I am inclined to say L3 but I may be influenced by my fresh post tramatic stress.
won’t know til august.
Given the subjectivity in the morning session for Level III, I will go with Level III. Level II is binary in my opinion – either you know the mechanics or you don’t.
L3
nah, not L3. I think L2 was probably hardest for me – all that accounting was really annoying. I knew a fair amount of L1 material from college, so that wasn’t so bad, but if I’d never taken my “capital markets” class, it probably would have been about as bad as L2.
L1 Tough L2 Hard L3 Hard / Causes Psychosis So, I’m going 1, 2 and then 3 in order of difficulty with Level 3 getting the kicker for psychosis.
I think it just depends on your strengths. I have an MS in accounting and a CPA and I thought I and II weren’t that bad, but they had a lot of points related to accounting/financial statement analysis concepts. I got the impression that several people felt III was easy, but I did not feel this way. I spent a lot of time studying but I think I just didn’t review as much as I should have. I do not think the Level III concepts are all that hard (although the immunization stuff was challenging for me, but I’m not a bond person nor do I find it remotely interesting - no offense intended to anyone that does). I’m also not an investment person - I do compliance.
I agree that the concepts in L3 aren’t mind blowing however a large part of the material is pure memorization plus you have the morning portion which is recall versus recognition.
I thought L2 required the most ‘studying’, but at least there was a linear relationship between amount of studying and passing. With this stupid L3, the questions are tricky, ambiguous, and the answers are phrased to minimize clarity. While there were many questions I probably could have done better in, it’s hard to say that another week, 2 weeks of studying could have improved my score. I mean, I probably would have spent more time memorizing and testing on stuff that didn’t even show up on the test. my vote does to L3 as the hardest
sid3699 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Given the subjectivity in the morning session for > Level III, I will go with Level III. > > Level II is binary in my opinion – either you > know the mechanics or you don’t. agree 100%
It depends. For me level 2 is more difficult to prepare for (because it has more volume) but easier to pass (if you are well prepared). For level 3, you can be well prepared but still fail because you need, in addition, good exam taking skills like how to present your AM answers efficiently. Many first timers (like me) may fail just because of this. Furthermore, level 3 materials are sometimes frustratingly non-definite and sometimes so familiar that they induce “overconfidence”. Overall, I think it is easier to fail level 3 but that may not be due to the level of difficulty of the materials or the exam QUESTION themselves.
while i was studying i thought L3 was going to be the hardest, but after taking the exam i feel like it was the easiest honestly, some of those questions were ridiculously easy… i could have not ever read a cfa textbook and passed
Which ones were so easy? Do you remember any of them?
I heard L3 was crazy hard for the past 2 years, but not as bad this year. In the older days (mid early 2000s), L2 was considered the big hurdle with L3 a ‘matter of time’.
Level 1: hardest b/c you have no idea what to expect Level 2: hardest b/c it’s got an absolute mountain of material with very picky details Level 3: hardest b/c of the pressure to make sure the time you’ve put so much time into L1 and L2 counts for something
That said, my vote is with L2
The ranking willl differ from person to person. I thought Level 3 is hardest, albeit most enjoyable from studying point of view, because of sheer amount of lists of everything. I was about to give up about a month back as I felt I did not retain anything. This never happened in Level I or Level II. Level II for me was easier of all three; maybe because some of the my then coursework had covered accounting very well and I felt comfortable with all the number stuff in derivatives. The testimony to my ranking of level III as hardest will be my failing level III, which is a high probability. Apart from the level III material, I thought the level III exam itself was the “toughest”, ok not toughest but more ambiguous and confusing, of the three levels I have taken. I thought both AM and PM had significant amount of ambiguity. I think I got most of the easy ones right just like everyone, but there were just too much ambiguity in significant number of questions. Just look at the discussion of return calculation for the very first question.
I like math and formulas -> L3 was the hardest
preparation and study - L2 is the hardest (L3 reading is far less technical than L2) passing the exam - don’t know until August (but one thing for sure is L3 is more about examination technique than knowledge)
If evaluate LEVELS from the point of willingness to study - then L3 was (or will be again next year) the hardest one! L1 - BIG OPTIMISM, studied at nights with pressure L2 - a bit harder to stay concentrated for studying, but rush in May L3 - hard to start, hard to continue, hard to rush