Hi all, I’ve taken the AM and PM sessions on the first practice exam in Book 6 as well as the CFAI exam #4. In all of these, I have averaged about 25-35% in Quant (mostly b/c of the second study session) and 45-55% in Economics. I do great on the other sections, all 65+ with at least a couple of topics in the 90-100 range, but my score stays in the low 70’s because of all the awful quant and econ scores. I’m happy that I’m passing the exams at all but I’m also only coming a question or two away from failing… My question really is more about study strategy as opposed to anything specific in quant and econ. With quant, I feel like I am studying something written in a foreign language half of the time, and with econ I feel like I understand when studying but then get killed by the questions. I took two stats and two econ classes in college and got all A’s and B’s, so I’m not sure what gives. It may be in my head at this point, I don’t know. But I do know ethics, asset valuation, and even FSA topics all make sense to me intuitively, whereas with these two I just feel lost. So far, I have watched the Schweser Video Series, taken the Schweser online course, read the Schweser notes, and done several Q-bank questions (though probably not as many as I should have) for both topics. I also review and take notes on the questions I get wrong after each test. I even spent time before my first CFAI practice text reviewing just these two areas. So where do I go from here? There’s just under 3 weeks left until D-day. I’m thinking about spending most of this week on these two areas. I have the CFAI texts, which I was contemplating reading to see if the explanations are better, or I could just drill myself to death with Q-bank questions until it starts sticking. Or, I could just force myself to memorize as much of the stuff as I can and hope it sticks. However, I thought I would check with all of you to see if anyone else has had similar problems and if anyone has suggestions on how to overcome this? I’m sure others have one or two sore spots, so maybe this post will help them as well. Thanks for any suggestions!!
with quant… maybe posting the questions to see if other’s solution methods rings a bell might work. (esp since quant has such an important bearing on Corp Fin, and on Fixed Income, I would recommend concentration there). with econ, I too have exactly the same problem. given the low % on the exam, I would not bother with trying to master that section, and take it as it comes. CP
The funny thing is I do pretty well on the quant stuff that is in the Corp Fin, Equity, and Fixed Income sections. I don’t want to just “not bother” with econ because combined we’re talking about 22% of the exam here, so I had better improve on at least parts of these!
I get blistered on the Z & t-test sections, myself. All the other quant questions I can handle. Anyone have a “Z & t tests for dummies” book or something?
on the bright side budfox, you probably could skip that T and Z test section altogether and maybe tops you’d see 3 or 4 questions on the exam where you’d just have to guess. the bad news is that L2 quant just builds on this stuff, so you probably in the longer term aren’t doing yourself any favors by skipping it now. joey is the man, the myth, the legend at that sort of stuff and i’m sure he’ll help you down the stretch. i fumbled through this stuff in L1 and i’m again fumbling as I go through it for the next level. but the good news is that really, you’re not going to see 10 questions on T tests on this exam. aimee- do try to pick that quant up- hammer out practice problems on qbank. you’ll get better and probably have a better shot improving on quickly. econ on the actual test was pretty brutal- a TON of 2 part questions… vs quant where I think a lot of people here walked out saying we aced it. you bumped that other thread though- ethics and FSA will make or break you, so while studying your quant, sprinkle in FSA and ethics every day. you can’t score high enough in those areas. practice and repetition will get you there on quant.
Thanks bannisja. Most of my problems stem from the probability, z and t tests, and central limit theorem stuff. That’s exactly what really worries me… it will only get worse for LII!