Seems to me that that most of the time, the ‘essay’ questions isn’t essay question at all. Usually it just involved one sentence or two sentences only.
Thanks a lot to lovenachos and merv to comeback to AF to share your experience! We have no way to return the favor back, but it is much appreciated!! some of us will try to model your generosity.
Stupid IPS in the beginning. I am getting the answers right but I am writing a whole paragraph for the return objective and the answer is like 2 bullet points. So annoying. Is anyone else writing paragraphs for these things? Or simple statement? So odd, sometimes they list on-going expenses for the liquidity constraints and other times they don’t.
JP_RL_CFA Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Stupid IPS in the beginning. I am getting the > answers right but I am writing a whole paragraph > for the return objective and the answer is like 2 > bullet points. So annoying. > > Is anyone else writing paragraphs for these > things? Or simple statement? So odd, sometimes > they list on-going expenses for the liquidity > constraints and other times they don’t. 95% of the time you should have 3 sentences, max. Bullet point approach works better.
Thanks bp, I’ll def try to keep that in mind. I do bullet points on the other questions but for the return requirement I struggle with big time
JP_RL_CFA Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Stupid IPS in the beginning. I am getting the > answers right but I am writing a whole paragraph > for the return objective and the answer is like 2 > bullet points. So annoying. > > Is anyone else writing paragraphs for these > things? Or simple statement? So odd, sometimes > they list on-going expenses for the liquidity > constraints and other times they don’t. That’s exactly what my initial question was about. Often one sentence is enough to get the full points (e.g. the first question of the 2010 AM Essay section). The time allotted to a question may be a good indication of how much to write. But am tempted to write a little more as I do not know what solution the grader is after. Maybe bpdulog has provided a good “heuristic”: 95% of the time you should have 3 sentences, max.
Writing doesn’t take that long, bullets or sentences. I think the major time spent is reading the case, finding relevant facts, and the essence of the question, isn’t it?
jbaphna Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Writing doesn’t take that long, bullets or > sentences. I think the major time spent is reading > the case, finding relevant facts, and the essence > of the question, isn’t Right. And then you have to have the right intuition what they want to know so that you get full points, or at least some.
Time management wise, when you start the question, write the time you are supposed to FINISH by. If you get caught up, move on to where the easy points are. Looking at previous exams, some of the final questions are fairly easy. Make sure you get there. I did the CFA 2010 AM exam as an invigilated mock which was graded by the training company. My strategy is to write bulletpoint answers and I finished with about 25 minutes to spare, but one comment i got back when they graded my exam was that I was being *too* brief. Example… *****SPOILER ALERT***** Following was from a select a trade, justify the trade question. Selected trade was Sell Nominal Bonds, Buy Equities. Justification… Model answer: Active members in the pension plan will likely see future wage growth. Since the inflation component of wage growth is highly correlated with returns on real rate bonds, the company should retain it’s real bond holdings. Future wage growth is best mimicked by equities which are not presently in the portfolio. The sale of some nominal bonds could fund the purchase of this liability mimicking asset for the portfolio. My answer: * Nom.Bonds not inflation linked. * Hedge wage growth with equities. Probably explains why I had so much time left over, but it’s probably best to have *something* for every question, rather than a lot for just some of them.
My tips (passed last year): - Use only bullets or short sentences in responses. Don’t try to construct a paragraph or short story. - Maintain a steady pace. If it isn’t readilly apparent to you how to solve a question, move on and come back to it. - If you feel yourself getting stuck or spinning your wheels, move on and come back to it. Don’t get caught saying, “one more try…I’ve almost got it…” - My first pass through the morning section, I probably skipped over 25% of the test on my first pass. I finished everything with a few minutes for review. - You’ll be surprise how often you come up with an answer to a prior question you skipped while you are working on the next one. - Of course, you need to practice this technique with time-constrained practice exams. You’ll eventually get a feel for what a good pace feels like to you.