KJH, Please don’t be taking this the wrong way if ever you think what I wrote is insulting because that’s totally not my intention. You are so knowledgeable in Finance from previous posts you have made, and you were always very helpful in answering perople’s questions. Why do you think you failed the exam? Was it because you didn’t study enough or because it was damn tricky, or you were hungover? Just surprised and curious…
Here is what I really think. I really appreciate the compliment about being knowledgeable, however I consider myself far from a smart person. College confirmed this when I realized how much more I needed to study than my peers to obtain good grades. I began studying in December. January I kicked it into high gear. I ran though the material very fast and was finished by March. Reviewing was another story. It was incredible to me to realize how much I did not retain. April and May were total review. Granted this was alot of review time, I feel like I should have understood the material better from the get go instead of just reading. This time I will be hitting Qbank dang near every study session to ensure I have that LOS down before moving on. It should be not as long as it sounds since alot of the preparation for December will be review. If you noticed, I was on the fence the whole way to June. I barely broke 70 a handful of times on practice exams. It is really a shame the CFAI brought the pass rate to a brutal 35%. Had it been more than that, I’m sure I would have passed. I appreciate the compliment that I was helpful, although I know I screwed around, ranted, vented, etc just as much on this board. I’m going to curb those posts for December. A suggestion to those coming up in December, do not wait to take a full Qbank/Practice Vol 1 exam. That was a huge turning point in my preparation once I realized how much more I needed to know to pass.
On a side note I went to a CFA Society lunch presentation on using markets to predict markets yesterday. I sat at a table with one other individual. Much to my surprise, the president of the society came and sat right next to me. The table soon filled with other individuals. After some small chit chat, he says to everyone at the table, “35% pass rate on level 1!” Everyone’s jaw hits the floor as they shake their heads in disbelief while muttering, “Glad I got out when I did.” To break the ice a bit, I say, “Unfortunately I was in the majority of that pool.” The president looks at me and says, “Don’t let it get to you, register for December and you’ll be fine with your finance background. It took my NINE years to get my Charter!” If president of the CFA Society doesn’t even bat an eye at a fail, then I’m not going to either. December will be here soon enough and I’ll pass that to be right back on track for Level 2 in June.
That’s the spirit! You don’t need luck, you’ll do great and we’ll be happy to have you on the other side of the fence next Jan!
KJH, I’m following a similar approach. I’m going to finish a book and then kill qbank and the CFA text questions right after each book. I won’t have the problem of forgetting after each book since it won’t take me more than a week to finish a book now that I’m on the second read. I’m sure if I would have gotten 50-70 on quant, I’d be ordering LII right now. Son of A &*R#($ Cheers
KJH- I like the story about the president of the society. Makes me feel a little better about my situation. I plan on quickly rereading schweser and then hitting the Q-bank and CFA questions, however i did most of the Q-bank for the june exam. Is there another source to get quality practice questions and exams? Has anyone tried the Schweser lecture CD’s?
ryan19 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > KJH- I like the story about the president of the > society. Makes me feel a little better about my > situation. > > I plan on quickly rereading schweser and then > hitting the Q-bank and CFA questions, however i > did most of the Q-bank for the june exam. > > Is there another source to get quality practice > questions and exams? > Has anyone tried the Schweser lecture CD’s? Thanks man. I liked that alot too. I went to work studying knowing I would’nt fall short and fail. Well, here I am now registered for December. I used the Schweser lecture CD’s. I liked them and will be watching them a second time around.
it think it is a good thing to start early. first, you finish the reading very early, then you start taking Qbank questions, do like 1500 questions. After that, you will know what are your weakest topics, go back and read. Then, go back to Q bank and do another 1500 quetions. and See where do you stand, if you need to touch up some areas go back and do so. you can easily do 100 questions a day so 1500 question will only take 15 days combined will be a month of Q bank. finally, and i am assuming you have one month or month and half left, you do the online practice and mock exams, then find out your weakest part and go back and do final revision on them. So, bottom line, i think starting early is a very good thing i dont see why some people complaining about it. Good luck to all of us.
Hi KJH, I am a new comer and I will attend the Dec 08 Level I exam. I just got my CFA textbooj and Schweser package. I am wondering how I get start. There are a lot of textbook and I have no idea which one I should read first. I read some post from this forum and most of the member suggest to read the FSA and ethic first. And they suggest to read the Schweser test than Q bank and CFA textbook? Do you have any suggestion for me?
