Who wants my study notes?!

This feels like a lazy way to give back so before I provide all of my beautifully refined study notes for the level III exams, sourced only from the curriculum and refined thanks to two exam cancellations in 2019, is there any appetite? Any rules against doing this as well :thinking: I’m unaware if so…
I believe they are relevant for the November exam.

Any takers, please just comment and I’ll produce the goods :nerd_face:

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Hi Tez4715,

Will be grateful. Thank you.

Yes

Brilliant, if these notes help just one person pass then I’m happy!

So for some context that may or may not prove useful, these notes are a refined accumulation of notes I took whenever I answered a question wrong. My strategy was to read a CFA curriculum topic, do the end of chapter questions followed by all the relevant AM mock questions and finally, the CFA question bank topic questions.

The first exam was cancelled, I was very annoyed so took a couple of months off. When I got back into studying, I couldn’t go through the pain of reading the CFA curriculum again so my strategy for each topic was to read my notes, do all the relevant AM mock questions again and then do all of the CFA question bank topic questions. At this point, the institute added about another 1k questions which I believe were the end of chapter questions.

The second exam was cancelled two weeks before the due date, it was going to be the last ever written exam, glory was forever lost and so I was very annoyed and took a couple of months off. When I got back into the studying, I wanted to put my head through a wall but instead, I thought I could keep it all interesting by refining my notes (200+ pages). My strategy for each topic was to read my notes, do all the relevant AM mock questions again, do all of the CFA question bank topic questions and then I refined my notes as best I could so my final review would be an easier process – it was.

Last month before the exam, I did full mocks to ensure my timing for the AM was solid and memorised formulas. My timing strategy was to write down as soon as the exam started, what time I should be finished each topic so that I never ran out of time to pick up easy marks. If I hadn’t finished the section by the time allocated at the start of the exam, I simply moved on. For the new computer-based testing, I recommend making note of how many marks are allocated to a section then adding these marks (1mark = 1min) to the current time. This was a great strategy because it allowed me to skip the first two sections that came up on the exam which just so happened to be my weakest areas. I came back to these sections at the end of the exam and I was in full flow at that point so the stuff I was struggling to answer before was pleasantly much easier to recall. This approach also stopped me from becoming panicked at the start of the exam with unhelpful thoughts such as “are you about to ■■■■ 600 hours of study up the wall?”

Once you have a baseline understanding of all topics, I believe that you should be answering as many questions as possible. This process will identify the gaps in your understanding. If you are not getting full marks for the heavy pointer questions, redo them straight away and get strong through repetition. Every mark now carries more weight so don’t squander easy points. You’ll also be more engaged with your learning with practice questions, identify your knowledge gaps and turn your weak areas into strengths through repetition. Create your own notes to help you consolidate your knowledge, that is where the real value from notes comes from.

Wishing you the very best of luck getting through this final exam.

p.s. If you are resitting, you have my kudos, I don’t know how you’ve managed to muster up the mental strength to keep going but you have and that makes you an incredibly capable person. Learning how much grit you have is an incredible takeaway from this program and something you can be really proud of.

Here is the link;
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1u-ngVptTsI3cMIom_pRclkfde7m4i5HO?usp=sharing

7 Likes

Many thanks Tez4715!

I believe these notes will benefit a lot of us. It quite amazing that you are able to suppress each topics into 2 pager summary.

Which mocks would you suggest?

I am using Kaplan and I don’t feel Kaplan Practice Book Mocks are good enough. Is it really the case or its only me

Also how many should one practice

Thanks

Was a bit of a mission, two topics spill over to three pages but regardless it’s nice and easy to review these notes. I recommend printing them, front and back so that you can pick them up whenever you’ve five minutes here and there.

I used the Kaplan CBT mock which did a great job of simulating the exam. Questions quality-wise, I did prefer past CFA mocks. Don’t confuse them with Boston society mocks which were garbage - consensus opinion. Do the 2018 & 2019 CFA mocks in one run, as great practice and you’ll score alright.
I’d recommend splashing out on Bill Campbell’s mock exams as they are great for identifying your gaps. They are in-depth so you’ll probably hate life while doing them because they are hard but they present an excellent opportunity to learn in a very similar CFA style approach. Great explanations and answers provided.

Try not to get too hung up on which mocks are best because the whole purpose of doing mocks is to identify your weak areas and to practice answering CFA style questions so past CFA exams are best for recognising what a question is really asking. Learn how to answer based upon what the command word is asking.
There are of course areas in past exams that are no longer tested so try not to waste time in these areas. I used a resource called level III key to identify what questions were relevant and what were not. Can’t share this as it was something I paid for to access. Do search this forum though for alternative resources that may support you here.

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Great advice.

Will probably focus more on the relevant CFAI questions from Past Papers.

Your notes are amazing as well.

Thanks a ton. :+1:

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Taking the exam again in Nov…I can’t even read the CFAI books anymore.
Your notes are much appreciated.

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Hi Tez4715,

Will be grateful. Thanks for the notes. It will be really helpful. Exam cancelled thrice. No motivation to go over the CFAI texts again. And worklife has been too hectic.

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Happy to help and wishing you the very best for November, 3 months till freedom :raised_hands:

Just 3 months to go, try be consistent by getting at least an hour a day in. My mate had a hard time with work just before the exam, they got incredibly busy and work didn’t support his studies. Cost him a pass…

Try tee up holiday just before the exam, hopefully easier in November, and try get work onside.

All the very best :call_me_hand:

I’ll love to have your notes. Thank you so much!!!

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Will help me too, appreciate this!

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Yesss Please.

Tez4715, thank you very much for generously sharing your notes and process that you followed. I missed the mark in May 21 and have to rewrite with a very heavy heart. Hopefully your notes will help me along the way. Thanks again.

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No worries at all. Kudos for for getting yourself back into it and with consistent effort over the next couple months you’ll only be in a stronger position this time around. Best of luck to you :call_me_hand:

Thank you for sharing notes.

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Thank you for sharing

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