I’d say pass rate is about 41%
I was Band 10 in December and am also trying not to be paranoid. I will say this exam was easier. I was pressed for time in December but finished both sections in just over two hours this time. I think the pass rate will be between 35 and 38% After the December exam everyone on here was saying how well they did I don’t see that in the posts this time. Relax and enjoy the next 60 days. After you get the results, then freak out becuase it’s either redo or level 2 both…
Has anyone put together a graph of L1 pass rates? It would be rather boring though. From 46% in June last year to 33% in December could be deemed a tad harsh. They’ll need to bump it up if CFAI wanted to increase revenue. I can smell conspiracy theory… My guess for pass rate is high 30s or low 40s.
Jay, I have the same exp as you. I took the Dec Lvl 1 and FAILEd… but compared to the Dec eaxm June was a breeze, I cant mention some call and put questions that still haunt me… there was nothing as tough in this one. Maybe it is survivorship bias?? but I guess dec student studied their ass of as I expected a tough exam… the online test were tough compared to the real exam. Scored 75+ on schwser and 68 on the online sample test… feeling good but we shall see… I studied from Feb till June and put it over 800 hours… for this bad boy… Oh BTW whats up with all these Asian girls taking the CFA… … I had couple in the lib and they turned from cute in march to smoking HOT in June…lol…
you guys that failed and said december was harder do realize that the june exam seems easier after you studied the same material for another 4 months right. Thus resulting in you knowing it better a 2nd time around and thinking this one was “easier” when in reality its probably just you that made the improvement in understanding the concepts
where were all these hot girls? what city? san fran was broke down.
Hey bpsny01 - Thanks for the commentary lol. The library has turned into the best places to pick up hot fresh college chicks while studying 500+ hours for the CFA exam haha… sdanalyst - This June exam was by far much easier. There was alot of concecptual stuff on the June exam, but it was pretty basic. In December they built the conceptual stuff into very long and drawn out Quant problems. And it was one after another after another…This made for some serious time contraints, more pressure, and a bigger headache…I have no problem answering quant problems either. In fact, I was dissapointed that this exam in June was more quantative in nature. I can assure all of you who failed this exam, dont expect it to be this easy this next December…
My CFA equations bring all the hot asian girls to the yard, and they’re like “these not hard”
Forgive me if I tend to think the CFA doesnt put out exams with that much variance in the difficulty. I’ll side with the fact that while in your mind it may seem more difficult, in actuality the difference may be in your head. I’m pretty sure if I took the December exam and then studied for another 4 months for this one I would find it much easier too…agree to disagree
Even I took dec 2009 exam and failed in Band 10. I have a feeling that jun exam was much easier compared to last dec because of the following reason(s). 1. There were less long questions and not many confusing questions. 2. Ethics were very short and straight. 3. Last but not least previous exam experience counts. I feel i did good this time, will wait and see what happens.
I think it is very naive to think that the CFA doesnt put out exams that very in difficulty. It has been speculated that the Institute uses the “modified angoff” method in order to adjust the pass rates and to correct for differences in the degree of difficulty between any given exam. However, this is a grading method that is done after the fact. So in other words, it is very possible to have a December exam that was much more diificult than a June exam. In addition, many will tell you that the December exam is much more difficult, historically speaking. Now, whether this is because the CFA is puposefully creating this way is a different story…
tell you what…we all can say that it was easy because we knew what was being asked…and had conceptual command…not everyone had it…i can still remember people indicating average AM session performance while in break and discussing the wrong choices that they had marked so take ease that if it was easy for you, it wasn’t that easy for rest of the candidates…hope for the best and leave behind the rest…
and about 90% score being MPS…makes me laugh…
I guess call me naive then, I didnt say they werent varying difficulties but I in no way agree that there is as much of a spread as you are indicating between the two. I mean look what you wrote…75-80%. Gimme a break pal, THAT is naive
I scored in band 10 last June and didn’t test again in December. Although I think I did better/passed, overall, I don’t feel this years exam was easier than last June, with the exception of Ethics. The Ethics questions this year were a lot shorter and I thought there were a few that were extremely obvious. I don’t remember any of last years Ethics questions being as obvious… I imagine the MPS will be right at 70, if not exactly 70, but I don’t think the CFAI wants to run the risk of failing someone who scores > 70 in all topics, considering that is what they have set as a “good score.” The entire reason they decided to show score bands was to let failed candidates know what areas they needed to improve in. If someone were to fail with > 70 in all topics it would defeat the purpose. Last year I was > 70 in 45% of the exam (including Ethics) and 50-70 in the rest. I would imagine this years band 10 people to have similar a similar breakdown.
I just wanted to bump this to show that people had the same reactions to the level 1 test in June that many are having now. The MPS will still be below 70 and the pass rate will likely be around 40%. Everyone needs to remember that there is an extremely small sample size on these forums.
nickfaulkner Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Jay- my advice is as follows: > > 1. After work, go to the local drug store. > > 2. Buy some Xanax > > 3. Go home and take Xanax > > 4. Repeat steps 1 through 3 every day till you get > your results. LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!
Guys, Use some of what you learned in CFA level 1!!! The sample we have here is biased by sample selection … It only includes people who CARE about the exam and took preparing the exam SERIOUSLY and so the easiness of exam in our point of view is overstated compared to the population If you want an unbiased sample, you should have taken sample of people at the testing center 
Omar
Maybe stratified random sampling from all test centers around the world? that would be even more accurate
Haha ! Well done Omar !