I went to CFA local society meeting for Level 1 candidates. The presenter mentioned that the stats for pass rates included people who had signed up for the exam but didn’t end up sitting it.
Is this correct? I thought the 38% pass rate only included people who sat the exam (i.e. 120 people sign up, 100 people sit, 38 people pass).
You are correct. You must sit for both sections of the exam to be included in the pass/fail statistic
incorrect iteracom.
Source(s)?
Go ahead, prove me wrong. I’ll be here waiting to laugh at your ignorance
My recollection is that those who sign up for the exam but don’t show up are not included in pass/fail.
I’m not sure about people who start the exam in the morning and walk out at lunchtime, but I think they are excluded too. So the pass/fail rate is an upper/lower limit.
Does it really matter?
No, pass rates DO NOT include those that signed up and do not sit.
From the CFA Institute “Our Fifth Decade” paper
"Pass rates are calculated from those candidates who actually sat for the examination. Approximately 25 percent of enrolled candidates who register do not sit for the examination (are no-shows) each year."
See Page 11, second paragraph under “Pass Rates”
http://www.cfainstitute.org/cfaprogram/documents/the_cfa_program_our_fifth_decade.pdf
Yea that’s right, take it. Keep your wrong information to yourself b
It matters from the perspective that passing an exam with a 38% pass rate when 50% of the candidates don’t show is a lot easier than passing an exam with a 38% pass rate when every one shows.
The cfai says around 25% will not show on exam day. Thinking about the open seats on exam day that sounds about right
So, it’s an “economic but not material” difference. That is, the effects might be observable, but you are not going to behave differently due to these different numbers, right? It’s not like you will study more/less after reading this.
Fair enough. It should not change your approach.
It would affect my studying.
At this point right now, if I knew pass rates were in fact 60% instead of 38%, I would feel pretty relaxed and confident that I’ll be part of the 60% group, I would keep brushing up and doing practice exams, but would just be gliding towards the finish line. As it stands though, the fact that it’s only 38% makes me nervous and feeling I need to keep studying hard.
Probably not the greatest attitude, but my aim is to do the least amount of work that allows me to pass this exam. That’s not to say that I’m being lazy, I just don’t want to do 500 hours of studying when all I really need to do is 250.
While this may work for Level 1, good luck just putting in the bare minimum for Level 2 and 3. You will be in for a rude awakening. Develop good study habits now.
Absolutely. My expectations for level 2 and 3 are way different to what I’m having to do for level 1.
But again, I want to do only “what is required” for these levels, and that may involve 500 hours of intense studying. “Least amount of work” probably wasn’t the best way to describe what I meant.
my bad.