Mock Manifesto
I want to leave a little manifesto here. Especially for L2/L3. It is not a Sure Pass but will enhance your chances.
First my track record:
2001 Passed L1
2002 Failed L2
2003 Failed L2
2005 Failed L2
—————
2014 Passed L2
2015 Passed L3
So what happened 2014 onwards?
I had read an advice in this forum “mock till you drop”. I took it seriously.
And that`s what this post is about.
This is not about gaming the exam. Reverse engineering. No. You have to read the material. But here is my statement:
It is better to read it once and practice a lot than to read it 5 times and not taking any mock.
There any thousands advices in this forum. Takeaway: Practice Exams. Correct them. And REDO what you’ve not mastered.
Leave May for this. End of April even better.
If someone says to me: “I’ve have studied 900 hours and have not passed”, my diagnosis would be that he has not devoted proper time to practice mocks.
After a mock:
Correct it (It is pretty normal to score <50% in the beginning, after the 3rd or 4th comes the tipping point).
It does not help reading the answer. Most of them will seem logical to you, but when you come across them afterwards you will be in trouble again (and again).
Redo the questions you failed after a few days.
It was like studying math at school. You have to go through, arrive at the end. Walk the path. Reading the solution will not stick it in your brain.
We all had this feeling. I know 80% of this questions but I am not sure if it is A or C. Horrible situation.
For L3:
Some people will say: “L3 is all about surviving AM and nailing PM”. Bullshit. Going for a 35% am and 90% pm is insane. Playing with fire big time. It is not flirting with disaster, it’s knocking her up with twins. Better trying 55% am 70% pm. Better trying 75% for the whole exam.
Otherwise there is a huge risk to get a nasty AM session. Do not foul yourself. This is the path to a real nightmare.
If someone says to me at L3: I`ve have studied 900 hours and have not passed, my diagnosis would be that he had problems in the AM session.
96% of people do better at PM! You have to be prepared to AM.
Time yourself during mocks. Get used to skip 2 or 3 sub items. No problem here. Problem is getting stuck and having 20 minutes for 3 whole questions.
Only with practice you are going to be ready for this. It has to come naturally.
Go to the OLD CFA EXAMS
Do it as close to the real thing as possible (3 hours, break, 3 hours)
You will also understand what the advice “ Read the F***ing Question” means. Giving a perfect response for something you were not asked is a 0 with honors.
You will see how hard is to recall all you knowledge and write it concisely. But this is exactly the key to the land of milk and honey.
I remember not remembering if Overconfidence was a Cognitive or Emotional bias. Got it wrongly in a test. When a hit the books for review it was there, handsomely highlighted Emotional. Just reading is not enough.
Time Mgmt is paramount
“If only I had 1 hour more, 30 more minutes, 15 minutes………….”
Guess what? You do not have it. And the beautiful part is that you know this in advance. So this COULD NOT be an excuse. It is like saying, “I did not know Russia winter was cold or Brazilian summer was hot. I wished I had packed properly“
The time is short even for English native speakers.
During the real exam:
Do not write way too much,
Do not spend absurd amount of time on certain problems,
Do write in bullet points and small phrases,
Do skip questions you do not know. Cut your losses! (this is Port Mgmt after all).
How many mocks?
At least 5, I guess. Varies from person to person. You must be confident though.
More than 9 I think it is too much. But if you have the luxury, okay. Be sure you are improving and learning more.
Of course, there are people who took 10 mocks and still failed. And some geniuses who passed without doing any. But those are exception
So this all goes down to Active/Passive Learning
“Passive learning is those activities where you do not participate but really just absorb the material through sensory perception. This includes reading, listening to a lecture or watching a video. Studies have shown that students remember only about 10% to 30% of the material through passive study.
Active learning, by contrast, is those activities where you engage the material in an interactive manner. This includes discussion, presentation and problem solving. Students are able to remember up to 90% of the material when they use active studying as part of their routine.”
http://www.finquiz.com/blog/2012/09/25/the-1-reason-candidates-do-not-pass-the-cfa-exams/
Thx again for this forum