any advice for me?
I failed BAND 1 
faled band 5 in 2012
failed band 8 in 2013
feel like giving up and stsart MBA
I strongly reccomend you listen to Aether’s words. This guy knows his stuff. Congrats buddy! On to Level III we go.
who the hell pays for schwser. They are the best but you can get all the stuff for free. piracy actually helped them become number 1.
just try once like the man in this video. Just see his determination
I failed Level II a whopping 6 times before I passed last year. Don’t think that becos u failed that u wasted a year or didn’t learn anything. The quicker u stop feeling sorry for urself and get to making a plan to pass next year increases ur chances at passing.
Like everyone else, u rocked some areas and sucked at others. Make sure u have a plan to address those areas u failed this year…but don’t think that u can relax at those areas u passed. During my years in Level 2, I often failed some of the areas I had passed the year before, while passing those I had failed the previous year.
Audit urself to figure out where u messed up; i.e. not enough readings, EOC questions, mocks at the end etc and decide how ur gonna put those things right this year. If nothing else, u don’t wanna end up in the same boat u were in on May 30th 2013, where u had the feeling that u just knew there was more u could have done but didn’t.
All the best and hope to see all of u passing in 2014.
Does anyone recommend NYSSA classes with Nathen Ronen?
…I failled…but thinking about retaking it…
Heard the classes are fine but there abt 100-150 ppl in class. The instructor’s good so I’ve heard.
Printed out my results email, wrote FAIL in big old blue letters at the top (to pin to my corkboard in my office), and a calendar from September 2013 to June 2014 to start planning out my studies. I plan on crushing this stupid thing next year.
Feel like a d-bag too. I ‘took’ the exam last year in that I showed up. Only 10 weeks of studying due to crazy work schedule and failed band 3. This year I studied close to 300 hours and used mostly Schweser and looked through EOC questions and failed band 9. Compared to those who have shared scores I must have squeaked by in band 9: >70% FRA, 50-70% in everything else, <50% Econ.
In a way, I feel like I only took the test once, so I’m not sure whether it’s worth taking it a third time. I’m also the only level 2 taker at my office that failed : (
If I had another 2 weeks to study I would have focused more on CFAI materials as opposed to finding more practice exams. The sample exams were a waste of money because all those questions were on the mock!
The question isn’t really about how many times you have tried and how hard did you study, but rather DO YOU STILL NEED TO COMPLETE THE PROGRAM?
is it just for show? ego? or do you need it for work? or advancement opportunity?
you have to go back to the original decision on WHY CFA in the first place.
If your life is not benefiting from completing L2, then give up! Life is too short to spend on things you likely won’t utilize.
NANA
I took 6 schweser mocks plus the CFAI mock. I spent too much time taking exams versus reviewing them. I got hung up on trying to get my scores up (never got above a 59 on a full mock). I failed band 5, I totally screwed up.
THAT’S A COMMON MISTAKE!!!
People take 10 mock exams and never really reviewed the answers thoughtfully. You would benefit more from taking 3 mocks but study the answers more carefully.
Although i have to say, the more the better, i did probably 10 mock exams before walking into each level (okay just L2 and L3, L1 i did maybe 5 mocks max).
And if you did 59% on your mocks, you are not ready… i would say you need at least 75%+ to have a chance.
That’s my humble opinion…
I failed at BAND 1 last year and passed this year.
Totally gave up last year, so not surprised once I received the result last year
You will be fine if you STUDY
I was doing mock not to get my scores up - I wanted to just focus on those that I answered wrongly - The only reason that I did more mocks (I did 2 only, anyway 1 from CFAI and 1 from schweser) was to get a hang of how the question could’ve been asked - so whenever I got a question wrong I review the entire concept as detailed as possible - so for question I got it wrong in the mocks I shall never be surprised if the same concept is asked in a similar way in the real exam.
Then again , I barely passed on my first try - my method might not work for you tho. Keep up the good work- you can get it next year if you do it right…
Not a retaker and the reason i passed in my first attempt is all down to practice,practice,practice…of as many questions i could lay my hands on.cannot stress enough the importance of EOC/blue boxes(did them 4 times over!) and mocks(did atleast 8 full and one partial).also relied heavily on the main curriculum for questions though schweser was my goto study guide.
i made sure to drill in the heavy weights and got >70 in them.studied all areas,no skipping though i must have spent more time doing equity,fra,ethics.got my hands on finquiz and though the questions were very hard on these,i feel they prepared me extremely well.
i started january but went in with the beast mode on and passed quite comfortably.best of luck to all the retakers.
“its not bout how hard you hit,its about how hard you get it and keep moving forward” get your beast mode on!
Would you mind sending me your email id Vicky ?
I plan on retaking after failing band 9. I’m a fucking marathoner, we don’t give up.
Was surprised to see my results:
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51-70 for FRA, ethics, and equity.
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>70 for corp fin, econ, and fixed income.
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>50 for alts, derivatives, and portfolio management.
Very disappointed and demoralised after blowing weeks of leave, studying exclusively from CFAI since December, doing all the EOC questions, creating flashcards, doing mocks, and all in all probably spending about 400 hours. Half of that just doing FRA, equity and corp fin, which I expected to be my strongest topics. I bootcamped intensively a few weeks before the exam and perhaps if I’d taken a week more leave I might have passed.
I still believe I had the right strategy, just not enough practice (despite the number of hours I put in), because a) I don’t work in a related field and b) it shows when I talk to buy side guys, I’m not comfortable with the curriculum. Clearly I deserve my result, so I’m going to stop feeling depressed right about now.
(I did smoke half a pack from 0, though, to get me through the day.)
Plan on posting often here to stay motivated and consistent with my studying. We can do this folks!
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The kicker is that this will be my fourth time doing the test. I had a lot of personal problems the first two years… Band 3 and band 1 studying almost exclusively from Schweser. I would prefer not to count those times, as I wasn’t even trying. Did not have the same problem with Level 1, I passed it after about a week of studying while in undergrad.
Very heartening to see folks chime in with “passed on my fourth time” in the results thread. Respect. Hope to be in your shoes in less than a year…
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Re: Nana’s question on why I’m doing this - it’s a mix of pride, networking opportunities the CFA opens up, and a good way to learn what is required to work in asset management as it complements an “apprenticeship” I’ve taken up very well.
Go get em man. Personally I feel very motivated from my failure. I run marathons as well, and the idea of giving up isn’t an option. We’ll get it next year.