Met my minimum requirements for studying, now it’s trying to make the best use of my remaining time. First are my scores, then I list my options. (averages, scores AM/PM ±2% each way) Schweser Mock: 82 (lots of carelessness in the PM session) Schweser Exam Book 1: Exam 1: 85% Exam 2: 83% (give or take, marked it by hand) Exam 3: 90% CFAI Sample 1: 74% (did too early in my prep) CFAI Sample 2: 89% (did today) CFAI Mock: 85ish (marked by hand) Strongest areas: Equities, FSA (minus analysis part, working on that), Economics, Quant, Derivatives Weakest areas: Alternative Asset Valuation, Ethics, Corporate Finance (I seem to consistently get a couple wrong every vignette) I’ve defined three options: 1) Attempt to do a chunk of Schweser exam book 2. I’ve heard its the same old thing as book 1…so I’m not sure if I would derive any major benefits. 2) Purely back to basics on learning concepts, minimal questions. Go over CFAI and schweser notes. 3) Blended, maybe a few questions from Book 2, with some concept review. The CFAI tests tell me is that they aren’t testing specifics (i.e. obscure VER as someone mentioned) but will put in slight tricks for very, very basic things. Hence, I’m leaning a bit towards #2 right now. Any suggestions? Thanks for reading.
Dude, you are killing it. Maybe more than anyone on the L2 forum. Based on your scores I would say that you’re ready. I would do mostly option 2 if I were in your shoes.
89%, how can you have a ‘strongest area’? Sounds like you spanked the entire thing.
I’d suggest you wait till next year to write, don’t need you influencing the MPS
Chuck and Reggie, Thanks for your responses! I forgot to add that the reason I feel uneasy is because I do think a fair amount of my success has come from good guesses, just knowing a little bit of the material and being able to infer from it. Reggie, I found the CFAI sample 2 to be a little too easy. Not to be arrogant or anything, but other stuff (CFAI mock, sample 1) was definitely harder. I do think what’s holding me back is the psychological aspect. Hearing people clearing mocks with over 70 and still failing is pretty scary. Plus my ethics is shaky (scoring above 2/6 is a major plus for me) so I’m not “out of the woods” yet. I’m just trying to see what the consensus is on preparing. I’m sure there are other people in the same boat (even people you’re scoring above me feel the same way, I’m sure). Mr Brownstone, Haha, well I’ve given up sleep a little too much to not make it count! I really have to give credit to everyone on this forum (except that dude that barely spoke english and asked obvious questions), my scores would be much different without analystforum’s tips (like the person that did PUFE for OCI, excellent!)
I also get scared reading that people have high averages and fail, but to be honest, I have a hard time believing that people who pass are on average sitting in the mid-eighties going into the exam. I’ve talked to somebody who was well connected to the CFA process, and apparently the highest combined score on the actual exam that he saw was like 84%, and he saw it once. The general feeling is that the MPS is ~67%. You have a pretty good shot if you’re going into the exam averaging + 60% and trending higher. Remember, this is a message board dedicated to people that eat, sleep, breathe the CFA exam…sample scores here have an upward bias. That said, I’m still nervous about a lot of things. And I hear you on guessing…but I think that good guessing is really part of it. You’re making educated guesses, there’s no way that you could master this whole thing and consistently get +90% scores. At the end of the day, it’s pass/fail, and you’re sitting solid. Perhaps your next move should be to pat yourself on the back and pour yourself some bourbon.
Yeah I hear you. From what I’ve seen on the board it sounds like Sample 1 is pretty tough and #2 is a bit of a coaster. I’ll be finding out tomorrow and Monday. Best of luck next Saturday muffin!
If your ethics is shaky, I suggest you beef it up big time. That was the deal breaker for me last year. Look at my breakdown: Level 2: Fail The table below illustrates your subject matter strengths and weaknesses. The three columns on the right are marked with asterisks to indicate your performance on each question or topic area. Item Set Q# Topic Max Pts <=50% 51%-70% >70% - Alternative Investments 18 - * - - Corporate Finance 36 - * - - Derivatives 36 - * - - Economics 18 * - - - Equity Investments 72 - - * - Ethical & Professional Standards 36 * - - - Financial Reporting & Analysis 72 - - * - Fixed Income Investments 36 - * - - Portfolio Management 18 - - * - Quantitative Methods 18 * - - We have divided the full group of failed candidates into ten approximately equal score bands. Your score band below shows how your overall score on the exam compares with all other failed candidates. For example, if your reported score band is 1, you scored in approximately the bottom 10% of failed candidates. If your reported score band is 2, your score was within the next band width ranging from approximately the bottom 11% to 20% of failed candidates. If your score band is reported as 10, you scored in the top 10% of all failed candidates. Performance band of your overall score among all candidates who failed the exam: 10 Obviously, if you’re strong in all the other areas then it shouldn’t matter. But still, I suggest you at least go over Soft Dollars, ROS, and the Prudent Investor topics.
That’s my plan. Again, it’s relative. I’m scoring +71% in Ethics on average, it’s just my weakest area. I’m dedicating the last week to Ethics, FRA, and FI. On all of the other topics I’ll just pick up little things that fall out of practice tests and review.
Hi Bpdulog and others, Thanks for the kind words and encouragement! I am definitely going over ethics (prudent investor is somewhat down!) everyday, its definitely the most efficient thing you can study in the last week imo. Going over my CFAI mock again and just fine tuning some portions on FSA. Then bed early and a big day tomorrow! My advice to anyone: We’ve sacrificed this much to get here. Just remain calmly determined (limit procrastinating to 0%), get a good sleep, exercise, and if you are in a hot climate like me, make sure you have air conditioning or a nice fan help with sleeping. Talk to your loved ones daily. The best feeling in the world won’t be finishing the exam. The best feeling will be sitting down and opening that first page, knowing that there is no more studying for a long, long time. No more prep, no more notes, no more panic attacks, no more memorizing. Just you and a couple dozen sheets of paper. You’ve read the books, you know what’s coming. There’s no need to guess what’ll be on the exam, it’s right in front of you. You just need to fill in the circles. You’ve gotten a good sleep and you have your materials. Write. Attack it with everything you’ve got. Stay the whole three hours each time. Preparing over 300 hours for an exam and leaving early is dumb. Don’t talk or listen to those creepy talkative people either, a lot of them are just trying to push their stress and anxiety onto you. When you get home, watch tv or play a videogame. Just have some time to yourself and relax, no matter what happens, you will have no regrets.
I think I am decent in ethics. One way to really master is read, understand and memorize every small details and do all end of ethics questions from CFA books
muffin09 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > > My advice to anyone: We’ve sacrificed this much to > get here. Just remain calmly determined (limit > procrastinating to 0%), get a good sleep, > exercise, and if you are in a hot climate like me, > make sure you have air conditioning or a nice fan > help with sleeping. Talk to your loved ones daily. > it is sooo hot where I am, even AC don’t make the room cold enough. I lost my sleep last night coz of it, ended up turning AC at its highest after wasting hours.