Hey Doshi, Just wanted to say thanks for the list of important topics u sent out few weeks before the exam - really came handy. How did u do ? - Sejal
I did not do well 
However, I m hoping to get to my books soon. I want to nail it in June. How was ur exam?
Unfortunately I did not time myself well in the morning and missed about 15 questions in my strong areas. Did much better in the PM. I think I am very much on the borderline - it might come down to just a few questions deciding my fate.
same here. I was miserably off on the timing in the AM session. Guessed 15 questions in FSA - now, thats a disaster. So in the PM session , I started with FSA and found myself working pretty well on the timing part. However, overall I don’t feel confident enough of passing the exam. Borderline candidate.
Well this gives me hope, with a quick glance at the first two pages I see 2 people who passed with <50 in three subjects one was Econ, Deriv, PM another Alt Inv, Econ and FI analysis There were also a couple people who had <50 in two subject and passed too. Of course there was the one guy who had >51 but <70 in everything and still failed, ouch.
Exactly the same for me - i blindly marked about 15 questions in FSA in the morning in the last 15 seconds or something - felt like it was all over for me. Think i spent too much time stupidly pondering over some ethics questions. In the evening I started with FSA too, then Asset Valuation and then moved back to the beginning - had a couple of minutes to spare. I’ll have to work on my speed if i have to do this again.
Yea trek. My observation of the scores tell me that one would need minimum 62-65% overall AND 70% plus scores in 2-3 key areas to pass the test.
this makes me feel worse, actually. i don’t know why.
Thanks, Doshi. Below are my favs: 40/60/80 score = 62% Level 1: Pass Multiple Choice Q# Topic Max Pts <=50% 51%-70% >70% - Alternative Assets 12 - - * - Derivatives 12 * - - - Economics 24 - - * - Equity Analysis 24 * - - - Ethical & Professional Stnds. 36 - - * - Financial Statement Analysis 68 - * - - Fixed Income Analysis 24 - * - - General Portfolio Management 12 * - - - Quantitative Analysis 28 - * - Level 1: Pass The table below illustrates your subject matter strengths and weaknesses. The three columns on the right are marked with asterisks to indicate your performance on each question or topic area. Multiple Choice Q# Topic Max Pts <=50% 51%-70% >70% - Alternative Assets 12 - * - - Derivatives 12 - - * - Economics 24 * - - - Equity Analysis 24 - * - - Ethical & Professional Stnds. 36 - - * - Financial Statement Analysis 68 - * - - Fixed Income Analysis 24 * - - - General Portfolio Management 12 - - * - Quantitative Analysis 28 - * - Level 1: Pass The table below illustrates your subject matter strengths and weaknesses. The three columns on the right are marked with asterisks to indicate your performance on each question or topic area. Multiple Choice Q# Topic Max Pts <=50% 51%-70% >70% - Alternative Assets 12 - - * - Derivatives 12 * - - - Economics 24 * - - - Equity Analysis 24 - - * - Ethical & Professional Stnds. 36 - * - - Financial Statement Analysis 68 - - * - Fixed Income Analysis 24 - - * - General Portfolio Management 12 * - - - Quantitative Analysis 28 - - * PASS!!! Multiple Choice Q# Topic Max Pts <=50% 51%-70% >70% - Alternative Assets 12 - * - - Derivatives 12 * - - - Economics 24 * - - - Equity Analysis 24 - - * - Ethical & Professional Stnds. 36 - * - - Financial Statement Analysis 68 - - * - Fixed Income Analysis 24 * - - - General Portfolio Management 12 - * - - Quantitative Analysis 28 - * - Level 1: Pass The table below illustrates your subject matter strengths and weaknesses. The three columns on the right are marked with asterisks to indicate your performance on each question or topic area. Multiple Choice Q# Topic Max Pts <=50% 51%-70% >70% - Alternative Assets 12 - * - - Derivatives 12 * - - - Economics 24 - - * - Equity Analysis 24 - - * - Ethical & Professional Stnds. 36 - - * - Financial Statement Analysis 68 - * - - Fixed Income Analysis 24 * - - - General Portfolio Management 12 - * - - Quantitative Analysis 28 * - -
^ interesting common theme in the above passes is that each one has either above 70% in ethics or FAS.
Wow look at that ! - especially the last one - I like the ones with FSA in the 50-70 range - that way we know for sure they did’nt pass because they Aced FSA with 90%plus
I think the passing number is the passing number (total overall avg score on 240q). This distribution is simply to let you know where you suck. So if the bell curve says passing is 68% then you better hope you got that many questions right overall.
yeah but if they normalize the scores (does anyone know if they do?), you’ll get more of a boost if you’re in the meaty part of the curve.
Multiple Choice Q# Topic Max Pts <=50% 51%-70% >70% - Alternative Assets 12 - * - - Derivatives 12 * - - - Economics 24 * - - - Equity Analysis 24 - - * - Ethical & Professional Stnds. 36 - * - - Financial Statement Analysis 68 - - * - Fixed Income Analysis 24 * - - - General Portfolio Management 12 - * - - Quantitative Analysis 28 - * - This definitely seems like a close call.
^^ I’d be willing to be whomever that was absolutely destroyed FSA.
From what I’ve heard is that they have a min (least # of correct answers) and max (obvious) (both after filtering outliers) and that forms your curve. Then they select 2 points on the curve such that 97% of the candidates can be segregated as passed or failed (below the lower of the 2 points is failed and the ones above the higher point passed). The remaining 3% in between are analyzed for how well they did starting with Ethics, Quant, PM in that order and determine pass or fail.
Since I’m a computer science major, I was wondering if one could actually do some Data mining on it (using regression or whatever) and actually figure out a rule which for more than 90% of the time tells you correctly if the person passed or failed. (Just an idea – if your not a CS major, sorry for the jargon)
I think I come to be around 67%… Does that give me a chance… I’v heard anything below 70 is hazy