Sorry folks– just ranting a bit here… hope u understand! At this point, I’m just about ready to say eff it and just take the test… I’m SO sick of looking at the material (esp FRA)! I know I have most of the concepts down, and I’m scoring mid 70s on my practice exams… but there are just so many little things they could test you on its so unnerving! At this point I just can’t go through all 5 books and reread them. Whatever i don’t get at this point i’m just not going to get. I almost wish it was June 4 today so that I could get the test over and done with tomorrow. Pass or fail.
Just hang in there buddy. I am just reviewing formulas and reading the 11th hour whenever I have time. I am pretty confident of doing well so I don’t want to burn myself out by doing too much these days.
I took 2-3 days off and feel really guilty about it. I’m scoring at a border pass rate and so if I fail the test, it’ll be by a very small amount. It would piss me off 1000x more if I barely fail after studying so hard.
I’m scoring borderline also and it’s frustrating after all the study time. Econ and FRA are giving me the most trouble. I think I need to go back and watch the Elan videos and review the EOC CFA questions for these sections. I’m not confident of passing at this point, but am ready for it to be over. There’s always December!!
I’m with you. I’m about to have to do an impairment write down on my brain.
Ethics and FRA are my weakest. And it never feels like I’m doing enough, because like you said, they can test you on the smallest detail. Just reading, and reading, and reading…
I can totally understand man…Its just too frustrating to re-read all the stuff… Its best to relax (sleep, watch a movie) or concentrate on analyzing any tests which you might have taken in the past when you don’t feel like reading anything from Schweser/ CFAI texts. Make sure you don’t give up or get too bored esp when the exam is so close. Also a couple of my friends who cleared L1 said that last 3-4 days will be especially crucial. So maybe a day off won’t hurt today but make sure you are supercharged for last 3-4 days
I’m afraid that if I take an impairment for my brain I won’t be able to write it back up…
Thanks guys-- I guess at this point it’s really hard to develop a good study for myself… I feel like I’m either randomly taking questions or randomly reading sections. I don’t really have a weak section to work on… and so increasing my score from 70% to 80% seems awfully hard because its more about filling in all the tiny holes in my knowledge vs filling in a big gap.
I’m in the same boat, I’ve been adding notes to the 11th Hour Guude, esp for Econ and FRA but whats helped me in the past two weeks and pretty much is the reason of not giving up is taking the mocks answering the questions and rereading the sections that are fundamental to the answers, regardless whether I answered them correctly or not. One that stood out for example, was a question regarding perfect price discrimination in a monopoly and its effect on efficiency…i dont even remember reading that before in Schweser or the CFAI book but when i saw the question in the elan mock, it was on point. I referenced it back to the CFAI book and there it was. A small but important paragraph. so imo take the approach i noted above and reread the entire 11th hour guide and ethics ca ouple days before the exam and you should be fine - not held…lol reason im up so late is becuase i started freaking out and cleaned my entire house, in and out. I just want to get this over with!!!
Agree about the Eleventh Hour Guide and re-reading Ethics. More importantly, you start cleaning up when you’re freaking out? I used to only clean up to procrastinate on studying. @Nickfaulkner: I believe thats the case if you’re following U.S.GAAP. However, I think the default on the exam is actually IFRS. You should be able to reverse the impairment unless U.S.GAAP is explicitly stated. The reversal will of course, flow through the income statement. 
@beatthecfa: Yeah…friend said that that last year CFAI tried to mess with people and each question asked them to use IFRS unless stated otherwise!
Yup thats true! CFA Institute mentioned it in the candidate bulletin that was released in May 2009. June 2009 candidates who hadn’t read it weren’t impressed. I would think it will be the same for you guys. MAKE SURE YOU READ THE INSTRUCTIONS AT THE BEGINNING OF THE EXAM AND AT THE BEGINNING OF EACH SECTION.
@beatthecfa: Candidate Bulletin? Could you post the link in case you have it handy? (will search CFA site later) Thanks
Well unfortunately, I only got 2 and a half months to prepare…but i would like to share a good tip with all of you…instead of reading through the review course. I would recommend a combination of secret sauce and complete scheweser notes.for example, if you are doing economics, 1st go through secret sauce of economics, it would give you a fair conceptual idea about the whole picture (provided you have complete schweser at least once) then go through reading…it will improve your understanding and speed a lot more, it usually takes a whole day for a good section (SS + Schwser) but you will feel very confident I am sure. secondly for keeping your self updated…when at the end of session take a Q Bank test or what ever…Do add all the previous studied sessions as well…they will help a lot in keeping your memory fresh…(120, equal weights) ciao
beatthecfa Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Agree about the Eleventh Hour Guide and re-reading > Ethics. > > More importantly, you start cleaning up when > you’re freaking out? I used to only clean up to > procrastinate on studying. > > @Nickfaulkner: I believe thats the case if you’re > following U.S.GAAP. However, I think the default > on the exam is actually IFRS. You should be able > to reverse the impairment unless U.S.GAAP is > explicitly stated. The reversal will of course, > flow through the income statement. > > That’s the thing, I don’t clean at all except my bathroom and kitchen which has to be spotless. My gf sometimes does and I have a cleaning lady and trust me I’m the most unorganized person u can ever meet…haha. I think my mind was just impaired and not temporary, an OTTI. - Other than Temporary Impairment. lol Reminds me, GAAP does allow restoration of a prior impairment, in other words, a write-up. I believe thats the only exception to the GR under GAAP 1) Once it’s impaired, Depreciation is NOT allowed/take and the impairment loss is the excess of carrying amount over Fair Value (less cost of disposal). held for sale/use both have the same 2 tests just the accounting treatment are different 2 tests: 1) Recoverability Test - undiscounted CF’s to carrying amount to see whether an impairment “exists” 2) Fair Value Test - Compare Carry amount to FV or if not given the PV of Future CF’s