I think many people who pass the CFA cannot answer the question: why am I passing this exam and why would this make a difference to me. In particular I saw an increase in the number of people passing the CFA without having any other experience or qualifications in Finance: in my honest opinion, the CFA by itself will never land you a job in Finance and when I see articles like this one:
It just shows that people did not put alot of work in researching what MBA and CFA programs are and what they bring: even worse, putting all MBAs in one bag clearly shows that you did not even spend a few hours researching MBA programs before to ask this question.
Ask yourself whether you want to pass the CFA and whether you still need it and this will be your answer. Your original post does not describe your motivations and your situation and you are asking people you do not know to answer a question about your career.
Cfaannoying, perhaps my opinion could be of interest. My opinion is very different from those published in the thread. I made Level I on my second attempt. I failed Level II six times. Passed on the 7th. I sat on Level III exam this year. I am not a self-declared expert on Level III difficulty. But I know what is to fail year after year after year, going through hell, seeing people being sarcastic when you sign up next year. I know what is to be being demoted since you failed Level II. I know how the exam preparation rout can devastate your relationship with your partner. I know it all. What do these guys from the thread told you? 40% less readings? Come on. You are a grown guy. Call the CFAI customer support, they will give you in a minute the number of pages in Level II vs Level III. Last year Level III was 15% less of pages. Indeed. Only 15%. Not a cakewalk, yupe. But please do not forget AM session. Yes, Level III is less about readings and less about calculations, but on AM you are required to give, say, 5 reasons for something. Those 5 reasons are exactly in the reading. But to recall them at once (and to formulate your answer in a way that will not let the CFAI interpret it in another way), dude, to do it you’d better to remember all 1200 pages verbatim. And that is the reason I know many people who failed Level III a bit beyond 7 times Don’t you believe? Just call the CFAI customer service and ask them what is the longes thrail in Level III exams… In level II you can get a vocation from your family and from your boss for 3 months, pour in 700 hours and hope to win. Level III is another game. 700 hours is not enough - it’s or you have it (after 150 hours of studying) or you don’t (and 1500 hours is nothing). The bottom line is: it’s the right time to quit. Now. Just quit unbeaten. Before you will enter the first fail and go for the second, third,…,n-th, n-th+1 round to save your own image in your mind… Think and save your time!
I think that you should do it. Statistically, you have a 50% chance of passing and you’ve already sacrificed so many years for this CFA charter, you should just try to complete it.
This is easy for me to say as i am not in your situation, but at 35, passing the level 3 exam will have a much more significant impact on you for the rest of your life than if you didn’t do it. Psychologically and professionally. I am guaranteeing this.
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
Thanks for your comments CFAiliure, sounds like you have had a similar journey to me…
A couple of my attempts at level 2 I would say were somewhat sabotaged by bad ‘game day’ strategy such as bad time managment on the day…
I perservered as I knew I had it in me to pass… Unfortunately I now wish I hadnt as it is certainly harder to walk away at level 3 than 2…
Just the thought of putting the long hours in to these books again already is making me feel a little stressed… I already have a decent job… Its tough to walk away at the final hurdle but I feel I turned level 2 in to a personal challenge rather than maintaining a clear focus on a career goal… I am just not convinced it will open an attrractive opportunity for me now so it makes more sense to me to not put in 300-500 hours of study just to finish this thing when i could find something else to put the time in to.
I think I will probably take a break from the CFA and if I ever want to come back, then there is only one hurdle to go but I think I will wait until I am sure that it is really needed before putting in the time to finish it… Sunk costs are just that after all, it is best to look forward form here and make the most of my time…
Don’t you believe? Just call the CFAI customer service and ask them what is the longes thrail in Level III exams… In level II you can get a vocation from your family and from your boss for 3 months, pour in 700 hours and hope to win. Level III is another game. 700 hours is not enough - it’s or you have it (after 150 hours of studying) or you don’t (and 1500 hours is nothing). The bottom line is: it’s the right time to quit. Now. Just quit unbeaten. Before you will enter the first fail and go for the second, third,…,n-th, n-th+1 round to save your own image in your mind… Think and save your time!