this is exactly how I felt. You can practice for the time crunch and writing fast, but not the combination of the time crunch and being stressed while doing it. A lot easier in sweatpants at home.
True, there were many curveballs in respect of the unusual structure of the questions (especially when compared to the past papers from 2007 - 2016), but I felt it was do-able. Last year felt waay harder, maybe because I was so underprepared in terms of getting used to the format of the AM exam. Fingers-crossed I should be third-time lucky!
Oh man, that’s dedication right there. Best of luck!
Thanks mate, hopefully I don’t have to dedicate any more leave days for CFA studies/exams!
Well I feel all the questions were doable. If I have an extra hour, I’m pretty sure I can get most if not all of them. The problem with the AM exam is that there is no time to think (at least for me). You either get it on the spot or move on to the next question. But then you have already spent 1-2 minute reading and maybe 30 second to evaluate whether to spend more time or move on. If you have time to come back to the problem, you may have a different perspective.
I agree that 2017 was easier than other exams. I scored 64% on that one when I consistently scored about 50% every exams from 2011-2016. To be fair, the fixed income section in all previous exams were not very relevant anymore. Also, 2017 was my last practiced exam, and it was the most prepared exam for me.
I took all exams (timed) back to 2013 and reviewed 2012 and 2011. The gist of what was tested was similar throughout the 2017-2011 exams (as well as Saturday’s test) but the delivery and the level of difficulty was much greater in total. Core concepts barely covered while focusing on secondary and tertiary level concepts. It was as though a completely different team had written the questions/assembled the test.
I had written both actual exams and I felt this year’s AM and PM both quite straightforward ‘as compared to’ 2017 even though I think I’m on borderline. I didn’t prepare much for this year just revised concepts, formulas and only did half of TT once so I believe my perception of difficulty level isn’t impaired.
They are performing stress testing, in a way.
given the general consensus that the exam may have been written by a “new team” and the wording and structure a bit different than the last 10yrs could possibly be suggestive of a lower mps for this year or moderate adjustments made by CFAI?
ive seen some say this year’s was easier than others and some say harder so i’d be surprised if there was any adjustment. Personally I thought a.m. was more straightforward than in the past. First time for me on level 3 so I don’t know re pm but don’t think it was harder than me perception of what would be typical based on practice tests.
I did only AM past exam until 2013 and all the Kaplan and feel this year was more easy. Only 2 or 3 subquestions very difficult and strange but others were more easy. Finished 2min before the deadline.
I’m glad a lot of you guys felt that way about the AM this year. It was like they were asking the same types of questions but needed a different strain of the answer. I know 3 weighty questions in there are most likely to be wrong for me as I wasn’t too sure what they were asking.
Also, some in PM sessions…you gotta so careful reading the questions and after they were actually asking instead of quickly jumping in to calculate the typical answers and then falling for the trap answer.
bottom line, you gotta know your stuff so well.