So these vignettes, would they ask all 6 questions from the same chapter or would they mix it up. Like would they have a vignette on pensions exclusively (all 6 questions on pensions) or could they find some way of asking stuff related to pensions and let’s say multinationals in the same vignette.
Anyone willing to share their experiences?
I’m not a retaker, but I have been to a few sessions hosted by the local CFA society. Based on their feedback, we should expect cases spanning multiple topics within a volume. So you could have one vignette that has questions on six different, but related areas, within Equity.
This is also evidenced by some official EOC cases in FRA, Equity, and Derivatives. For example, look at problems 19-24 in reading 24 of FRA - they amalgamate ideas from the readings on intercorporate investments and multinational operations.
From what I hear, L3 is a lot more about synthesizing information, but I won’t be surprised if they test our integration skills in a limited manner at L2. At the very least, we should prep for it… along with memorizing all the formulas and retaining 3000 pages worth of material. Hah.
Thanks Aether.
BrightStar,
I sat the L2 exam last June and as Aether mentioned the vignettes mostly question areas from a single subject topic. I do remember reading however that this is by no means a golden rule and that sometimes you will find a question that spans across subjects.
My experience (from memory) was there were questions that are closley related (between subjects) and I saw some cross over.
I personally see it as a positive as those related subjects can help form a greater understanding of the question being asked.
Of course provided you know the material…
Majorly the questions surrounds one topic but it can overlap. FRA might have Corp fin questions. Equity might have corp fin questions etc. Be prepared for that.
Best case scenario they will mix things up and make cascading style question…
Like they will give a BS in a foreign currency and some data
Q 1 & 2: make some adjustments to foreign currency BS
Q3: asks for tranlation to your currency of some account from adjusted BS
Q4: asks wacc from adjusted translated BS
Q5: calculate teminal FCFF from adjusted translated BS
Q6: valuate the company using fcff from q5 wacc from q4 and some growth rate they will give or ask you to calculate
So basically if get one of the first 2 wrong you will most likely miss all of them
elcoelhon
your assessment is wrong. In level II - they do not have cascading style of questions - so that if you got one question wrong - a dependent question would also be wrong.
They provide you some leeway by testing concepts - and your understanding.
E.g. on q 6 above - where you are trying to use fcff from q5 and wacc from q4 - they will tell you assume fcff = x and wacc=y calculate the growth rate
which will test the concept.