I have taken 3 practice exams (Schweser) scored 69 in the first, 80 in the second, 74 in the third. I’m reasonably encouraged by those scores but the uncertainty with which I answered some questions bothers me.
I have more practice exams I could do (including the CFA mock) but I’m not sure if it’s a good use of my time. Should I pour time into doing this or review/re-read topics I feel less certain on? I’m leaning towards the latter but would like to hear others’ thoughts.
I will also say this: a couple of years ago I took the exam twice in quick succession (Band 10 and Band 9). I hate “excuses” but I really didn’t prepare well enough and didn’t understand many of the core concepts, BUT, I knew the formulas (I think you can pass/get really close to passing by memorizing formulas and defintions for this exam). My experience was that the exam was actually easier than I expected, both times (with the exception of the second time afternoon session). I’m taking it again because I’d never failed anything up to that point and am a competitive person. I understand others may think it’s strange, but it bothers me. Each to their own, I say.
For those worried about timing, I found the actual exam to questions to be far shorter than those in Schweser for example. Timing should not be too much of a problem. Oh, and here’s another tip, when I took the exams the flow did not follow what I had become used to (i.e., Ethics, then Quants, then Econ etc.). They mixed up the flow of PM, FI, and Corporate Finance. Not a huge deal but a little unnerving when you benchmarking progress/timing in your head.