I know the AF is now full of failing cases looking for advices, but I think mine is a bit different.
Failed for the second time…was more prepared from the 1st time and I walked out more confident than my 1st take. Yet, I got a lower band than the first time which extremely shocked me (8 vs 6) !!
I understand the materials and I practiced a “Lot” (AM and PM)!
Giving more hours and practice and getting lower band is making me question taking a 3rd attempt!
In the exam:
AM: mis-managed my time (although better than 1st time)
PM: I thought I nailed this but unfortunately looks like I got tricked in some questions
Most people did well on the PM, so I guess you need to do more practice CFAI type questions. I did almost all sample test exams/questions that were available on CFAI website and some (ethics & performance) from CFAI books and got a good score on the PM part and somehow completely failed the AM.
I wrote probably 10 practice exams prior to writing my level 3, and i have re-written most of them too to make sure i have learn from all of my mistakes. I don’t know if this is a good benchmark, but i do feel i was prepared for the actual exam.
As for time management, i don’t find it too bad, it was JUST enough time for me in the AM, mostly because i didn’t go to washroom and i was extremely focused. The trick is to read the answer section to make sure you are given blank spaces or a table ot write your answers! PM was not an issue for most people i finished 30min prior and most people have finished around the same time?
Lastly you have to treat each exam as a different exam, don’t assume you did well on one subject one year you will remember the material next time. Also don’t let your past experience affect your performance. There is luck involved too!
This sets you up for failure. It is essential that you approach these EOC/BB like AM questions and practice on answering them the same way you would during the actual exam (bullet points, short sentences). This accomplishes 2 things, your mind gets used to thinking critically and constructing succinct answers while perfecting exam taking skills for AM.
I manged to clear the exam by doing alot of Past Paers.
I still recall that I did last nine years past papers atleast three times.
I also got hold item set question samples from 2009 to 2013, and also did the sample itemset questions given on the CFA website. and again I did the item set questions atleast three times and used to mark the wrong questions, so that I could know my previous mistakes.
To be honest my aafternoon paper saved me there were couple of section where i scored between 50-70% but I managed to score a above 70% in every section in the afternnon paper.
