needhelp Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > OK by looking at CFAI questions it seems that you > dont really need to memorize lists. You need to > just unnderstand the material. Can someone > elaborate on the importance of memorizing lists > and such? Thanks. As long as you get all amswers right (or atleast 70% of them) doesnt matter whether you memorize or understand.
I took the free practice exam…and i think it emphasized more (70%) memorization than understanding (30%)…completetely different than L1 & L2…only a few calculations. I’ve been doing all the CFAI end of chapter problems…and now I feel like i am focusing too much on calcs than on qualitative points
speaking of practice exams- I am little disappointed they don’t include a wider range of topics…there is a ton of overlap of topics tested
cfacfa, which one did you take? how did you do on the exam?
careerchange- I just took my freebie…I dont think I had a choice to select which exam…It just said click here for prepaid exam or something…if you must know…i scored 43%…ethics i got an 84%…there was an item set on study session 9…that i got a 0 on. All in all…i’m glad i took it…i’m glad i bombed…it lit a fire under my a$*.
How many item sets are there? 3?
30 questions…5 item sets…6 questions per item set
For some reason I had 10 questiosn /item set in my head… The only thing I hate about taking these tests online is that you can’t underline, circle, cross-out, etc. I feel as if I can’t concentrate as well if it were on paper.
i know what you mean…i get very anxious too…because I know the right answer is comming the second after i submit it…i will rush…just so i can find out the right answer…it is a very good study tool though. I took one practice exam at L1…all of them for L2…and I plan on taking all of them again for L3.
I plan on taking all of them also, isnt’ there only 2 this year?? Plus the one freebie?
Yea, I think there are 2 additional ones…so 3 in total…but new this year…is something called a “Mock Exam”…its not available yet…will be in early may…its more expensive than the sample exams…and is a total of 60 item set questions.
^^thats 60 questions total…so your looking at 10 item sets.
Dudes, please answer my question dudes, and gals: Ok here is an example: Will the question be, what are the various Hedge Fund strategies? Or will it be, explain what is Market Neutral, Convertible Arbitrage, and Global Macro. In the former you have to memorize the list of HF strategies. IN the latter you need to kow what the particular strategies are. I am hoping its the latter. P.S. how come no women ever come around here in CFA level 3 forum?
Who knows…after taking the 1st CFAI practice exam and noting the LOSs cited for some of the questions…they could test anything and everything. A question may seem difficult…then you turn to the pages cited…and your like…o, yea…theres the answer…right there…hiding on 1 page out of a billion.
Thus far I havent seen one single end of chapter CFAI question that asked me to put down a list of something. I dont think we need to memorize lists with pneumonics.
Actually I don’t know whether you agree with me or not but I’m a little disappointed with the Program. It seems that all thoughts of CFA Institute is to confuse 3 level candidates and make it difficult to pass but not to provide strong knowledge base which we could use later on in practice. I noticed I spend on average 80% of time for trying to understand the concepts from incoprehensible CFA texts and in most cases quit and just memorize them. May be that’s ok for the exam puposes but for my future career it’s not very valuable
needhelp, there were such questions - like barriers to international investing in R45 and a bunch of others which I can’t quote b/c I don’t have my books with me, but remember doing.
i could not agree more with your post, peter19. i actually want to “do the right thing” and read the cfai texts, but i can’t seem to get anything out of them. i end up confused about what i am supposed to take away and usually just give up and go back to schweser. in fact, i am pretty disappointed with the entire program. i work in sellside research, and i doubt more than 30% of this content is relevant to me. instead of spending ~1,000 hours trying to pass these exams, i should have spent that time reading up on stocks and following the market – i would probably be wealthier for it, and i would definitely have been happier and healthier. peter19 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Actually I don’t know whether you agree with me or > not but I’m a little disappointed with the > Program. It seems that all thoughts of CFA > Institute is to confuse 3 level candidates and > make it difficult to pass but not to provide > strong knowledge base which we could use later on > in practice. > > I noticed I spend on average 80% of time for > trying to understand the concepts from > incoprehensible CFA texts and in most cases quit > and just memorize them. May be that’s ok for the > exam puposes but for my future career it’s not > very valuable
Regarding Schweser it’s definetely better than CFA texts in that it’s better structured and looks more like the textbook vs CFA’s compilation of different articles. But Schewser is still not more than a brief and better structured version of CFA texts. I work in corporate finance and attractiveness of the Program for me was just the very broad Curriculum and the chance to study something new even if I don’t need it for my job right now. But the problem is that I feel even if I pass it doesn’t mean nothing in terms of high level of professionalism in Finance. just superficial knowledge…
For me this is only about a 1 thing…passing. I’ve read all CFAI texts and done all CFAI problems for L1, L2, and now for L3…I don’t even know what a schweser book looks like. I read the material, highlight & section off LOSs and go from there. I’ve never seen an unfair question…tricky? of course. But, everything is right there in the books.