Anyone in the same boat with me or am I the only one? Cant seem to figure out where I went wrong I passed Level II in the first attempt. I was in the 10 band this year. I was thinking of making my own notes this year instead of relying on Stalla and Schweser notes. Any suggestions for me?
if you want it that bad, then dont give up. put the last exam behind you. there is a thread on this page that has some excellent advice - see what would realistically work for you. make your own notes do help to retain information. good luck and shake up your study method.
do All the examples and end of chapter problems from CFA books. Read Alternative investments, Swaps, Fixed Income from CFA You almost there. One little push
U must completely change the eay u prepare for the exam. L2 and 3 is fdifferent story. If u did badly in am, my only suggestion is for u to go for CFAI candidate reading. BTW, Did u prctice enough on past exam, 2003-2007 past eaxm ?
A loser is not the one who falls but is the one who does not get up. Keep trying. I did make my own notes on IPS for institutions and behavioural finance. Practice, practice and practice; get your hands on any questions you can find. Don’t ignore the topics in the afternoon paper. I did OK in the morning paper but it was the afternoon paper that secured my pass. Also keep physically fit by doing the sports you enjoy. For me, it was ballroom dancing. Good Luck!
I’ll be taking L3 for the 5th time next year (yes-5th time!). This is depsite cracking L1 and L2 on first attempt. Here’s my 5c on what’s not worked for me at this level: - Leaving it too late to start - Not using online exams or Q banks for practice - Relying solely on Schweser/Stalla notes (although I used CFAI only for 2008) - Not taking online based lectures - Not staying physically fit. - Unhealthy work/life/family/study balance (spent too much time in the books towards the end) So, what to do next? I’ll be relying heavily on my knowledge from studying for 2008 L3. I’ll be starting a review early (Oct) so that I’ve been through the material at a high level by Dec. Then knuckle down for a detailed second study with end of chapter questions to be finished by March. April & May will be online exams/Schweser exams/Stalla exams/Q banks. In short - I will try to get my hands on a gazillion questions. Oh, I’ll also be continuing my passion of mountain climbing during this, bringing my golf handicap to single figures, being an investment banker, being a husband, being a father and trying to be a nice guy…piece of cake…hah!
One thing I haven’t got is Children. They do require a lot TLC. I respect those who pursuit CFA with children or having children.
I am in the same boat. My strategy this time is to really focus in on the areas I’ve done poorly on and hit them hard. Hopefully this will get me through next year.
Bankerboy Wrote: > I’ll also be continuing my passion of mountain > climbing during this, bringing my golf handicap to > single figures, being an investment banker, being > a husband, being a father and trying to be a nice > guy…piece of cake…hah! I like your plan! Balance in life is essential for long-term success!
This thread is scary.
mwvt9 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > This thread is scary. I agree. So apparently it’s not downhill after Level 2…d@mn.
Zombie71 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > mwvt9 Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > This thread is scary. > > I agree. So apparently it’s not downhill after > Level 2…d@mn. Motivational thread. We have to take Level III seriously and study hard.
Number 3 for me. No studying year 1, minimal year 2, skipped this year because just no way to prepare given work and family (six kids). L1 and L2 were cake. So, my advice, for what it’s worth from two time loser, is CFAI books, problems in readings, old tests, because looking back that’s what i lacked. For L1 and L2, reading stuff several times and doing q-banks was fine, but here not sufficient for putting it all together for the kinds of questions you get on test day.
Having taken three times to pass LII, my hope for LIII does not seems to be great. Finger crossed for all of us
I passed on third try this year. Started the second week of January. Used Schweser Notes and worked all problems in the candidate readings. Did all three practice exams from CFAI website. Strong emphasis on IPS, especially the return calculations. I only made my own notes for alternative assets and GIPS because I performed poorly in these areas in the first two attempts. Supplemented review in last three weeks with Secret Sauce. Studied 2 hours a day each weekday in the morning, and five hours in the morning on Saturday and Sunday. The reason I studied in the morning is so I could spend time with the wife and kids in the evening, and go for a walk after the kids were in bed. I took a week off work two weeks before the exam and studied about 10 hours a day. Keep at it. The feeling you will get when you pass will make it all worth it. Good luck.
What band did u get> Bankerboy Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I’ll be taking L3 for the 5th time next year > (yes-5th time!). This is depsite cracking L1 and > L2 on first attempt. Here’s my 5c on what’s not > worked for me at this level: > - Leaving it too late to start > - Not using online exams or Q banks for practice > - Relying solely on Schweser/Stalla notes > (although I used CFAI only for 2008) > - Not taking online based lectures > - Not staying physically fit. > - Unhealthy work/life/family/study balance (spent > too much time in the books towards the end) > > So, what to do next? I’ll be relying heavily on > my knowledge from studying for 2008 L3. I’ll be > starting a review early (Oct) so that I’ve been > through the material at a high level by Dec. Then > knuckle down for a detailed second study with end > of chapter questions to be finished by March. > April & May will be online exams/Schweser > exams/Stalla exams/Q banks. In short - I will try > to get my hands on a gazillion questions. Oh, > I’ll also be continuing my passion of mountain > climbing during this, bringing my golf handicap to > single figures, being an investment banker, being > a husband, being a father and trying to be a nice > guy…piece of cake…hah!
