Just wondering what people found to be the two most difficult sections in the exam. I saw that Equity and FSA each took 72 points, but it would be wrong to suppose they’re more difficult. Some who failed did so because of quants, ethics, and/or derivatives. Others who passed had scores in these sections in the 5-70% range while everything else was above that. Getting a lot of response and finding out what majority of the people here thought was most difficult in the exam would help me really prepare better for the exam next year. Thank you.
I think the general consensus last year was that derivatives were the largest kick in the gonads (generally speaking), but it all boils down to personal preference and experience.
It’s not like L1 where people consistently point to SS9 as being the most difficult. Picking one that is most difficult is very candidate specific. All the topics kind of suck in their own way.
FSA and Equities are worth the most points and definitely have the most information. But the length of material does not necessarily mean the most difficult. For me it was derivatives (swaps) like skillionaire above …
Actually I scored badly only in Derivatives, FI and Quants in level 1 in June 08. I scored >70 only in these sections in June 09.
Portfolio management for me. Some of that $hit was just impossible (Treyner Black, FAMCAR, etc) and I didn’t even bother. ICAPM was a major pain, too.
Portfolio Management and all the FX stuff in Eco (even though it wasnt tested) was the hardest for me. I got 70+ on Ethics, FSA, Equities, Fixed Income, Derivatives, Corp Finance I got <50 on Economics, Portfolio Management and Alt. Investments Only Quant was 50<70 In my opinion, as evidenced by my scores, the hardest sections, luckily, are the smallest %. I passed, so my advice is to know the Ethics, FSA, Equity, FI, Derivatives and Corp Finance extremely well, and youll be fine
I am never good at AI, so I expect to let that section go. No big surprise there. I was expecting good results from my five aces: Ethics, Equity, FSA, Econ and Corp Fin. Turned out only got two aces (Ethics and Equity). Econ turned out to be a lemon. But I did unexpectedly get an ace in PM. I guess it balances out the equation in my case.
I would say emerging market was pretty ugly. Equity had many many little obscure areas that are easy but that you just forget. I also found taxes pretty shitty. Quants sucks for me. On the other hand I enjoy derivs and alt investm.
For me the worst sections were: Alternative Investments Derivatives Portfolio Management Seems like Derivatives is universally disliked.
I thought Time Series (in Quant) and Pensions (in FSA) were the most challenging at Level II.
I wonder what CFAI tested for Quant in 2009. I see a lot of people getting <50 in that area.
Time series in quants was my worst by far. I guessed blindly on 3 of the questions on the exam, but I got lucky and ended up >70. It ciould easily have been <50
worst sections for me were the sections i wasn’t interested in - quant, derivatives and fixed income. …snoozeville
It is really hard to say…Portfolio, Derivatives and Alternatives Investments were hard but in the exam, quant was a disaster because of the question. I believe that a lot of people were in the boat.
It is really hard to say. Portfolio, Derivatives and Alternatives Investments were hard but in the exam, quant was a disaster because of the question. I believe that a lot of people were in the boat.
I thought Portfolio Management, Alternative Investments and Derivatives. PM and Derivatives are not super difficult once you master the concepts, but working some of the problems and reading through it is really tedious.
Alternative Investments Derivatives Quants They suck. I will need to put effort into it.
Hmmm… it seems many people are most concerned with Derivatives, Alt Investments and Quant. And to some extent PM and FI. Taxes? Ugh, I hated the taxes part in L1. I was in the 50-70 range for both AI and FI (along with Ethics and Corp Finace); the rest were in the 70 up. It would be tough to keep that up. I found the Derivatives part a bit challenging while I was reading but easy in the test. Guess that’s about to change. And I’m about to go insane. Thinking about the vignettes, I’m a bit lazy working on long problems… I preferred the L1 type where I’m able to quickly answer things. These vignettes remind me of the long problems I had for my accounting classes (which were also hell-ish). I’ve got 8 more days till I lose my freedom and my life to this. Studying starts Sept 1.
It all depends on your prior knowledge and experience but Derivs and Portfolio Mgmt were a complete nightmare for me. I passed by being realistic about how difficult they are. They are disproportionately difficult to the weighting on the exam. I’d say Derivatives is less difficult than Portfolio Management. All you need for Derivs is to learn the forward/future formulas off by heart. And then understand Swap diagrams and the option fomula. That should get you your 50-70: those areas aren’t worth trying to get 70+ because they’re not worth enough points and the material is too difficult. Portfolio mgmt is fiendishly difficult and most of it seems ludicrous to me. You’re basically trying to over-simplify an insanely multi-factorial concept like finance into 1 or 2 variables and I strugled to see the plausibility. Again just try to understand the key stuff and do lots of questions because it’s far too difficult/not worth understanding fully unless you intend to have a career in that area.