we’ve all heard people say that…anyone think its true? i personally found it to be the hardest, and i had the lowest scores of any level
Definitely the hardest. It was so much less plug and chug than the other two levels. It is the only level that I feel, if you don’t fully understand the material, and how it could be applied in situations not shown in the textbooks, you are toast!
I found level 2 and level 3 to be equally challenging, but in different ways. Level 2 due to the volume of content, but level 3 due to the required synthesis of content. I should note that i wrote level 3 a couple years ago. I personally found level 1 to be the easiest for a couple reasons: 1) a good chuck of the material was review from my undergrad program and 2) previous correspondence courses that taught me how to sit down and study on my own time. That’s just my two cents.
i always thought the hardest test was the one you’re taking that year. 2 was a complete pain in the butt for me. but you can’t let up for 3. it’s very hard as well. i worked hardest at 3 to help ensure (though no guaranty) that i would be ‘one and done’ at 3… even doing that, i still had no idea after taking the test if i would get a pass or fail. felt like it was a toss up. only think i felt confident about was that i nailed am and bombed pm… and of course it turned out the other way around.
If you make it to L3 then we need to disregard L1. That is just finance 101. L2 material was harder, L3 test was much much much harder, passing L3 was much easier.
L2 is a beast
I’d say it depends on your background and preferences. People with an accounting background will find L2 easier, people with a portfolio management / risk management background will find L3 easier. People who are good at multiple choice and not good at writing will prefer L2 over L3. etc…
L3 was, for me, a lot easier than L2. But I’m a native English speaker and a fast test-taker and my background is in personal wealth management. I can imagine someone whose primary language was not English and who is a lot more deliberate in their test-taking approach and who did financial reporting statement analysis for a living could easily have found L3 to be a lot more trouble. But like BayArea stated, the fact that L2 was such a pain in the butt was a big motivator in terms of not letting up and “coasting” for L3. Both L2 and L3 are way more serious curricula than L1.
I thought each test was equally challenging, but for different reasons. Level 1 was pure plug/chug memorization and a hell of alot of it. I was finance undergrad and still had to prepare extensively for it. Its not like i had to take a cumulative finance undergrad test ever before level 1. I tended to discard old material/courses from my memory, after consuming large amounts of alcohol of course. Level 2 was more plug/chug but with added burden of reading an item set, interpreting novel question sets. That was a huge adjustment from level 1. Its easy to say those questions are easy now since our brains have been wired for it. But initially that was extremely challenging + FSA was quite daunting. Level 3 was a new kind of animal. I failed it my first go in 2010. I’ve passed it this year but still don’t feel like an expert at writing those IPS questions and nailing them. It was always hit or miss. This has been a four year journey for me. I started at 21 years old at my first job out of college. I finished it after completing a top-20 MBA at the age of 25. Its definitely been a transformative learning experience. I have a much deeper understanding of Finance than I’ve gotten from my academic studies. Now just a matter of applying it and getting the experience.
Well, it’s certainly easy to convince yourself that L3 material is easy, since the concepts are so fuzzy. However, the material is tested in an oddly specific (and in my opinion, sometimes unfair) way. This makes the L3 exam harder than L1 or L2.
i have heard this alot…is the L3 material really easier than L2? If yes how so?
I think level 3 is definitely more difficult. I studied my ass off for this thing and still did not pass. Anyone who beleives that level 3 is any easier will get a rude awakening come results day.
LOL!!! Yea right! The idea that level 3 is easier than level 2 is a myth. Maybe it was true back in the day when the pass rate was in the 70’s, but it is not applicable now.
The AM session of L3 makes it harder. You can lose a lot of points by running out of time, writing answers too short, missing out on keywords that they’re looking for, etc. Multiple choice is just so much easier that this topic is a non starter in terms of which one is the hardest test. Now, if they tested L2 material in L3 format…that would be awful.
level 3 is so deceptive …all be warned some will fall prey to thinking that it is easy …alas
I think a lot of it depends on what experience people have. I didn’t think level 2 was too hard, but I failed level 3. I work in valuation though. People in wealth management probably think level 3 is considerably easier than level 2 because they do a lot of the crap everyday.
I thought level 1’s material was reasonable though broad, PM session felt bad so thought I failed. Level 2 I couldn’t grasp some concepts as I didn’t spent enough time thinking Nah its x% I’ll take care of it later. And some concepts were deep! Came out thinking sure I failed. Level 3 I thought was reasonably fun and easier. The schweser online class helped coach me in answering the AM short but precise. I knew what they wanted in Portfolio management questions and gave it in few words point form. Came out the most confident of 3 levels. Of course I got lucky coz I didn’t spend hours memorizing gips. This comes from a guy with 0 finance related work experience.
L3 at first glance seems the easiest. But turn out I had the worse passing score. L1: got 8/10 over 70% L2: got 9/10 over 70% L3? got 7/17 over 70% Ouch… I had a feeling I did not do well in AM L3 but turn out it was much worse than I though. Good thing I had a solid performance in PM and that what pulled me through. I thought I did slightly better than when I walked out from L2 exam. Turn out I barely passed. Anyway, I’m glad I’m done!
Although i havent taken LIII yet (took LI in Dec and LII in Jun, and found LII to be MUCH tougher than LI), heres my take from all i’ve read/heard about LIII. The material on the exam (ie the content, topics etc) is easier than LII The exam itself is tougher because of the question format. Is this a fair statement for those of you who have taken it? -Thanks
L3 for me was the hardest. Passed all 3 in first try but got lowest grades in L3. L1: got 9/10 over 70% and no below 50% L2: got 8/10 over 70% and no below 50% L3: got 8/17 over 70% and 6/17 below 50%