KJH Wrote: > The president looks at me and says, “Don’t let it > get to you, register for December and you’ll be > fine with your finance background. It took my > NINE years to get my Charter!” > > If president of the CFA Society doesn’t even bat > an eye at a fail, then I’m not going to either. > December will be here soon enough and I’ll pass > that to be right back on track for Level 2 in > June. so true. it took one the smartest people in my office 8 years to get his…everything from failing to moving to kids got in the way
Yea i think it definetly would have helped to watch them for the June exam…Thanks!
http://www.analystforum.com/phorums/read.php?11,800614 I would say follow this thread of people who passed. My tactic did not lead to success. That being said, start at the first book and go till the end. I’m not a fan of skipping as subjects seem to branch off of previous content (especially quant and fsa). Good Luck.
I like your confidence, KJH! I wish you good luck! As you and everyone might already have noticed, Luck is where preparation meets opportunity. I (probably many) strongly believe that its hard to pass any level without studying and understanding the CFA material, focusing on taking tests at the end of each reading, and constantly reviewing the concepts. I always feel that there is no substitute for sincerity and discipline. So, stay focussed and try not to get distracted often. Good Luck all!
Dude, I would say it depends on your understanding of the material. If you have a great conceptual understanding but are less attune to working through the technical detail, working problems repetitively will probably be more effective than reading the stuff over again for a third time. However, if your good at solving problems, but did not spend enough time solidifying your understanding conceptual base. Reading is probably a must. I’m reading some of this stuff and it’s like I know exactly what they are going to say next. In some cases I start reading a topic, realize I know it like the back of my hand, so I stop and start writing all the details of the topic that I can think of. Then I will go back and see if I missed anything. Clearly, for me, I need to just answer hundreds and hundreds of problems until those technical details are second nature, like the concepts. Everyone has to recognize their own strengths and weaknesses and attack their weaknesses with conviction. Leave your pride at the door. If something seems tough and you feel dumb because you can’t seem to “get it”, don’t trip, just attack it from as many angle as possible until it does. Embrace the fact that you don’t “get it” until you do.
Gouman, I can truly understand when you say you are able to conjecture what they would be saying next, and are able to write it all out, from memory. When we went to the Stalla Classes for L 1 - in DC – the first lecture on ethics (and subsequently Econ) was taught by the then President of the Washington CFA society. And he made the following statement a lot many times – (so much so, it stuck). There is the right way, the wrong way and the CFAI way. Make sure you know the CFAI way, otherwise, even if you followed what you are doing in your job or industry, it might not be the CFAI way, and hence you might end up getting questions wrong. This is just a thought, and I am not saying that you do not know what you do really know. Maybe follow thro’ the line of thinking in the text, and then write and review the notes later. That might help. And of course the QBank / Stalla Passmaster – though they seem to be highly quantitative, while the exam itself is quite qualitative, do bring those analysis skills and the important points together. CP
hi KJH; Unfortunately we are in the same boat, I failed with band 10 score 
what do u think would be a good retake strategy ? Do u plan to take level2 in June 09 (assuming u’ll pass the next seating) ? I’m redoing the practice questions without reading my notes just to check how much I truly memorized and it s*cks … I’ll try to keep a 2H every 2 days schedule until mid october; I had to seat other professional exams this winter and i’m now freaking out to face both exams…
D’Artagnan Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > hi KJH; > > Unfortunately we are in the same boat, I failed > with band 10 score > > what do u think would be a good retake strategy ? > Do u plan to take level2 in June 09 (assuming u’ll > pass the next seating) ? > > I’m redoing the practice questions without reading > my notes just to check how much I truly memorized > and it s*cks … > > I’ll try to keep a 2H every 2 days schedule until > mid october; I had to seat other professional > exams this winter and i’m now freaking out to face > both exams… D’Artagnan, What other exam you are preparing? Good luck!
management accounting exams in UK thanks I’ll need some luck !! I’m starting early but i don’t think I’ll be able to seat 3 exams + CFA L1 in the same week good luck to u too !
D’Artagnan, revise your strategy now about sitting in 4 exams in 1 week. that is too machinist . lol. relax yourself man. no need to rush.