(it sort of makes me chuckle when seeing posts/replies from 1st timers…i hope everyone does well and is awarded for their hard work, but coming from someone who thought he “crushed” the AM last yr (me) but failed miserably in that part (band 9 overall), i do not put a lot of stock in what 1st timers have to say about the exam)
anyway, i’m curious to what other retakers thought? it was much more difficult in the AM, i feel. The PM: comparably easy and similar in difficulty to the mocks. I was very well prepared this yr and the PM felt “easy” - i was getting scared when ppl mention “tricks” but i think if you know the material you sometimes glance over the tricks because you know the material. the PM didn’t seem too tricky - there were a lot of questions that took maybe 20 seconds to answer, and others that took some more time, but overall ok (ethics was probably the hardest of all i feel). The AM was a beast. I didn’t feel like there was ample time to actually “think” about your response. It took 2-3 minutes to write out an answer to a 3 minute question, not leaving much time to think. I left a 6pt IPS questions blank because I didnt have time to spend to figure it out, but otherwise was ok on time (but was rushed throughout).
i’m not gonna be naive and say i feel i passed or whatever… my thought. because of how prepared i was and knew the material, if i didn’t pass this yr then i’m not gonna pass at all. this was my last attempt. i have nothing left in me. hopefully it was enough.
Same for me. Last year after the AM session I was confident to pass the exam, especially I felt that the PM session wasn’t bad. Result: Band Score 10.
In my eyes the AM Session this year was harder than last year, but the PM Session was easier, except Ethics.
After 6 hours hard working, no one (maybe just a few) can say with confidence that they will pass or not. That’s speculative. At the end, we’ll see the truth in August.
i would have no problem sharing this info; however, i don’t feel it would provide any value to you. to be 100% straight with you, your feelings of your performance are undeniably flawed and inaccurate - trust me. i thought i did well in the AM last yr and bombed the PM… my results show the complete opposite.
here is a barometer for you 1st timers:
if you feel the AM was ok or straight forward, but challenging, then assess your PM. how you “felt” about the AM session is 100% irrelevant. if you feel the PM was a breeze and you caught the minor tricks, you should be okay.
if you bombed the AM because you skipped 20-30 minutes/points, rest up because you’ll be taking it again next yr.
if you think you did great on the AM and finished with ample time, and the PM was okay and/or fair and you feel you scored a 70% on the PM, overall you probably failed.
I felt like this year’s AM portion was more difficult than 2014. I missed a lot of tricks in the PM section last year and scored higher in the AM than the PM (I think). I think the studying was much easier as a retaker and I remembered a lot more than I thought I would. I was scoring MUCH better on practice exams this year compared to last. We’ll see, come August…
When I sat for exam in 2013, I ran out of time in the AM and left at least 2 items sets unanaswered. I didnt feel prepared for the AM at all. The PM seemed ok, however.
This year, I finished the AM with 5 mins to spare and wasnt caught off guard by anything, although still found it challenging. The PM seemed extremely easy for me (except for Ethics). Based on my 2013 Band 10 score and I how I felt leaving the exam then versus this year, I am pretty certain I passed…
I thought this year’s morning seemed a bit easier myself, but I’m sure a lot of that had to do with my preparation. I had no idea what I was getting into last year.
I really cracked the whip on the timing this time so I was able to finish everything. I was disciplined to move on if I didnt really know how to do something, whereas last year I wasted time trying to figure things out. I learned that is not a luxury you have on L3.
The PM session seemed a harder to me. Last year i felt it was simple and I had good results on it. I’m surprised everyone seems to think it was so easy. A few of the topics this year weren’t my best areas.
Overall, I’m definitely hoping for the pass and I think I have a very good chance, but L3 is so unpredictable Im not getting overexcited.
I failed band 10 last year. I just did not do any practice tests last year so obviously ran out of time in the AM. Also, I could not catch the trics in the PM last year.
I definitely think this time, AM was very different from past few years and there was absolutely no time to even read the question twice. But I did a lot of practice tests this time and I was able to at least write something in every question. I think the PM was ok this year. I am not sure about ethics though.
Below are my scores from last year (band 10). I was surprised that I was band 10 with such low scores. Now I don’t know if I was closer to band 9 than the MPS.
Thanks to all those of you who shared results, I appreciate it. As an aside, with all this talk about a minimum passing score in the 60s, has anyone ever seen a pass with straight 50-70 correct for all item sets?
I was much better prepared this year, but the exam was also more difficult. With this level of preparation, I would have passed last year, now I’m not so sure The AM was tough, and PM was okay with the exception of Ethics. Seriously, even if it had been an open book exam, I would still have struggled with those ethics questions. Pretty much everyone agreed that ethics was tough, so hopefully that’s a good sign and I will finally pass this year.
i failed ethics and economics and a few pm stuff. i thought i killed the exam last year, band 8. ppl talked about them tricks and i was in denial, i thought i did the duty to the booty in ethics. this year. i am very skeptical on ethics. i foudn a couple tricks that werent tricks since they emphasized it. but its a crap shoot! amirite!
Unfortunately, I was one of those poor souls who thought he killed the AM last year. Felt like a huge kick in the balls when I got that big ole Band 7 email. I got killed in the AM. Only one under 50 in the PM but unfortunately it was Fixed Income so I was dead meat.
I know better now than to try to predict my AM performance this year but I felt it was pretty challenging and different from other past papers. Finished on time but rushed there at the end.
Felt great in the PM this year, especially when I got past the third item set and beyond. I did so many more practice exams this year that I felt I’d seen most of the stuff in the PM this time around. Last year I don’t think I broke past the 60s in any PM mock. This year I did 9 PM mocks and got nothing under 70 in the last 5. With mid 70s and one in the 80s in the last three. I would say some of the Mocks I took felt more challenging to me than this Saturday’s PM so I hope I at least scored in the same range.
But in the end who the hell knows till August. Just pray I pulled it off.
if you strongly feel you mastered the material, unless you completely blanked on Saturday, i’d said you’re ok and probably passed. if you were scoring in the 80s or above on the CFAI PM mocks, i’d say there’s a 75% chance you passed. if you focused all of your attention on the AM during your prep and were only getting in the 60s and 70s on PM mocks, you most likely did not breeze through the PM as easily as you could have and in my opinion, you should pray to whomover you pray to from now til August
The AM was tough, and PM was okay with the exception of Ethics. Seriously, even if it had been an open book exam, I would still have struggled with those ethics questions. Pretty much everyone agreed that ethics was tough, so hopefully that’s a good sign and I will finally pass this year.