So what did you guys think about the test?

[MrSmart]

It’s things like these that make life not worth living.

[system]

@MrSmart

Just remembered I did a deriv question wrong, did not divide the spread over libor by the frequency, only the LIBOR.

It’s things like these that make life not worth living.

You mean morning session?

Errors in questions that are supposed to be correct make one remember only those errors and forget everything else. Same thing happened with me in a PM question when i unncessarily looked to make the question tougher thinking how can the question be so easy and ended up making a fool of myself.

[Portfolio_Manager]

PM was horrible, as most people here said.

[Topperharley]

@iamMichael

Does anyone feel this way too?

Passed ethics, finished the written on time, maybe 35-40 in the PM correct.

Is that a pass you think? I don’t think I failed any written questions persay.

Only 35/40? That’s definitely a fail. Sorry for the bad news bud.

[MrSmart]

@lindsay99

@MrSmart

Just remembered I did a deriv question wrong, did not divide the spread over libor by the frequency, only the LIBOR.

It’s things like these that make life not worth living.

You mean morning session?

Errors in questions that are supposed to be correct make one remember only those errors and forget everything else. Same thing happened with me in a PM question when i unncessarily looked to make the question tougher thinking how can the question be so easy and ended up making a fool of myself.

Yep AM.

8 points down the drain because of a stupid mistake.

The hopes of me passing are getting slimmer by the day

[Professor_of_Hamburg]

@hei.so

@Professor\_of\_Hamburg

When people say the first question do you mean the entire thing? Or just, like, part A? The reason I ask is that each entire question is what, 15-22 mins on average with like 3-9 per question? The rule of thumb is it should only take you half the time to actually do the answer, including thinking about it.

Half the time??? No way. It depends on the calculation question though. If it asks you to calculate the pension minimum requirement, then it’s easy but if the calculation question involves forwards and swaps, then there is no way you would calculate it in 4 minutes if the time recommendation on it was 8 minutes.

Um yes, half the time. All the prep providers say this. 4 min to think, 4 mins to write.

[danv0330]

i need to stay away from this site badly or risk a heart attack

[sdooley23]

@danv0330

i need to stay away from this site badly or risk a heart attack

Same here… I keep feeling worse and worse about it.

[MrSmart]

@danv0330

F*%^&**!! Mr.Smart deriv q

^^if you are saying what i think you are saying you just ruined my day… that one was supposed to be my anchor in the AM… 8 strong points ahead of the curve …

but im still not convinced i missed what you are thinking… i need to stay away from this site badly or risk a heart attack

The normal 90-day LIBOR and spread of 100 bps (fixed swap), you’re supposed to divide the LIBOR+100bps by 4, not LIBOR/4 + 100bps, which I did for the latter.

Nothing I’ve said applies to the actual question I’m referring to in the exam, but you’ll get what I’m trying to say if you remember which question it was.

[verse214]

@MrSmart

@danv0330

F*%^&**!! Mr.Smart deriv q

^^if you are saying what i think you are saying you just ruined my day… that one was supposed to be my anchor in the AM… 8 strong points ahead of the curve …

but im still not convinced i missed what you are thinking… i need to stay away from this site badly or risk a heart attack

The normal 90-day LIBOR and spread of 100 bps (fixed swap), you’re supposed to divide the LIBOR+100bps by 4, not LIBOR/4 + 100bps, which I did for the latter.

Nothing I’ve said applies to the actual question I’m referring to in the exam, but you’ll get what I’m trying to say if you remember which question it was.

I doubt you’re losing all credit for that - if you wrote out your formula and still solved till the end you should get partial credit. Especially if you solved it all the way through and annualized it.

[MrSmart]

@verse214

@MrSmart

@danv0330

F*%^&**!! Mr.Smart deriv q

^^if you are saying what i think you are saying you just ruined my day… that one was supposed to be my anchor in the AM… 8 strong points ahead of the curve …

but im still not convinced i missed what you are thinking… i need to stay away from this site badly or risk a heart attack

The normal 90-day LIBOR and spread of 100 bps (fixed swap), you’re supposed to divide the LIBOR+100bps by 4, not LIBOR/4 + 100bps, which I did for the latter.

Nothing I’ve said applies to the actual question I’m referring to in the exam, but you’ll get what I’m trying to say if you remember which question it was.

I doubt you’re losing all credit for that - if you wrote out your formula and still solved till the end you should get partial credit. Especially if you solved it all the way through and annualized it.

