I’m sure many of you also went to the mock exam today and took both tests. I did it just because i have not sat down and taken a 3 hour test in over a decade (SATs?). I also don’t even remember sitting somewhere and not speaking for 3 hours, other than on a airplane.
How did everyone do? I scored a little above 50%… I plan on busting my ass the next 2 weeks. Can I do it?
Also, plan on using this chain to discuss any questions on the mock exam.
Just scored in at 58% at both morning and afternoon. I felt really good about my performance during the exam. Thus, I was convinced I was looking at the wrong exam key when I got home! I am approaching 500 hrs studying, pouring over the CFAI curriculum. Mean score on EOCs is around 70ish, at first pass, with low variance. I have ran 3 full practice exams at a mean score of 68ish. Creating my own flash cards and burning them up in the barb b que pit and then recreating them, etc. etc. Yeah, Did the Schweser 3 day review. I torture my wife and kids daily, telling them about the “formula of the day”. So, initally I was pretty disturbed until I saw the breakdowns on the mock. I am way ahead of average in virtually all areas! Except one - Ethics. Geesh.
My resolution for the next two weeks? Become “Mr. E”, Mr. Ethics that is! Yeah, Mr. E, “I pitty the fool!” (From the A-Team for those of you who remember the 80s…
Hi there,
I sat for this mock exam as well. I am happy that I did it, since I also have not taken a long exam in a while. I scored around 70, but keep in mind that I spent time on review before this mock. Now that you know your weak areas, you can drill into them – that will be my strategy after reviewing what I got wrong on this mock. This strategy is what my friends that passed recommend. Best of luck to you!
I am assuming that it’s ok to discuss questions from this mock exam, right? I’m just reviewing ethics from the morning session, and not sure why question 3 is C and not B. Considering that it’s “best practice” to negotiate a flat fee for issuer paid research, does that mean that it’s required by the Standards? I thought “best practice” meant recommended but not mandatory…
~Tiny
" I scored a little above 50%" HeyHawk, what where your strong/weak areas?
Tiny - I put B also. I think this question is worded funny.
Below is the reasoning:
Issuer-paid research is permitted by Standard I(B) Independence and Objectivity only if a member’s compensation from the issuer is independent of the report’s conclusions and recommendations. Best practice is to negotiate a flat fee for such research. Failing to disclose that a research report is funded by the issuer would violate Standard VI(A) Disclosure of Conflicts.
(Study Session 1, LOS 1.b,c, Study Session 1, LOS 2.a,b,c).
I need to restudy the Quant sections. I think its mental, but i score well on the ethics, and quant is the next section. It messes up your flow if you start doing poorly on the second part of the exam…
TIny- after rereading this question it makes sense. kind of mad at myself for getting it wrong. If the fee was not flat, than they want you to think that his fee could have been on how well his paper evaluated the company. because, the fee was a flat fee, he should not have any incentives to write/evaluate the company any better or worse.
But on page 31 of the Ethics book, it says that negotiating a flat fee is a “best practice,” not a requirement. Am I interpreting the phrase “best practice” wrong? I would have thought that it means that something is not required but is recommended. Not following a best practice recommendation would not be a violation, would it – since the Standards don’t say that a flat fee is mandatory. What do you think?
Morning session question 9. It seems like i get conflicting answers to this one. Answer is A.
Basically… If you hear about some inside information that will cause a stock to drop , and then your client asks to buy that stock, before the information is released.
You should just let it happen???
I got exactly a 70% for the whole test. Not sure how I feel about that, but there’s still a little under 2 weeks to go, so we can all hit the books!
I’m also a little mixed about AM session Ethics #3. I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that if it isn’t a flat fee structure, that could bias the results of the report. Paid to promote kind of thing? I have no idea. Unsure how to differentiate best practices/recommended versus required, myself.
Beluga, after staring at it for a few minutes, I think it’s implied in the first sentence sentence:
“Issuer-paid research is permitted by Standard I(B) Independence and Objectivity only if a member’s compensation from the issuer is independent of the report’s conclusions and recommendations.”
If the fee-structure is not flat, maybe we have no way of guaranteeing that the compensation is independent of the report’s conclusion.
I’m actually not sure I understand Ethics #4 - sending out a blanket security recommendation list to all the clients without considering suitability is acceptable? Why is that?..
Hi Rayankh, check page 69 of the Ethics book.
I also find this topic confusing. I think that when sending out general buy/sell/hold recommendations, firms have to send them out to all current clients equitably. However, when making specific recommendations for a specific client, they have to consider suitability.
Please let me know if you have a different interpretation.