What are peoples thoughts on the Kaplan Mocks. I just took the first exam and was pretty surprised by how low the difficulty level seemed especially compared to their level 2 mocks. I hope that is a function of the level of effort i put into the exam, but at the same time I’m not sure as a large potion of the morning the exam seemed to be freebie points (a large number of points for some easy plug and chug calculations?).
I’m going to go run through another mock next week and I’m saving the CFAI mocks for the last 30 days.
I believe Kaplan’s PMs are harder than their AMs. I did CFAI’s 2014 AM (the only CFAI AM I’ve done so far), and it is not materially more difficult than the 3 Schweser 2017 Volume 1 AMs I’ve done thus far. That being said, CFAI’s AM was for some reason more time intensive, I barely finished on time, while with Schweser’s AMs I finished with 15 minutes to spare on average. My Scores across the Schweser AMs and the CFAI AM were somewhat similar, +/- 5%. (I tried to mark myself against the guideline answers with the same amount of rigor across all AM exams, attempting to be as consistent as possible).
No sir, not yet. I am planning to soon, not sure quite when yet, maybe end of April. Correct me if I’m wrong but the CFAI mock online is all item sets, right?
I did the first Schweser Mock AM and PM this past weekend. The AM portion was not very realistic as compared to the actual CFA past morning exams. The afternoon was a bit better in terms of difficulty and realism. I always feel the Schweser exams get progressively harder as you go. Overall, was a good warm-up to mock exam season.
I think the schweser mocks are more reflective of the actual CFAI exam in the sense it feels like a shorter version but the underlying fundamentals and principals make me feel like i’m sitting for an actual CFAI test. Let me clarify more the schweser mocks are easier but it’s easier in the sense that the vignette are shorter, easier to read, lot less extra information junk to throw you off. But it does a great job testing you if you understood the readings.
When I did a Wiley Mock I was like wtf is this %$#@*!, I just felt like it was off a little and didn’t get the same feeling. But people have liked both so I would say to stick with what you know. I definitely don’t recommend using to many sources of information, especially this far into the game. I remember using both for level 2 and ending up stopped using Wiley because it was just too different with 2 months to go.
Too much information and too much details. I am curious if there are more than 1% of candidates in total population who are able to well cover more than 75 % of material. This is situation specific to level 3 and this was not such issue with L1 and L3 where we were able by hard practicing to solve over the 90 % questions during days heading to exam.
I find level 3 interesting probably because I’ve work in consulting and currently the plan sponsor side. But L3 is the most useful for me because it’s what I do day to day. Yes there are some nuances where things aren’t applicable to the real world. But when you are talking to these PM and such you just think back to yourself constantly OH YEAH i learned about this.
Besides failing to my own behavior bias of over confidence, the one thing I realized this year is that L3 covers everything you need to know. But there are so many scenarios and variables they only go over 1 side and the rest you have to figure out yourself. But it’s not like rocket science you just need to think. For example my convexity questions, CFAI goes over 1 scenario but not the other 3. But they give enough information that “I should” be able to figure it out. For me I learn best with examples so if they don’t cover it I might fail to miss it.
interesting, i actually take the view that’s its good to use a few different mock providers to build some resiliency / diversity as no one provider perfectly reflects CFA and there is sometimes material is in official material which doesn’t show in each provider. I use Kaplan study notes and mock exams, but somebody recommended Wiley’s mocks from last year.
That’s why i recommend people to start their mocks as early as possible. If one brand doesn’t work, either the questions are too easy or not well structure, or the answers/ explanations are inadequate, you can switch to another provider and source other books.
Having said that, ANY brand is far better than nothing.
I have joined study groups and studied with other candidates and most certainly all of us cover at least 90% of the material well. There are going to be a section or two that each person is uncomfortable with, i call them blind spots. But you need to know at least 90% of the material to pass because you still have to factor in silly mistakes and nerves and time management, etc…
I know it’s a lot of material, but all of us have done the same thing, just power through it, best of luck
