Did anyone think the test had way more ‘gimmies’ than expected ? Also, can someone comment on the Wall St. Journal article regarding the summer test’s pass rate of 54% ? The paper mentioned that this was the highest pass rate ever. A) I can see a pass rate of 54% for the II or III. But for the I, that seems high. Especially considering the fact that the December test had so many ‘gimmies,’ I feel like that pass rate will be similar this time. Does anyone agree with that ? Does that 54% include ‘no-shows?’ B) Early scoring: Does anyone Thanks guys and best of luck to everyone.
i believe june 07’s passing rate for I was 40%. and that didn’t include the no-shows.
I wouldn’t go as far to say the test was easy or anything, but i was surprised by the volume of questions that I was able to answer with 100% confidence in a matter of a few seconds. I think that speaks more to being prepared and having good study habits than it does to the relative ease of the test.
So i’m crazy that i didn’t read that in the Wall St. Journal ? Maybe that was for all the tests combined ?
Agreed: Test wasn’t easy. But there were certainly a lot of questions that didn’t even take a second thought. I remember other standardized tests having more ‘tricks.’ An example of a slight trick that i expected more of: The forward currency premium/discount question that required one to annualize the answer. (This question was also terribly worded, by the way) Many times, the tricks are obvious for those well prepared. But, most of the CFA test answers didn’t even have little tricks involved to separate those that breezed the material from those that read it multiple times.
According to this link: http://www.cfainstitute.com/cfaprog/resources/examdetails/examresults.html Pass rate for June 07 was 40%
Looks to be true. I don’t see where they mention that no-shows weren’t included. Although, that would only lower the score. If they were included, though, that would mean the results underestate the ‘difficulty’ - if you will - of the test.
I am guessing the Wall St. Journal is at fault here. I, for sure, remember reading that. It is understandable considering the Journal didn’t think my submission for the Balvenie Guy ‘write your own caption’ contest was the best. Our caption was hilarious: Luckily for her she is the boss’ wife. Luckily for me he’s serving the Balvenie at this party. Clearly that was the best submission. Not sure if any of you guys enjoy The Balvenie and read the Journal every day. The Balvenie Scotch has printed a daily cartoon in the Journal for years now. By the way, what does everyone here read in terms of publications. Myself : The FT, Journal, The Economist, briefings from PIMCO and MS. Try to do foreign affairs but it is tough. Anybody else work with these ?
some of the ‘gimmies’ were tricks, so be careful. i thought there were gimmies only to go back, re-read the question, and realized i read it incorrectly. and that forward/spot rate econ question is really annoying. apparently it was at a discount? i really hope not because i calculated a premium (and i even remembered to annualize it). i was told the cfa institute doesn’t want to trick people, so i’m going to apply full faith and just stick with my gut.
Hey CFA Smasher, maybe the 54% pass was for Level 3
you’re probably right, Chris. This discussion makes wonder how many individuals working for the Wall St. Journal (insert a financial news source) have CFAs. Moreover, I wonder what a list ranking news sources top to bottom based upon CFA charters would look like. I’ll tell the group one thing: the group of Cashin’ In (A fox news saturday program) doesn’t have any charterholders. They probably don’t have a college graduate in the group, either. I feel like it is criminal to give ‘financial advice’ to a viewership representing a trillion dollars in assets and have such a juvenile perspective on capital markets, etc. I heard more intelligent conversation about financial/cap market matters in the local bar down the street today.
June 2007 exam pass rates were historically low for LII and LIII. LI: 40% LII: 40% LIII: 50%
hiredguns1 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > June 2007 exam pass rates were historically low > for LII and LIII. > > LI: 40% > LII: 40% > LIII: 50% that’s not promising for future LII’s and LIII’s i’m guessing.
dnoyelles Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > that’s not promising for future LII’s and LIII’s > i’m guessing. Maybe. The conspiracy theorists among us considered this might be part of setting the stage for higher pass rates in 2008 which of course CFAI will credit to the proliferation of their official curriculum. I guess we’ll know in mid-August 2008 when the LII and LIII results arrive and we can read whatever propaganda CFAI publishes on the trend. Can someone post a link to this WSJ article that’s being referenced? or maybe quote the relevant sections? Sure, there’s plenty of hard work to be done after passing LI, but all in due course. Step by step we’ll earn our charters. Cheers.
Did anyone else notice one question that was word-for-word the same on both the morning and afternoon sessions?
yes, i think it was in PM section
Probably jinxing myself but I thought there were a lot of gimmies. I finished the afternoon in around 2:15 looked it over and left. The Swcesher material was much more difficult I think…