Just finished my first mock this weekend… I know, I’m behind.
Got 41/60 on the morning session ~67%
42/60 on the afternoon session ~70%
I’m interested in knowing how everyone else did on this one. I think my results are ok, but I felt like I was guessing on a lot of the questions and I got a lot of those guesses right due to process of elemination. It seemed way to easy to narrow down the incorrect choices on this one, anyone else feel this way?
Schweser is a joke. I would quit taking it… try taking cfa mocks… they will kick your butt and prepare u for the real deal… schweser is crap gives false sense of accomplishment
I found the CFA mock that they put on the web last year to have been complete crap, full of errors and really complex, way harder then the real deal. Schweser did seem easier than the real deal, but still closer then the pos the cfa gave us last year. I think it makes sense to do both. Schweser tests are designed to test your knowledge of the material not necessarly to prep you for the exam. Do them to see where you may be lacking and review. Do the CFA tests to see if you really are ready.
You’re tough to please, Providence. You’ve ripped on Elan, rip on Schweser. You also ripped on CFAI for recycling questions. Maybe you should start your own CFA prep service?
Not a bad idea Tommy… not a bad idea…
How u feeling for the exam?
^Ha, I’m just playing with you, Providence. I just get a rise out of you ripping on Elan. I think their material is great (particularly Olinto videos) but I get the frustration.
I took a Schweser mock today and scored 70%. My overall thoughts thus far is that the Equity section is pretty simple – a good deal of it feels like Level I material but the rest can be rough. I struggled with derivatives the first mock I took, so I spent a lot of time on it and got better but while devoting all of that time to derivatives, I took a step backward in other topics. Frustrating!
I need to nail down Derivatives, Fixed Income and Portfolio Management. I haven’t really spent any time on Economics yet and I’ve been taking 1/6 and 2/6’s on Econ item sets in mocks so far. I almost feel like entirely punting the topic but I think I need to devote time on it (triangular arbitrage seems like it’ll very likely be tested). I haven’t really studied much of Ethics, but I definitely will soon b/c you’re guaranteed at least 2 item sets on it.
I’m taking Elan practice exam #1 next Sunday then I’ll do one of the CFAI mocks the week after. I’ve found making up points more difficult at Level II compared to Level I but I’ve gotta keep grinding away. I want to be 70% or above on the CFAI mocks but that’s gonna take work b/c I don’t think I’m there yet (Schweser is easier)
How do you feel?
Tommy, thanks for the insight into your studying… I feel decent. I’ve been studying since I passed Level 1 June 2013 so technically since August of last year up untill now. Obviously I kicked it up a notch and got real serious in December so I have a ton of hours under my belt. I feel confident, I would say I have 80% of the material mastered and good to go for exam day… but if cfa asks really really detailed stupid crap from the cirriculum its a crap shoot for anyone…
I have my own 50+ page study guide that i wrote out myself using elan guides formulas and just going through problems etc… so when i take mocks on saturdays, I grade them on Sundays and then i go thru each question, find where it is related on my study guide, and apply my study guide in order for me to memorize. I also use a lot of colors for my study guides too it helps a ton.
Ive taken 5 mocks already ranging with scores from 64%-71%… it was hard to jump into the mocks at first because i didnt feel confident with applying all the formulas but once i got my butt kicked and got into the swing of taking a mock every saturday, I have been in a little groove. This last month is crucial.
I just did the first Schweser mock and got 75% on the AM and 87% on the PM. Obviously pleased with the results but it was pretty clear that it wasn’t a CFA standard exam. There were a few answers that I worked out from the way subsequent questions in the item set were worded which isn’t great test writting…
FWIW based on the online performance tracker the average AM score is currently 62% and the average PM result is 65%. This is based on around 350 candidates taking each paper but doesn’t make any adjustments for when the exams were taken which probably scews it down a little.
To those scoring in the 80s on the Schweser mocks a month before the exam, bravo. I’ve not taken CFAI mock or an Elan mock (I will in the next two weeks), but I think the Level II curriculum is challenging and I don’t think the Schweser mocks are easy. There are a few questions mixed into the exam that are gimmies, but others that are tough. I know people at work and personally that aren’t getting above 65% on those exams at this point in the game, and they aren’t dumb guys.
>80% on mocks is damn good work. You still to take your studies seriously the last month but you know the material quite well if you’re above 80%.
I have a hard time believing anyone who says that they are scoring 70+% on the practice exams and doing it legit…not to call BS on Switfly or anything, but are we looking at the same questions? Maybe I am just not very intellegent, but I am pretty sure I couldn’t score 87% with an open book and all the time in the world.
Even some questions on Schwesser are “questionable” and up to interpretation. I just took one that added all of Notes Payable as a current liability without saying ANYTHING about all of the Notes Payable would be current. (They asked for the current ratio).
Either way, if you are scoring that high, do us all a favor and throw a couple on the exam to help with the curve.
I’ve taken the first three Schweser mocks and the second CFAI mock… my three Schweser scores range from 68-72%… and I scored a 74% on the CFAI mock… For some reason in level 2, I’ve done better with CFAI questions than Schweser questions since I’ve started studying (EOCs vs. concept checkers, CFAI Practice assessments vs. Q-Bank, and now CFAI Mock vs. Schweser mock)… Hopefully that’s a good sign, though, I’m not taking it for granted.
Scored 59% on my first Schweser mock yesterday, clearly I still have a lot of work to do
Scored 73% on my first Schweser mock. Exactly 87 questions right.
Hope to increase this as time goes on.
Scored a 67% on an AM Mock for schweser this morning. I’m noticing that most of the questions I get wrong it’s because I can’t figure out what the hell they’re asking, or what they are referencing in the question. I think they do it intentionally to stress us out
Got 55%. Clearly off to a hot start.