Hi guys, Is there any criteria that we have to pass each and every sub-section separately or there will be combined cut off. some1 told me that we have to pass Ethics section separately. Please reply back asap…
I think there’s a lot of info like this goes round, and I’m not 100% certain what the rules are. The way I understand it is your overall score is the only pass/fail criteria, however if you are on the border line, i.e. MPS is 68% and you get 68%, its the ethics score that decides if you’re pass or fail. However, I’m not completely sure, so maybe somebody else knows?
I’ve heard of people (not many) passing while failing ethics. From my understanding, if you are above the MPS you can pass even with a fail in ethics. If you are borderline, as Bexter said, passing Ethics can bump you into a passing grade.
L2 here - its very important to pass ethics, but i’ve seen people pass while failing ethics. but mostly, ethics is easy points
CzarHC are you sure I mean is this any policy of CFA institute like if I am on border line they will decide based on performance in Ethics section because I didn’t find any thing regarding that on their site. In case if it is true what is minimum score to pass Ethics or that also depend on students performance and vary every year.
do we think 68% is a good guess for the MPS? I thought it was lower than this.
jmaldonado, They have never released the MPS but the thinking is that it is close to 70 depending on how hard the exam is. From what I’ve heard 70 is a lock to pass. NeerajDBA, I don’t know if it’s a written policy.
I passed level 2 while failing ethics. not the best way to go, but it’s not a requirement to pass ethics - just puts you in a hole if you don’t.
Wait a min !! Jut111 you just said that you passed while failing ethics. Which means that if I fail derivatives I can still pass this ? If that’s true you already made my day. Because this is what I have been thinkin that if you fail one section you fail all. Btw are you a punjabi jutt ? 
nope - boring american. but yes it’s a cumulative exam. you can fail multiple sections <50 and still pass the exam. you could get every derivatives question wrong but as long as you cumlatively score above the MPS you’re golden. but i’d brush up for derivatives for level 2, if you think deriv’s are hard here your in for a real treat at II.
I guess this is still not clear about passing criteria. One thing got clear that there is no such criteria to pass individual section but still its not clear that in case of score at border line of MPS how they will decide to pass/fail one? will they count Ethics score or not, still not clarified? By the way all people telling here their experience that they got failed in one section but still clear the exam, Did CFA institute tell us individual score of each n every section and combined score or not?
I think the point here is that CFAI have no clear plublished guidleines on this, just in the same way they don’t like to publish details of the MPS, so it is mainly conjecture. And yes Neeraj, whe you get you’re results you’re given a matrix, which has a star in a box for which level you got in the ten categories, where the grades are <50, 50-70, and >70 Aim of the game is to get all the stars in >70 but you definately don’t need to pass all levels to pass the exam.
well news for all of you guys, I sent the same query to CFA guys and just got response from their side which I am posting here and yes what Bexter told in the starting Ethics is deciding criteria of passing for borderline students. Dear Mr. Bhatia, Thank you for contacting us. The Board of Governors instituted a policy many years ago to place particular emphasis on ethics. Starting with the 1996 exams, the performance on the ethics section became a factor in the pass/fail decision for candidates whose total scores bordered the minimum passing score. The ethics adjustment can have a positive or negative impact on these candidates’ final results. CFA Institute has a policy of not releasing either the minimum passing score or individual candidate scores. Consequently, CFA Institute does not release specific information about the ethics adjustment or the candidates who were affected. The adjustment has had a net positive effect on candidate scores (and thus pass rates) in most exam sessions. The published pass rates therefore always take into account the ethics adjustment for borderline candidates.