If I can give you a tip, just stay away from this forum because it’s filled with people who are extremely paranoid, both pre and post exam.
Haha - SO true!
key to passing L3:
AM - damage control and grabbing as many points you can, ideally always writing non-stop, if you see a question and really need some time to think, move on now, then come back
PM - doing well enough to cross over the finish line
dont belive its difficult, just watch
It’s the easiest exam once you passed it. Otherwise, it’s h***.
Right! Amazing how many people I’ve talked to throughout the process who “barely studied”, maybe like “a month”. (and then their wives/gfs proceed tell me how much time they really devoted and how little they saw them for months on end - LOL).
Several things make the AM session more difficult:
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Essay questions require more thorough knowledge than multiple choice (the latter allows the test-taker to sometime RECOGNIZE the answer rather than recall it)
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Knowing how to answer succinctly is difficult without practice. Taking past exams helps immensely. That’s not because of the questions themselves - they won’t be repeated. Rather, the benefit of the past exams is in trying to answer the questions and comparing your answer to the model answer. It’s a learned skill, and a prep class or boot camp might help if they focus on this aspect. I thought Dave Hetherington on the Kaplan videos was excellent in this aspect.
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Time management - there’s a tendency to shoot your wad on the early questions, and then run out of time in the latter ones. Getting hammered on the last couple questions due to time onstraints will get you. This can be somewhat offset by answering questions in the order that plays to your strengths, but it’s still easy to spend too much time on the early questions.
My $0.02. Study like you did for L2 in addition practice writiing essay questions, IPS statements etc. That’s about it.
The bullet point thingy is absolutely correct re Level III. The way to actually get that down is to force yourself to actually answer the various AM questions in no more than two sentences for each bullet point. If you practice the two sentence discipline (then try and tweak down to just one!) then you will be practicing correctly. It’s not enough to advise "answer in bullet points " as it is also easy to create an essay after the bullet point. Anser in nore more than ONE or TWO sentences ONLY! This means that instead of whipping out an answer right away (because you are completely paniced and need to start writing, right?), just take a moment to think and organize and then write – you won’t be writing searching for the answer as you compose; rather, you will actually be writing down what you have just thought the answer to be. Actually much better, much faster, and far fewer fatal crossouts – if you start writing right away, you will wander and guess your way to fatal endings. JUST Breath and THINK for a few seconds. Then write the one or two sentences only. The thing about Levek III is that sometimes the answers are glaringly obvious, but people think that can’t possibly be true and instead of writing the few words for the glaringly obvious answers, they think they owe the reader a thesis (as if this makes the answer more sophisticated and better, when all it wants is the kindergarten version).
One sentence is all you need for each bullet?
Is one bullet for one point? How would you break down the exam in terms of how many sentences per point per question?
Yes, shockingly, one sentence works in many cases. Believe this. This is where the discipline come in. This is what is truly meant by “bullet point.” Think ONLY one sentence or two: drive yourself in your AM prep to produce just this. The practice will force you to use the buzzwords and not beat around the bush. Presume you only have this very limited amount of “space” and you can’t go over. Best discipline possible for AM. Knowing the answer is one thing; expressing it in a sentence or two is quite another!
One sentence is all you need unless you need to show your work.
Also when they grade, if the question only asks for 1 answer, the graders will only grade the first answer they see and then skip the rest of what you have written. So writing one sentence guarentees that the grader looks at the answer you want them to see.
The key to passing L3 is to get the short error message.
He’s right.
Gettign scared is the worst thing you can do to your preparations. Follow a sensible plan and prepare yourself well. There is no reason why you should fail. I passed in my first attempt and you can do it as well. My two cents - while AM is important, nailing the PM is more important to make up for AM. I have rarely seen anyone who is not baffled with his or her AM scores. Take a class for AM if you must. Smart test taking skills are essential.
Hey Guess what - contrary to what many say… It’s NOT AN EASY TEST!!! People like me who are more drawn to the material on level two probably had a difficult time with this one. What I worried most about during level III is that this was the first exam in which I just didnt like the material, not the CFAI books and not the provider’s. I felt that working in the industry for a while was actually a bit of a disadvantage for level 3 because the material focuses on the way portfolios _ should _ be managed - not necessarily how they really are. I found that there were many contradictions in the material, and at a certain point it became clear that I have to answer AM questions the CFA way because I wanted to pass. As a result I found that I actually put in more time for three than I did for any of the other exams. In truth I felt alot more preasure for level three than one or two- I had passed the “point of no return” in my view and there was no way I was walking away from this without a charter in the end. I honestly believe that if I can pass most people can, but your natural intellegence will not get you through this without putting in the effort. No need to be afraid of it but take it seriously!!!
It is also a good reminder that the core of L3 is you are trying to beat the other half of the BEST CFA CANDIDATES Internationally. The exam is graded on some mysterious curve.
Out of all the people who fail, i think 70% or more will do following:
- Cannot complete the AM sesson, and leave many questions blank. I’ve done it on 1st try and failed. Just didn’t spend time in practicing/timing AM sesson.
Toughest part in AM i think, you need to recognize quickly you don’t konw a question that well - so you need to skip it, and mnove on to next one. It is tough to accept, but you need to move on. Even leaving 2 or 3 questions entirely blank, and doing well on others - will get you a passing grade.
- You get upset over AM sesson, and then dont do as well in PM sesson. Thing you got to remember, even if you get half the questions in AM < 50% … you can still pass the exam, by hitting homerun in PM.
to add … on 2nd try, I got stuck on Q2 or Q3 … after spending 2-3 mins, I gave up, and moved on - and really divided the time according to points allocated to the questions. This time, i went through whole exam - but left 2 questions mostly blank. I figured anyhow i didn’t know how to answer them. So in the end, I got 5 qustions in AM > 70%. 4 below 50%, and 2 in between. Learned from the mistake i made once, and made sure at least i answer the ones i know - and spend time on them.
In the PM, i knew i had to do well despite whatever happens in AM- and scored >50% on everything (majority of those > 70%). That was enouh to pass.
People keep trying to “game” the exam. Just practice the AM over and over again. When it comes to test time, don’t get emotional if you don’t know the answer, just move on. Don’t try and wow the grader with your in depth knowledge of the subject; just ATFQ!
People here who talk about starting in August and feel they’re behind on their target plans are just weird. If you’re in the industry today there is no way you should have the time or patience to start studying in 2015 for an exam in 2016. Be efficient. You won’t know everything by just reading the material but you will know how much you know by doing practice questions and mock exams.