I did, didn’t write out the formula in letters though (else I wouldn’t have made the mistake). Just did it with the numbers.

Hopefully I get some partial credits, that’s the only calculation mishap that changed the final answer, all the other steps were correct, including the last one.

Did the exact same thing in FI, forgot to include the last variable in the calculation for the final two steps, even though the rest are correct, including the first equity part of it. Obviously that changed the final answer.

[danv0330]

im done posting on this site until results day!!

[Ethuriel]

@I-will-pass

I wrote it in Zurich (anyone else?). I am still in bullet point mode:

• They had metal detectors and security checks at the entrance this time

• They were checking each and every wrist watch to check if it was a smart watch

• My table was loose (cheap beer table) and squeaked non-stop – I shared it with a lefty, while I am right handed…

• I don’t know which question you guys are talking about but I had one AM moment where I thought wow this is spot on but it’s actually the higher bound of the budget. Just hope I get enough partial credit here and there.

• Morning was awful. I was behind relatively quickly and halfway through number 5 I realize that there is only 1 ½ hours left.

• PM was ok, with some curve balls that I saw but was unable to hit. Good questions, but the kind of questions that I appreciate during my study sessions because they are though provoking. But heck not when you are fighting to stay alive. I was confident at 4/6 in average and 50/50 on the rest. I hope that with the traps I missed I will average 75%ish and make up for the f.ug up in AM.

• I did about 7 AM mocks, some of them repeatedly. And went even further back on some key areas. This means I had done some 12-15 different questions on individual and institutional. And still I saw a good number of questions on the exam that I had not seen in a similar way.

I am likely a fail, because of AM. And I know what I did wrong. I should have practiced more AM mocks and learnt more from it, more from its model answers. I will take a different approach next year, with a more strategic take on the practice questions.

what was your seat number?

[S666]

@Ethuriel

What was your seat number?

I was sat in seat number 13…great start to the exam!!

[Ethuriel]

TBH reading all these comments is not really confidence inducing, by now I forgot most of the questions or how I answered them and reading your discussions makes me feel as if I surely must have failed. Haha. Problably just withdrawal symptoms

[fvgarcia]

After finishing my AM session, I tried to calculate how many points would I get… (considering that for long calculation questions I got only 75%, if I knew how to do it). Ended up with 130/180… a very good AM… But we really dont know if our formulas were right… if our explanation was good enough… So, to be conservative, I am considering (and hoping) 115/180… I spent too much time on the first and second question, also had to go to the toilet… So, had to rush in the end…

For iten set questions I have a system to predict my score (used on my 3 final iten set mock exams and worked really fine): For a question that I know for sure, I give 90% chance of being right… for a question that I don’t know exactly, but was quite confident or thought that an alternative was really better than the others i give 60%, for the others (no matter if was a random guess, or if I new that must be A or B and picked up B…) 30%… And on the PM session I had 39 questions “right”, 10 “almost right” and 11 “guess”… So, using this system, 44 questions… To be conservative: 42.

In the end I hope that a will get at least something around 67%… But we never know…

Did all the CFAI online tests, CFAI iten set mock, 2015 and 2014 essay and 6 Schweser mock (full exam)…

[CFA_2015]

@StallionDis

this jackass next to me was using a pencil and kept erasing his answers. Why do people continue to use pencils in the AM and on top of that use erasers?

it clearly says either HB pencil or erasable pen on the cover page. It freaked me out a little bit as they required pens in the past years and I have been practicing using pens. Why is such a big change not on a visible spot on thier website? At least not visible enough to me.

[WayneINTJ]

@CFA_2015

it clearly says either HB pencil or erasable pen on the cover page. It freaked me out a little bit as they required pens in the past years and I have been practicing using pens. Why is such a big change not on a visible spot on thier website? At least not visible enough to me.

It’s not a big change. You can still use normal pens. Erasable pens are just a recommendation, not a requirement.

[CFA_2015]

@WayneINTJ

@CFA_2015

it clearly says either HB pencil or erasable pen on the cover page. It freaked me out a little bit as they required pens in the past years and I have been practicing using pens. Why is such a big change not on a visible spot on thier website? At least not visible enough to me.

It’s not a big change. You can still use normal pens. Erasable pens are just a recommendation, not a requirement.

Well, it doesn’t say recommended on the exam paper. I had to switch to pencil on the spot. I probably would be freaked out if I didn’t have any with me!

[tonytony]

Seriously? The instructions ahead of the exam were clear… Plus, do you think they’ll just try to erase your answers to prove it was an erasable pen?