And where to get 40/60/80 results for level 3, could someone paste the link please?
Hi guys,
How do I get access to the CFAI Mock from 2012. If someone could send that to me it would be great.
Thanks in advance,
I have scored about 70 % on PM practice. AM is hard to say, cause you dont know how they really judge your answer. I did a Schweser yesterday and in one question you should explain a return based style analysis, I thought I knew, but my wording and explanation was a bit off the answer and the CFA-text, even though I thought that my answer was pretty much right conceptually… So, it´s really hard to say.
I guess there is a high correlation between AM and PM, AM is really not much of an essay part (if essay means writing down many words and discuss stuff). AM & PM is based on the same material, and if you know it good you will get a high score in both sessions. It would be interesting to see if it was more correlated for native english speakers than for those who have english as second/third language.
Hey b_sea93,
I am about ~63% in AMs and ~70% in PMs.
Can you please share 2011 and 2012 CFAI mocks. I searched it online but couldn’t find it. Will be grateful if you could share it.
CFAI Mock 2012: http://bbs.cfaspace.com/viewthread.php?action=printable&tid=393085
CFAI Mock 2011: http://bbs.cfaspace.com/viewthread.php?action=printable&tid=175614
Thanks a lot, b_sea93 !!
I passed last year and found my practice exams to be a pretty good predictor of how I fared AM vs PM and the scores were about the same. I did ALL SIX Schweser practice exams, all the historical exams (AM only sadly) on the CFA website, and the Schweser mock, the CFA mock, and the CFA sample exams.
As I’ve said before, I think that the exam itself is the hidden study session in that, much more than in L2, learning how to take the exam is as important as anything else e.g. learning to pause, consider your answer, and respond directly and succinctly in the morning.
I ranged from 35-65% in the morning and averaged about 55 or 60%. In the afternoons, I ranged from 70-85% and averaged around 80%.
In the REAL test, I tried to remain calm in the morning and ended up being too calm and panicking half way through when I realised there was a half hour left (I found it very difficult to time myself for the different sets of minutes allocated to each question which is part of where the practice comes in). I left the last THREE questions pretty much blank and was devastated. I remembered how I did in the practice afternoon tests and dusted myself off and prepped for the afternoon.
My real score echoed my practice tests. I did indeed bomb the morning and you can see a lot of it (obviously) had to do with the last three questions getting pretty much zero. But I made up for it in the afternoon with above 70 in the majority of sections.
Hope this helps and good luck! TAKE AS MANY PRACTICE TESTS AS YOU CAN!
My .02 - Just taking a practice test and scoring it does you no good if you don’t review the answers and find out what you did wrong.
I have never (not for CPA nor CFA) taken a practice exam just to see my score on it. I think that’s useless. Instead, I like to take the Schweser exams and use them as study tools. I’ll answer a group of questions, then go back and review the answer while the material is still fresh on the brain. Then I’ll move on to the next group.
I think that if you start at #1 and go to #60, then you’ll forget what you were thinking when you answered #1, and you won’t get the benefit of actually using the exam to study. However, if you do #1-6, then stop and review the answers, then you’ll learn the material better. And that’s really what you need to focus on–learning the material.
At the end of the day, your score on your practice tests means nothing. How well you do on June 1 depends on how well you know the material. Use the practice exams to learn the material–not to generate a useless and arbitrary number.
Hi trimonious2,
your suggestions have always been helpful…
could you let us know, what is the best way to review practice tests? I’ve been doing tests, but somehow feel that scores are not improving…
Could not agree more with this statement. It is so true.
I am aiming for 60% in AM, 80% in PM. that’s about where I’m scoring now. Hoping I can pick up some easy marks in AM by improving my ‘test taking’ skills, I forget dumb stuff.
Bombed the 2012 AM exam - 55% with liberal grading
was doing much better in the schweser mocks, but this turned out to be an eye-opener
So far I’ve done 3 Schweser Practice PM exams and have scored 75, 81 and 91%, in that order. Did my first AM session this afternoon and got 72% with conservative grading/point allocations. That AM session had 15 points for GIPS of which I only got 5/15 because I haven’t really spent much time on GIPS yet. Saving that for the end as my retention on it is really poor…
Seems to fit the mold of about a 15-20 point difference from AM to PM.
Obviously I am not going to stop studying and will keep doing more and more exams until June 1st, but I am feeling pretty good being 3 weeks out. Problem is I don’t want to start getting too confident and choke on the real exam because I did well on Practice exams.
Anybody else feel that way?
finished reading last week. started mocks on friday. averaging 60% in both AM/PM. i have a pretty good idea of my weak areas.
Did you only use Schweser books? What’s your approach to reviewing/refreshing the material?
Very impressive results. My highest result so far for PM is 78% and no matter how much time I spend reviewing my notes, I am still nowhere near my L1 and L2 Mock scores. I am blaming subjective/vague questions, but if some people are getting scores 10%+ higher than mine, the problem is probably not with the questions.
I was in a situation similar to yours last year when studying for L2. Just continue taking Mocks/Old exams and review your notes on a regular basis.
I am wandering how you guys are finishing the AM Session on Time !??
Any help??
Thanks for the comments. I will be quite honest - I finished the AM session in about 2 hours - I initially felt like I blew through it too fast, but when I compare my answers to the marking guidelines I had the details I needed to. In a real exam I would have used that extra hour to get back through the entire exam and tweak/fine-tune my answers with more detail, etc.
I have used almost exclusively Schweser Notes and Videos as curriculum and a lot of CFAI EOC questions as problems for practice.
To refresh I read through Schweser Secret Sauce from cover to cover a few days ago and will probably do so once or twice more before exam day. Also, I try to read through the Schweser QuickSheet once a day or so to keep formulas and stuff fresh.
Aside from that, I do focused study on things I get wrong during my practice exams - so that acts as a refresher as well. I normally do a practice exam session in the morning or afternoon and spend the rest of the day focusing my studies on things I felt weak on.
I truly, honestly hope that you’re right. I have not attempted a CFAI AM session yet, have done a few Schweser Practice AM sessions and am very frustrated with the vagueness of the questions and the narrow/strict answer key. PIssing me off! I will attempt the BSAS AM session tomorrow and hopefully a CFAI AM on the weekend.
Did the Schweser Exam 2 AM session and got 80% on it (I feel like I’m being fair with point allocation and grading - honest with myself) - which is not a bad score, but some questions I got 0 because of how strict the key was and how vague the questions were.
Personally, I like Schweser exams more than CFAI. CFAI’s will tell you which is the right answer, and reperform the calculation for you. Schweser’s does the same, but they also tell you why the wrong answers are wrong, which is crucial to your learning.