New to the forum and CFA, with 44 days left I am starting to review all the topics, wanted to know people’s thoughts on the mocks vs the actual exam. Would people say that the Kaplan Mocks and CFA Mocks are equivalent in difficulty level to the actual CFA? Would a passing score on mocks sets you up nicely for the actual or would you suggest something along 75% or 80% on mocks to be in a good position for the CFA?
I was planning on taking all the mocks possible (6 Kaplan & 2 CFA) between now and the exam, along with reviewing notes I’ve taken from the readings. What are others doing to wrap up and tie together the material or would that be the general consensus?
Just my opinion, but I thought the Schweser/Kaplan mock exams to be equivalent in difficulty to the exam. I found the real exam to be more clearly worded than Schweser mocks, which I really appreciated. I thought the CFAI mock exam was modestly more difficult than the real thing.
If you’re scoring 75% to 80% on either Schweser or CFAI mock under legitimate test conditions, you’re in very good shape. You want to be over 70% on the mocks – I found getting near 80% last year on Level I mocks to be quite difficult. Major props to those that hit those levels but don’t get upset if you’re not up there. You’re still in the game if you’re in the 60’s but getting consistently over 70% (test conditions) means you know the material well enough to pass…though you’ve gotta perform on test day. My feeling is you’ve got nothing to be nervous about if you know the material well but others are different.
I took the CFAI mock and the online schweser mock for L1. The CFAI mock is much more like the real thing than schweser for obvious reasons. I thought the CFAI mock was about on par with the real thing in terms of difficulty. As the previous poster noted, 70% is the crucial score. If you get over 70% on the CFAI mock, you’re probably going to pass the exam, under 70% and you’re in the danger zone and need to shore up weak areas.
Personally, I found the Schweser and CFA mocks to be equivalent in difficulty. For some reason I found the wording of the CFA mock to be a little more straightforward and I either 'knew the answer or I didnt". I forward the comment from the poster above, 70% is critical for success. Interestingly, I scored 70% consistently on the Schweser mocks and on the CFA mock so I in the end I guess there was not much between them.
I’ve found Schweser to be far easier than any of the CFA Mocks. IMO, it seems the Schweser are a bit more straight forward with less “tricks” than the CFA mocks.
I think CFA exams are the closest to reality…however, Kaplan exams might look much easier…
one can look at other options as well… I have been doing questions from a QBank Provider… www.best-attempt.com and found the content very good…I am going to attempt the mocks starting next week and hope that they will also be good…cheers!