Like I said, the transition from L2 to L3 was difficult. If I dig deeper, I think it started with Behavioral finance reading. coupled with private wealth I found the mixture shook me off balance. The asset allocation concepts were a blackbox.
I am saying coming from L2, where there were clear-cut formulae and concepts, L3 was vague. I felt like I was chasing a black cat in a dark room. Eventually I joined the real party. I just lost way in the meanwhile.
Specific topics I was not really worried. You can’t master each and every Los. There are gonna be hits and misses.
I found the reading on trading costs and implementation shortfall straegy to be the most difficult. All in all, the challenge to L3 is mastering or trying to master the AM session.
The difficult topics are different for different candidates. So you may want to identify these topics as soon as possible.
If I had to take L3 exam again, I would take a whole 3-hour AM exam(2011 or 2010) in early January after the first round of reading. In this way, you will find the weak or difficult areas, and then you can allocate more efforts on those areas.
PM item-set questions are as importatnt as the essay questions since their topics are usually NOT covered in AM. PM topics usually include Ethics(2), GIPS and Risk Management and Derivatives.
Sorry, but I have been out of the game for a while and now want to take a crack at Level III, but that practice exam you referred to, is that through Schweser? Thanks!
Retaking for 2013 and I’m not really looking forward to Book 5, Risk Management and all the Derivatives. Hoping it will be much better this time around.
I agree with Tulkuu and his comment on taking an exam early. At the very least, go through an old AM exam so you have an idea of what you’ll be facing as you read through the curriculum. The AM is no joke and requires plenty practice.
I saw plenty advice on the AM and time issues and thought I’d prepared well enough but struggled on game day. This time around I’m considering the mocks a topic of their own. A good knowledge base and understanding of topics may not translate to the right exam answers.