The exam was full of LOW tricks and traps. I thought I was dreaming when I saw some of these tricks!! Why would a person spotting the (5) be more qualified for the certificate than the guy who only saw and averaged with the (6) and BOTH used the correct equations??? This is not a way to test knowledge especially for an exam tested once a year!! From what I’ve seen in the exam I’m not 100% certain of any of the 120 questions. There are only about 10 questions that I truly guessed but how can I tell that I haven’t fell in these STUPID traps when happily choosing a wrong answer that they put between the options?? When I took my CPA there were no tricks in the four exams what so ever, everything important was written in bold!! I’m a retaker who studied his eyes out this time but I sincerely don’t believe that this was a DECENT way testing your knowledge and hard work. What are your thoughts on this?
There’s a lot of smart people taking these exams that put in a LOT of time studying. If everything on the exams was straight-forward, some of us would be getting like 95% on the exams and there would be about 3 times as many CFAs as there are. Lots of smart guys and gals take these tests and they have to make questions tricky to keep everyone from getting the designation and keeping it elite.
Agree with Topper. This is what separates CPA from CFA.
We come early into the exam under stress and for some lack of sleep. Then we have to be alert enough to spot these traps. I just don’t agree with some of the traps where it is more about the way you read or spot the minute info. That is not about testing our knowledge and is more about testing our IQ’s.
I don’t think you need traps to keep it elite. you can bring hard questions with no traps right?
Crap, I didn’t see those traps. Probably fell right in…
geez thats what I am thinking too ;(
Oh well June 2015
I didn’t notice the traps… This makes me uncomfortable :’)
Where would you say was the highest concentration of traps? In which topic area?
To be honest, I have a blurry remembrance of a few multiple choice answers which were like “the answer if you could have omitted step XYZ”. But I do not remember more))).
I also could not find any tricky questions apart from very few. I remember that I had to go back and solve 2-3 questions again as I solved the other questions in the vignette remembering that i had missed something or was tricked :). But for the rest of the questions I did not face this issue. I am consoling myself just by saying that I was well prepared and did not fell in their other tricky questions ;);)
Don t you remember that one question of quantitative method was a huge trap? I’m still not sure what the correct answer should be
I did think that was rather sneaky. I only saw the trap when I went to fill in the answer. But the answer was obvious when you saw it.
Why does everyone feel entitled to pass?
Why doesn’t anyone want to earn it?
or Was that What CFAI wanted you to think 
let me start out by saying, I studied over 400 hours, I feel like I did well and I hope to pass; however I couldn’t agree more. This whole idea of keeping it “elite” doesn’t make any sense too me;
Yes I get the basic concept but at what cost? I personally know at least 3 prop firm / hedge fund owners who say they don’t hire CFAs (ethics violation) because they think the designation is a joke for this very reason.
If you want to keep it elite make it harder or longer but test the actual material. I’d rather they did not play games and just test if you know the material and have a 90% cutoff, than the way it is now.
also… should “earning it” not go to the guy who studies 600 hours over 6 months and dedicates his life to the exam? Did he not earn it because the wording on the exam was rediculous? Just sayin’.
The exam is designed primarily for professionals already working and don’t have 600 hours of spare time in 6 months. For that reason it has to be kept simple. If you are a full time student with half a brain, I see no reason why anyone should fail this exam.
The exam is designed primarily for professionals already working and don’t have 600 hours of spare time in 6 months. For that reason it has to be kept simple. If you are a full time student with half a brain, I see no reason why anyone should fail this exam.
i dont think the traps were all that bad…but i felt like i knew the material for the most part. however on one question specifically i remember saying those sneaky CFA @#$ers and caught it. hopefully i didnt miss many others…
Sidtoaf - This comment makes no sense.
I’d rather that they limit the number of attemps: max 5 times for the 3 levels
don’t see the point of unlimited number of attemps , at the end anybody can pass it
I understand the concept of keeping the charter difficult to obtain and i value that. With that said, i think there are more appropriate methods to do this without having to incorporate tricky questions that assess your reading comprehensive skills rather than your understanding of the material. The world of finance is evolving and there are concepts that require a degree of high expertise. Test on a more difficult subject, expand the LOS, but don’t fail someone who has put in more than enough hours and understands the subjects simply because the question(s) are written in a vague and ambigious manner. As we see now, what this does is places more of an importance on gaming the test as opposed to outright knowledge of the material.
I personally think ethics should be removed too. I understand the merits and applaud the CFAI attempts to create a community of ethical people but human nature goes against this concept. Those who commit crimes (for the most part) are aware that their actions are unethical but proceed anyways. I would replace ethics would a different item set (perhaps some degree of stats or math) that can build the foundation for our quant development.