Dear Friends, I have received the most awaited email from the CEO of CFAI confirming my charter and allowing me to use the coveted three letters after my name. I’m sharing my preparation method hoping that it will help the future candidates.
First of all, by no means never underestimate the rigor required to pass the L3 exam. DO NOT rely on the success of L 1 & 2, you’re dealing with something that was never encountered before. You have to dig very deep, going over and much beyond your assumed capabilities, to come out as a winner from this exam. Please understand this excruciating PUSH is what will shape you and will make the difference eventually. So fold your sleeves and get ready for the hardest phase of CFA program.
Now getting into the weeds of the process:
1.CFAI books are the most important source of learnings. In order to look differently, 3rd party providers tend to make certain adjustments in their books which inadvertently omit some crucial learnings of the LOS. One would never want to sit in the exam and wondering whether they have even come across the concept that is being tested. Preparing through CFAI books provides added confidence that one have studied everything that is there to study, and not subjecting yourself to 3rd part discretion. So, CFAI books are important.
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I divided the whole preparation in 4 parts: (i) Reading books ii) BB questions, (iii) Learning Ecosystem Questions (LESQ), and (iv) Mock exams.
I repeat this 4 steps cycle multiple times, end to end, (stopped the counting after 6th round), before showing up on the exam day. Please never forget the effective pass rate is less than 50%. -
Resources Used:
Mark Meldrum videos. MM is exceptional, his videos are pure gold, and the fact that he covers BB and EoC questions reflects his commitment to his students. MM videos brings efficiency in the preparation.
Learning Ecosystem Questions (LESQ) : Because the syllabus is so dense, some students never get the time to go through the LES questions. This is a brutal mistake. The concepts that are learnt through the LOSs are firmly tested through LESQ. One must go through the LESQ multiple times. Some of the questions in the actual exam might show up from here. I started taking screenshots of the questions that I felt uncomfortable with and reviewed them every day until the point they become obvious. This is hard and need discipline, so don’t underestimate the power of LESQ.
Mock Exams: used Bill Campbell’s (also known as S2000magician) mocks. More than the realistic quality of his exam question, the thing that benefitted me most is his Long and Short answer keys. Yes, he provides two answer keys for each of his mock exam. The short answer key is invaluable, it shows how to respond to questions in the exam. I firmly believe, this is the point which differentiates between a successful and unsuccessful candidate. Even though you have studied the whole syllabus back & forth, but you still do not understand how to respond to the questions, probability of success will remain low. I would highly recommend his mocks over any other provider.
Friends, the final thing I would say is, more than anything else this is the exam of “Will Power”, and never forget “IF there is a Will, there is a way”.
Good Luck with your preparation!!