a lower pass rate than Canada and US combined.
I always interpret the regional stats as (# of Candidates from a region who passed L2 exam) / (Total # of Candidates from that region who enrolled in the L2 exam). The reason? I believe the 4th was Asia and there is no way you could have another 40s% of pass rate.
yes, but if you define Europe pass rate=# of Europeans who pass/# of Europeans who enroll US pass rate=# of US citizens who pass/# of US citizens who enroll Canada pass rate=# of Canadians who pass/# of Canadians who enroll North America pass rate = (# of Canadians who pass + # of US citizens who pass)/(# of Canadians who enroll + # of US citizens who enroll) and if Europe pass rate > US pass rate and Europe pass rate > Canada pass rate, then it is still impossible to have Europe pass rate < North America pass rate
Ok I got your idea. You are asserting, in general, a/b + c/d not= (a+c)/(b+d).
All interesting stuff. I wonder if the pass rate of 44% (or 46% as reported by the CFA institute) included the 22% of no shows. That would mean 56% of the people who turned up passed. I feel better already. On another note the below link to the CAF press release shows the pass rate for all three exams but not the level 2 exam as mentioned above. For all three exams Europe had the highest pass rate. https://www.cfainstitute.org/aboutus/press/release/08releases/20080819_02.html
I don’t understand how US candidates can a have a worse pass rate than Europe, except maybe if you consider that: 1) Education in US sucks. 2) Education in US sucks. 3) Education in US sucks. If you have some time to read : http://www.siteselection.com/ssinsider/snapshot/sf011210.htm Article showing that the average US citizen is behind most of the citizens of the other countries he does not even consider (when he/she does know the name of the country I mean).
CFAdreams Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > From the American point of view, i do not > understand why we arent winning the CFA race… > Its written in our native language, our language > accounting (US GAAP)… come on guys, lets pick it > up here… > > Disclaimer - I already failed L1, which was > written in my native language and native > accounting standards I believe its motivation…some people outside the US use the CFA, CPA as means to get citizenship/green card, if you are studying to get a better life then I think you’ll think of it as a life or death situation… P.S. US GAAP is very difficult and confusing
noytmikcap Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > P.S. US GAAP is very difficult and confusing +100 and more…
I am more inclined to agree. After I have gone through the FSA materials for L2, I found GAAP quite ad hoc and confusing at times.
matthieuboizard Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I don’t understand how US candidates can a have a > worse pass rate than Europe, except maybe if you > consider that: > 1) Education in US sucks. > 2) Education in US sucks. > 3) Education in US sucks. > > If you have some time to read : > http://www.siteselection.com/ssinsider/snapshot/sf > 011210.htm > > Article showing that the average US citizen is > behind most of the citizens of the other countries > he does not even consider (when he/she does know > the name of the country I mean). I agree with you that US education is in really poor shape. Its sad really and the solution of throwing money at the problem isn’t really going to work either. No real plan is there and there is a lack of leadership. Should be a lot more incentives based, perhaps getting higher institutions/private sector involved through tax breaks etc…
eltia Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Here are some interesting statistics relating to > CFA L2 exam in 2008 as released by Stalla last > Saturday during their free problem solving > workshop: > > Pass rate: 44% > People who didn’t write the exam (a.k.a. no show): > 22% > Top 3 regions with highest pass rate (highest > first): Europe, US, Canada. (I believe the > percentages are around 46%, 44% and 43% > respectively.) > > A related comment is that the portion of > calculation oriented questions is around 35-40%. > This seems to be an overall statistics based on > prior years of L2 exam. The overall curve for > pass rate is on a steady decline. About 1/5 > enrolled in the program earned their Charter. As far as Europe’s pass rate being greater than that of the US and Canada, well we need to do a much further analysis. What are the number of people taking the test in Europe vs. US & Canada? What are their professions? What type of degree(s) did they earn? Age? Etc… Its inappropriate to compare numbers in this manner. The US has the most CFA candidates and a chunk come from non-finance or accounting related industries. Anyone remember the plumber that wanted to earn the charter??? European candidates maybe primarily in finance so this might be the reason for the higher pass rates. European pass rates could possibly be even higher, but fall due to language barriers. We don’t know because we do not have this data. So it is unfair to make the assesment that we have a lower pass rate simply due to our poor education system. This could very well be the reason, but without further data, the assertion is totally unwarrented.
I totally agree on that. That’s what I would have said if I had more time to write, and less incentive to criticize the US… 