I failed my Level 1 exam with a band 8. It was shocking for me. Not that I should have passed, but being a band 8 after studying pretty hard. It’s making me doubt me. Should I not continue with CFA anymore? I am just thinking that if I couldn’t do Level 1 while working full time, how on earth will I ever manage Level 2 and 3 which are supposed to be way higher. And will I be able to pass level 2 and 3 in first attempts? I don’t want to be failing over and over again. I don’t know… I have always excelled in my studies. Failing something is almost like maybe it isn’t meant for me. I am really depressed and demotivated. Any guidance would be appreciated. Thankyou so much.
I would say give it another try. This was your first attempt right? there is a portion of luck in these exams and sometimes the stuff you are strong in or studied most for just doesn’t land on the exam (HA not the pessimist now, eh bchad?)
But also know that you are correct that L2 and L3 are much harder.
If you give L1 another strong attempt and still find yourself hitting a brick wall, then I would say maybe the CFA program is not for you.
hey i also failed band 10 ( first attempt)…im in the same boat as you thinking whether to re sit in june or not…but everyday im convincing myself more to give it another try and worry about level 2 and 3 when i get there. i think u should give it another go as well and worry about the rest when u get there.
It really depends on how badly you want CFA. Do you think you will be able to sustain the studying and working routine for next few years? Yes, If L1 is taking two attempts, L2 and L3 will require alot more work than that. I am not discouraging but it is really your call.
If I were you, I would have given it another try and that’s it. A few of my friends dropped out after failing L1 and chose to do masters in finance. I envy them actually that they got done with their post-grad studies and now enjoying a high status job and their free time.
i had accounting/finance modules in my ungrad degree…but i took up studying after a 4 years break…graduated in 08. it really depends on what u want…i know i took a few topics lightly and i ended up paying for that by scoring band 10.
Ayesha, band 8 suggests that you have brains to pursue CFA. It has to do with tiny bit of short comings, perhaps a better understanding of a few topics or practice or both, considering you have a full time job. Given your background I suppose you might have had a hard time with quants and probably econ as well. You should review what your goals are once again, trust me CFA won’t give you much benefit if (assuming) you are into auditing and plan to stick with it. I’d suggest you give it one more try, and this time just do everything necessary to attain it. CFA is difficult and you must put in everything that is required for a couple of more years. I see it as something that will give you joy for rest of your life. To answer your question about ACCA, I might know you. I’d PM you if there was an option to do so on this broad.
Haha the world is a small place if you do know me! But I believe there’s no way of finding that out. Lol
Guys thank you so much for your positive responses. They meant a lot. I have been thinking about all this ever since the result came out and have decided that I will reappear. CFA is what I wanted from so long and I shouldn’t just let go like this. And am trying real hard not to think what happens if I fail it again lol. Thanks again!
Oh and TwoNineSeven I am not into Auditing. I am working in the Finance dept of a MNC. Not very much related to what we study in CFA but a head start for sure for a Finance career. CFA was my way to go forward and hopefully it will remain so!
I believe you are on the right track. Work harder this time, make sure you can nail it in 16 weeks, or defer it to December if you feel like taking a short break and in the meantime you can focus on minute details of the curriculum. All the best!!
Ayesha, I too failed at band 8. And yes like you, studied hard. And again like you aced in studies all my life. But I was not shocked to see the result, because somewhere deep down I knew I will miss the cut. It is important for you to introspect what went wrong and why it went wrong. So that next time around this same thing does not happen again. In my case, I thought I just studied hard, rather than studying smart. 1 year away from school, and I forgot how I studied all these years. Paid least attention to some highest weighing topics like ethics (studied it for just 2 days max, stupid me!) rather choosing to pay much more attention to things like Alternative Investments and derivatives, only because it fascinated me more, but unfortunately overlooked the fact that those had the 2 least weights among all topics. Another thing was barely sleeping before exam, which led to barely any energy left in afternoon session. Mind went blank for an hour, where I could not mark a single answer, only because my mind was way too tired to think. So the moral is you don’t need to doubt yourself about your abilities, nor feel depressed. It is possible that like me you too took the wrong approach with your studies and that was just it . If you have excelled academically before, there is no reason to believe that won’t be the case with CFA.
Main areas which let me down were Equity and Corp Finance. I hadn’t even thought that I’ll score below 50 since I had done the Qbank and never really had a problem with the questions. I am guessing my mistake here was not doing the curriculum. The other area which disappointed me was Reporting. I have a background in reporting and I should have scored above 70 in that at least. Again, not the doing the curriculum seems to be the issue as I did do the Qbank.
What was surprizing was that I scored between 50-70 in all other areas. And now that I am looking back thats another mistake I made. I was really scared of quants (it was something I have never studied in my earlier studies), economics (I had studied it in my A levels so it wasn’t all gibberish), alternative investments, project management and derivatives. So the two weeks I got off from work, I entirely spent on these areas reading schweser, doing a bit of Qbank and attempting the curriculum questions. This resulted in me not revising Corp Finance, Equity and Fixed Income, Reporting at all ( I had done the Qbank back in October for these). Tt7128 this is where I can relate to you since I spent only two days on ethics, how ever I scored between 50-70 so that’s okish I guess.
In a nutshell, lessons I learnt are firstly do the curriculum questions twice. WIthout much understanding I scored above 50 on all those areas I attempted the curriculum for. Secondly, Qbank is not to be trusted, at all. The level of testing is way below than what is required. So it is to be done only if one has ample time at hands. Third, focus on areas with a higher weightage. Had i gone a bit easier on studying Alternate investments, derivatives, project management day and night for the last week and instead revised all that I knew well, I would have performed better. And last, always revise everything in the last two days. If you haven’t covered something so far, chuck it away. Don’t be risking all that your memory just needs to recall by one revision for a few MCQs.
TwoNineSeven haha thanks for the video it was fun to watch it! Someone recommended Chak De India too Lol. I am spending this weekend watching movies and relaxing. Studies start next week hopefully!
TT71288, well we are in it together on the same boat now I see! Bring on June 2013 Lol! Hope to stay in touch through these forums.