I don’t mean to imply that the existence of possible “traps” means the exam was unfair - I think the exam was very fair, but a handful of questions may not have been so straightforward (maybe this is what I mean by trap). Giving information that needs to actually be modified before using, but could easily be overlooked under a testing situation knowing that a lot of people may feel pressured to finish. I agree that if you know the material thoroughly it should not be a problem, but I think that is exactly why you might recognize a trap (and not fall for it).
I have a few examples I wish I could say to give as an explanation but can’t because of “ethics.”
Don’t forget the typical decoy answers. Sometimes the decoy answer is almost the answer but requires one last step… The decoy will get a lot of people because they see a matching answer to the calculation, so they pick it… and forgetting they were about to do one last step which would have produced the correct answer.
i agree, they werent traps. its just that those exam questions really tested a DEEP understanding, rather than memorization which a lot of level 1 passers prob weren’t prepared for.
ESPECIALLY economics, holy hell did you really have to know your shit to do well on that section. No finessing that
QTE: Don’t forget the typical decoy answers. Sometimes the decoy answer is almost the answer but requires one last step… The decoy will get a lot of people because they see a matching answer to the calculation, so they pick it… and forgetting they were about to do one last step which would have produced the correct answer.
Yeah, this is why I am inclined to call them “traps” because of the decoy answers, but as others have said if you really know it well you should be able to discern what information to use or not. During my first run through on each section I admit I fell for a couple because I wanted to get the answer on the page, but as I went over them more slowly a second time around I realized the error and was able to fix (a majority - I think).
If your retabulation outcome is positive and in next 2-3 weeks, please let us know. I have 30 days to submit my retabulation and will rely on your positive outcome before I submit my retabulation form.
Just joined the forum… have benefitted a lot from view points of you all through the year. My scores are below, wondering what to do ( as in, Is retabulation going to help), of all these Fixed Income scores were schoker for me, as I was expecting greater than 70%, however ended between 50-70 ( don’t know where and what went wrong)
Equity/Eco/Corp Fin- >70
Rest all - between 50-70 with portfolio closer to 50
final score-almost there, overlap at lower end of MPS
Are the 2-3 retabulation success stories which you’ve come across really true?
And could anyone please guide me how to go about the retabulation process because I can’t find the apt form in the site. The one which I got is of some other format.
Evidence suggest it’s futile. Old timers suggest doing it for piece of mind and to clear any ‘what ifs’ so that you can fully concentrate on re-taking. Bottomline : If you do it, hope for the best, expect the worst. If you don’t do it, make sure you don’t regret it
I got a water bill for $1500 that I knew was wrong… I called and they double checked it and the water meter had a typo, which inflated my bill. Went back to $100.
Someone could get lucky and get a pass from a retab.
CFA Institute will never take any ownership of accepting their mistake however genuine your case is. Take my instance, last year got band 9 with below scores. I went for a Retabulationand nothing happened.
Quant, Eco > 70
CF, PM and Ethics < 50
Rest between 50 to 70
This year I failed with below score
CF, PM, FRA, Quant, Alt & Derivatives, FI > 70
Ethics, Equity between 50 to 70
Eco < 50
I know they have made a mistake in grading my score. I know it. But, I also know Retabulation is not going to help. They will never accept their mistake.
Anyways, I don’t intend to continue the program anymore. The uncertainty and inconsistency of grading scores is too much for me to take.
Why do you think there was a mistake? You did do >70% on 2/3 of the exam but 1/3 of the exam was below 70% (some below 50%). Why dont you do the math and see what your likely score could be? Is it in the low 60s or high 60s? For example, based on the results, sounds like you got 83% on quant… You already know how many questions were on quant, you can easily tally up all the sections to come up with an overall score.