I am practicing through IPS EOCs not the first time and have noticed that official answers are very long and thorough. Today it has taken few hours to solve 13 similar IPS questions with A, B, C, D and i, ii, iii and iv just to fit my answers in similar manner as expected from the official ones. This is opposite to wide spread opinion that “essay” answers should be short, clear and concise. I am a bit confused about this fact. So far my experience was by difficulty level from easiest to hardest were EOCs, Portal tests, Mock tests. Is this order now different. I mean on official EOCs and tests. I haven’t started with old AM tests yet.
You are going through them for the first time so i would relax and focus on comprehension.
As you get through the curriculum and onto mock tests, you will have developed knowledge and can focus on speed then.
The real test will have apx. 10-12 questions in apx. 3 hours and ips will only be one of the topics.
Short, clear, and consise means making the point in the shortest number of words, not in the lengthy answers that are given.
I dont know if this has been addresed yet, but use a writing instrument that you are comfortable with (whether an erasable pen/pencil, pen, etc) I bought several instruments of a particular brand. As the test day arrived, it made it more familiar using a writing instrument Ive used in the past.
Good luck.
I am going through them for the fourth time. There are some of them which are not problematic such as risk management but have a big problem with answering IPS and other PM questions. I use normal pen. I am not native English speaker and have problem to express what I mean as well. Often cannot remember adequate word. Thus I prefer quantitative questions and such questions are quite less problematic to answer.
My question exactly was is EOC long form of answer (half of page or more for each point) something only for studying purpose and we should not consider it as normal in real exam terms?
answers in the CFAI EOC are long to teach you the method. You will find similar long answers on the guideline answers on the CFAI AM Exams as well. None of them is representative of how much you are expected to write on the actual exam.
So prepare with that in mind. You need to pick up what they are doing with the facts on the case, and where they are using that fact.
and be able to repeat that process going onwards. Remember that you are now doing this with a question you have seen before, while on the actual test it is going to be something that is brand new.
OK, that’s what I supposed, too. Thanks cpk123.
- take any official answer
- remove all the “fluff”
- break it down into 3-5 bullet points
- that will get you full points
Thanks for the tip. This is the last time (I hope forever) I am reading entire material from 1st to last page. Since the end of next month, I will cut it into narrower segments arranged by significance and will go much deeper into it with practicing.