Worth a re-tab?

Congratulations to everyone who’s passed! I hate to spoil the party for all those happy souls out there, but I just got a Band 10 fail. I felt quite good after the exam, was not too sure about the evening session. However, as you can see from my matrix below, I’ve done not-so-well for the AM, but nailed most of the PM session, including a 70+ for ethics. I’d been planning for a “gap year” until June next year, but looks like that’s just been flushed down the toilet.

Yes, I know that CFAI womt actually re-mark the paper, and that they put all band 10 papers through another round of checking (something which is also done in another examining body in my county, for which I mark papers), but the high score I got in ethics gives me some cause for hope. I don’t really need to do this for closure, but if there might be a chance of results getting overturned, I’m not averse to getting it re-marked. Has anyone got a band 10 despite top marks in ethics?

Essay

Q# Topic Max Pts <=50% 51%-70% >70% 1 Portfolio Management - Institutional 20 * - - 2 Fixed Income Investments 22 - - * 3 Equity Investments 19 * - - 4 Portfolio Management - Asset Allocation 13 - - * 5 Portfolio Management - Monitor&Rebalance 13 * - - 6 Portfolio Management - Individual 22 * - - 7 Portfolio Management - Individual 17 - * - 8 Portfolio Management - Risk Management 20 - * - 9 Economics 18 * - - 10 Portfolio Management - Indiv/Behavioral 16 * - -

Item Set

Q# Topic Max Pts <=50% 51%-70% >70% - Alternative Investments 18 - - * - Economics 18 - - * - Ethical & Professional Standards 36 - - * - Fixed Income Investments 18 - - * - Portfolio Management - Asset Allocation 18 - - * - Portfolio Management - Individual 18 - * - - Portfolio Management - Institutional 18 - - * - Portfolio Management - Performance Eval. 18 * - - - Portfolio Management - Risk Management 18 - - *

We have divided the group of candidates who did not pass into 10 approximately equal score bands. Your score band below shows how your overall score on the exam compares with the overall scores of candidates who did not pass this exam. For example, a score band of 1 indicates performance in the bottom 10%, a score band of 10 indicates performance in the top 10%. Your score band: 10

I got a Band 8 with >70% in Ethics…

Sorry to know you fail band 10 mate.

Looks like you need to work on your AM. I found doing past papers helped a lot as there were a few repeated questions in the exam. I did the most recent 5 years but you can easily find more available online with a quick Google search.

For PM, try to do as many practice papers as you can.

Also, the Boston practice exam was worth doing too.

No one has ever heard of a successful retab, but I woke up this morning vowing to do it if I was a Band 10. Luckily I passed.