What do you guys do for work?
neetabux Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Anyone in the same boat with me or am I the only > one? Cant seem to figure out where I went wrong I > passed Level II in the first attempt. I was in the > 10 band this year. > > I was thinking of making my own notes this year > instead of relying on Stalla and Schweser notes. > > Any suggestions for me? this thread is great and in a way really motivational. Prepare ur notes if u have got stalla & schweser as syllabus has not changed and moreover new notes will be available in Novemebr only. - First Focus on areas u could not do well - Prepare notes for specific concepts you find difficult - not only to grasp BUT also to interpret. (Discuss it on AF or with other candidates in your area) [Results may not provide u hint of your weak topics] - Don’t go thorugh the stuff sequentially. - sovle the end of chapter questions from CFAI text (easy to say) ALL THE BEST
I passed it this year on my 3rd attempt. I was ready to give up after last year but I figured I came this far so I might as well finish it off. This is what I did differently this year: 1) Learn how to structure your essay answers, especially the IPS answers. This is probably the most important advice I can give. In the previous years, I got my face ripped off on those questions even though I came up with basically the correct responses. CFAI wants it in a certain format. They love “buzzwords” so be sure to throw them in your answers. Follow closely how the guideline answers are presented. This year, I got >70% on all the IPS material. 2) Go through all the questions at the end of the CFAI readings. These questions are often very different than Schweser and may give you an early glimpse of similar questions on the exam. I would recommend hitting the IPS, Fixed Income, Derivatives, Trading Execution and Portfolio Attribution problems more than once. 3) Get the Q-Bank or SchweserPro software (or whatever study material provider you use). Make sure you hit the following topics very hard: Ethics, GIPS, Behavioral Finance, IPS Some more general advice that I think helps: 4) Don’t ignore any topic but focus on the ones you feel really comfortable with. I am not great at Economics so I went through the material once, took some notes and wrote down the formulas. I did all the problems in the CFAI readings and Schweser once. That was pretty much it. I would review the formulas periodically. 5) Take note of all the formulas in the text. I wrote them all down and ended up with a crapload of formulas (something like 40 pages) but I could refer to them easily without flipping through a lot of pages. I distilled the formulas down to about a dozen flashcards and carried them wherever I went. 6) Write down all the GIPS disclosures and formulas and post it somewhere at your office so you can look at it all the time. They are easy points so you want to be able to recall them without even thinking. 7) Come to this forum when you have questions. There are a lot of people willing to help.
I was also a multiple L3 write where I pass L1 and L2 on my first try and finally passed L3 this year. Answering Nike’s question above - I’m an analyst in our firm’s fixed income dept. I know a lot of people on this forum have demanding jobs, hence study time tends to be scarce. But you find out quickly where you can make time… during lunch… on the elliptical machine reviewing your flashcards… or reading questions you’ve uploaded to your bb. If your workload is lumpy - no better reason to start early as oppose to stressing about falling behind. I studied an hour before work at Starbucks, an hour during lunch, and three hours after work Mon to Thursday with 3 to 5 hours on Sunday. That’s 23-25 hours in a week and taking a break on the weekend (Fri/Sat). The best tidbits of advice I can give you are: - tenacity pays off! Keep focusing on your end goal and don’t give up - you’re soo close to being done - make a game plan for the exam - if you notice, not many people actually pass the morning portion ( the distribution is usually all over the place). If you’ve been failing the morning, get your hands on as many past exams as possible. With the number of online exams provided by the institute, you should easily score >70% in most topic areas. - understand those damn key words… i.e. Formulate - meaning actually writing down a return statement and not only just calculating the numerical return. (If you download exams 2003-05, they’re still in there) - on the exam - probably intuitive but worth mentioning - judge your pace by the adding up the minutes for all the questions you’ve done… I know a lot of people who wrote this year that started to panic b/c they were on Q4 out of 11 about an hour and half in. If you calculated the number of minutes alloted on each of the previous questions, they were on pace. - do all the online practice exams and the mock exam - although the exact question may not of been tested, but the logic behind some of the questions were similar - total freebies! Plus, it gives you a realistic gauge of how well you know the material. - start early! I know it’s hard to be motivated after Halloween, so start with the easier material first… ethics, behavioral finance, individual and institutional PM, the international readings, GIPS, … then make you read everything you’ve covered before February twice so that it’s fresh in your mind… which leads into… - ABSOLUTELY make sure you have a study schedule to read, compile notes, attend lectures (if any) and to grill the material with questions… if you start in November, you should be done by March giving you April and May to review. The key is to be organized with what you need to cover - I made my own notes and then compared it against stalla to see what i was missing. The flashcards help too b/c i’d jot down things I needed to recall - Do the textbook questions as you go along - reading the material is one thing… but applying and understanding the curve ball type calculations are another… and purchase additional questions if needed for review. The Boston CFA Society has an excellent mock exam as well. - pay attention to new material - b/c they tend to get tested - lastly - try to not stress about the exam too much, you’ve enrolled and like some fad diet, it’s a temporary life adjustment. You’re putting yourself through this program in essence for yourself so clamp down on unrealistic expectations. It’s not for your job, your boss, nor would it make you substantially better at what you do (given that you’re going into this for the third time) Actually, you’re probably good at what you do and getting the charter more than likely just semantics. Just do this for just yourself. And remember - Third time’s the charm 