I took another certification exam recently and a test prep class taught two strategies that were very helpful. First one was to take a quick pass through the exam answering all easy questions first, then go back and do the hard ones, this way you gain as many easy points as possible. Probably makes sense for the CFA. Second one was to memorize two pages of formulas, when the test is given (it is on computer) there is a 15 minute tutorial on how to use a computer, this should take about 30 seconds, use the rest of the time to dump the memorized formulas onto the scratch paper. I know CFA is not on computer, but is there any similar time where you have the scratch paper in front of you when you can write on it before the actual exam begins?
There is no scratch paper - only the CFA exam book. You can write a sheet of formulas on the inside cover of the book after they say ‘begin’ if you think it will help you.
I don’t think there is any point doing the “easy” ones first, for two reasons. Firstly, they are all the same level and I don’t think you can particularly pick something out as easy. But Secondly, and more importantly, you only have 90 seconds per question, you haven’t really got time to read it, realise its hard, move on, come back and then read it again. Once you’ve read it you might as well have a go at it! I think it is important to have an idea of how you want to tackle the exam etc, but over elaborate strategies can be distracting and just unnerve you on the day if something doesn’t ‘fit’ into your plan. At the end of the day, its multiple choice. In my humble opinion you just have to get on and do it!
I don’t think those strategies are good stalkey. Those strategies would be good for something like the Series 7. There is no point in writing down ALL the formulas you’ve memorized (it would take up a lot more than 2 pages). You have 90 seconds to finish each question. You better start answering the questions rather than writing down formulas for 10 minutes. It might be worth it to just write a couple down that give you a hard time, but certainly not more than 5 I would say. As far as going through and answering the easy questions, I think that’s a pretty good idea. When I went through the exam, even if I had some inkling of how to answer the question, but I knew it would either take a lot of time or I wasn’t 100% sure, I would skip after about a minute or so of reading/thinking, circle the question number in the booklet, and continue on in the exam. Keep in mind I didn’t do this often… I only circled maybe 5 - 10 questions total for each 120 question session. So, yes I did go through and answer all the questions I knew, and skip the hard ones, but I didn’t skip too many. In general, I think everyone has a different test-taking strategy, and you need to do what works best for you, but make sure you practice that strategy well so you know what you’re doing on exam day. Definitely don’t do the formula-writing crap. And also, the 15 minutes of instructions? It will depend on your test center, but we were given about 5 minutes or less to write and bubble in our full name, candidate number, etc. I could defnitely see how when they said, “Go,” a lot of people were probably still filling in this preliminary info. And you can’t touch your friggin booklet or pencil until they let you. There is a seal on the exam booklet, so even if you wanted to write down the formulas before the instructions were finished, you can’t.
stalla suggests this strategy as well. I guess it seems like a decent idea in theory, but I wouldnt really wanna be worrying about making sure i’m filling in the right question bubble row. I remember during the SAT i completely messed up half a section because i skipped a row by accident.
there is no scratch paper??? Where can we write down calculations to answer the quantitative questions?
ssdnola Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > there is no scratch paper??? > Where can we write down calculations to answer the > quantitative questions? I’m guessing on the exam question booklet.
stalkey Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I took another certification exam recently and a > test prep class taught two strategies that were > very helpful. > > First one was to take a quick pass through the > exam answering all easy questions first, then go > back and do the hard ones, this way you gain as > many easy points as possible. Probably makes sense > for the CFA. > > Second one was to memorize two pages of formulas, > when the test is given (it is on computer) there > is a 15 minute tutorial on how to use a computer, > this should take about 30 seconds, use the rest of > the time to dump the memorized formulas onto the > scratch paper. I know CFA is not on computer, but > is there any similar time where you have the > scratch paper in front of you when you can write > on it before the actual exam begins? I think you are not thinking about this exam correctly. It’s not on a computer and knowing the formulas in only small help. This is different than almost all certification exams in that 3/4 of the people who sign up for it fail. That means trivial strategies like that are unimportant.
JoeyDVivre Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > stalkey Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > I took another certification exam recently and > a > > test prep class taught two strategies that were > > very helpful. > > > > First one was to take a quick pass through the > > exam answering all easy questions first, then > go > > back and do the hard ones, this way you gain as > > many easy points as possible. Probably makes > sense > > for the CFA. > > > > Second one was to memorize two pages of > formulas, > > when the test is given (it is on computer) > there > > is a 15 minute tutorial on how to use a > computer, > > this should take about 30 seconds, use the rest > of > > the time to dump the memorized formulas onto > the > > scratch paper. I know CFA is not on computer, > but > > is there any similar time where you have the > > scratch paper in front of you when you can > write > > on it before the actual exam begins? > > > I think you are not thinking about this exam > correctly. It’s not on a computer and knowing the > formulas in only small help. This is different > than almost all certification exams in that 3/4 of > the people who sign up for it fail. That means > trivial strategies like that are unimportant. Agree. You know what strategy worked for me? Putting in the amount of time and effort necessary to learn everything in a very in-depth manner. In order to pass, you have to know the information and know it well. The pain is in the preparation. Good luck.