negra
June 15, 2015, 2:42pm
#41
sk1979:
Intentionally left 2014 exam untouched : what are the chance that they are going to ask the same things 2 years in a row? i better rev up my weapon from old exams ( By the way did I mention that I use CFAI 2011 books ? as i still have notes all over the pages. )
Asking the “same” thing they won’t. You are right.
But asking similar things is the issue.
You can see that the 2014 exam is more related to the 2013 than to 2010, 2005, 2000…
If I fail, I will remake the 2015 exam (when released) as a good practice to 2016…
That is subjective view … Doesn’t mean it goes for everyone …
I am inclined to think that if one has prepared and could say with certainty he or she managed to answer all questions whilst recognizing the majority of them has a merit to claim the respective confidence level of nailing the AM or PM…
vgmalu:
JuniorCk8:
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.
I am a retaker, and i dont agree to this view, i have lost 22 minutes (7 points in AM) and i found rest of AM to be better than my first attempt at it. I failed mainly due to PM last time around. So I think, i do have some chance (ofcourse more than 0%) of clearing
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.
Again, dont agree. A well prepared candidate ought to do this.
Mikewinner:
That is subjective view … Doesn’t mean it goes for everyone …
I am inclined to think that if one has prepared and could say with certainty he or she managed to answer all questions whilst recognizing the majority of them has a merit to claim the respective confidence level of nailing the AM or PM…
#98 %cannotNAILbothAM+PM
#JustLookAtHistoricalScores
couldn’t agree more.
mike, yes my view is subjective; however, it’s based on experience, having been going at L3 for 2 yrs and learning what a thousand other candidates have experienced the last 2-3 yrs with L3, both those who’ve passed and those who’ve failed.
I would bet my house, 100 times out of 100, that 99% of L3ers don’t actually performs/scores the way he/she thinks they performed/scored on test day. Most L3ers feel they are 85% confident about the answers they provided on the AM session, which, as hashtag accurately explains, history has proven the opposite (and everyone, every year, thinks “this year is different”)
Thanks for sharing, very interesting strategy. Hope you pass!
sk1979:
Im also a retaker though my last L3 exam dated back in 2011 (Band 10) after that i left the CFA saga to focus on my VC-seed investment career. 4 years fast forward, I decided to finish the beast and enrolled in March. I must say Im MUCH less prepared than my 2011’s cfa. I think i spent less than 80 hr. this time (compared to 300 hr. as legitimately prescribed by the CFA world) However, let me compare how i felt this time - my AM went much more smoothly this year , i felt a bit lucky too as what they asked is what i was reviewing the last week ( i just got a new job so no way i could dedicated myself during the day / night digesting all the formulas). I practiced AM for 2009/2010/2012/2013 .All these were done with CFAI book opening ALL the time( I spent 1 day for each am exam , feeling crappy as i forgot the formula, but the concept came back pretty easily for me) I felt that trhese practices helped me write better than in 2011 ( im not a native speaker ).If i have to guess , i figure that 65% should be what i reached this time in the AM . - my PM went worst than 2011’s as the lack of formulas kinda set me back .However, Im pretty sure i can get 65% min. ( I practice PM exam for 2 years without any formula knowledge , just go with the concept and scored around62%). All in , I will be reluctant to say that I will pass but dont think im gonna get worse than band 9 ( i was expecting a lot worse like band 6 ). I think what really helped me are the following - Career /personal exposure to main subjects : I have 4 years of proprietary trading experience so it helped a lot with equity valuation , economics, derivatives ( futures only ). Then i switched my career to seed investment for another 4 years which means venture capital where i was exposed to fund raising , marketing prospectus which helped me see clearly on the issues of alternative investment and GIPS/ethics related. Also , during these VC years I also invested my personal wealth in the equity market so I have experienced all the bias the behavioral finance listed . - Think positive and Stop thinking about how horrendous it will be to go into the test without doing CFAI EOC /without practicing the whole list of formulas : After I practiced 4 AM exams, I decided that I am going to memorize only 10 formulas that I have the highest chance to succeed for follow on conceptual questions ( such as no. of futures contracts , relative valuation , using swap to change duration , active returns measurement, sharpe, treynor information ratios etc. ). At this stage, i had to be realistic with my brain capacity .L3 is more of a concept test so it s useless if i can memorize the formula ( which can only give me a score of 4 minutes question worth) but fail to answer on other important concept questions. - Intentionally left 2014 exam untouched : what are the chance that they are going to ask the same things 2 years in a row? i better rev up my weapon from old exams ( By the way did I mention that I use CFAI 2011 books ? as i still have notes all over the pages. ) Lunch Break : I utilized it on reading one chapter of the CFAI book and bingo ! i manage to nail 3 qs from it (3/60=5%, I cann’t tell you how i felt when i saw it and it also helped boosted up my confidence to deal with ethics /GIPS ) This is, by no means , not the way to prepare CFA l3 but sometimes life is unpredictable and plans can be ruined so i hope at least my “survival” strategy may be of use for someone out there . I may fail this time but i really feel great of not giving it up just because of little time of preparation. Good luck every one !
Instead of focusing on what score is needed to pass, MPS, 40/60/80, yadayadayada… Can we please focus on the fact that in looking at most scores (and I mean MOST) from 2011-2014 posted on this very Forum showed greater than 5-6 sections failed (<50) with only roughly 7-8 sections >70 across BOTH AM AND PM COMBINED and STILL passed???
Idk about y’all but I definitely think I got >70 on AT LEAST 6-7 sections total across AM/PM. Perhaps this is a framing bias (lol)? I think not… I think the results speak for themselves…
See for yourself…
http://www.analystforum.com/forums/cfa-forums/cfa-level-iii-forum/91324255
http://www.analystforum.com/forums/cfa-forums/cfa-level-iii-forum/91335140
I saw this pass from 2014.
Essay
1 Portfolio Management – Individual 20 * - -
2 Portfolio Management – Individual 19 - - *
3 Equity Investments 17 * - -
4 Economics 15 * - -
5 Portfolio Management – Institutional 16 * - -
6 Portfolio Management – Institutional 16 - - *
7 Fixed Income Investments 11 * - -
8 Portfolio Management - Asset Allocation 15 - * -
9 Portfolio Management - Risk Management 15 - * -
10 Portfolio Management – Monitor & Rebalance 19 * - -
11 Portfolio Management – Individual 17 * - -
Item Set
Alternative Investments 18 * - -
Economics 18 - - *
Equity Investments 18 - - *
Ethical & Professional Standards 36 - - *
Fixed Income Investments 36 * - -
Portfolio Management – Individual 18 - - *
Portfolio Management - Performance Eval. 18 - * -
Portfolio Management - Risk Management 18 - * -