I am a CPA/MBA working in valuation, doing CFA for continuing education, L2-retaker, but won’t take again if fail, not worth it unless one works in ER or AM, have learned a lot though.
I freaking admire you! Props to you and your supernatural persistence!
You say that you know most of the curriculum by heart, but i think you should what you what you should know by heart should be the answers to mock and practice exams. One guy i know (who is pretty damn smart) also knew the CFAI theory by heart, he could state every single formula perfectly yada yada yada. But he lacked in exam practice (he only took 1 mock) and he failed in his first attempt scoring >50% on each topic. For his second one, he only bothered reading the new LOS changes material, but otherwise, he focused +90% of his time doing practice exams and memorizing the answers to every single question. He claims he took more than 12 different exams, at least twice each. When he re took the actual L2 exam again, he scored +70% on every topic. So i would argue: forget the theory, expose yourself to massive amount of questions, and memorize every single freaking answer to the point of getting +95% grades on mock/practice exams that you are retaking. And remember that starting on 2014, you will be able to take L2 both in June and in December.
““Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place and I don’t care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard ya hit. It’s about how hard you can get it and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done! Now if you know what you’re worth then go out and get what you’re worth. But ya gotta be willing to take the hits, and not pointing fingers saying you ain’t where you wanna be because of him, or her, or anybody! Cowards do that and that ain’t you! You’re better than that!”” Rocky Balboa
Given that most of the replies are from current candidates, I am not surprised the responses are heavily in favor to keep going. As a candidate, people are heavily invested in the process and likely biased to the rah!rah! keep going! never-say-die! mindset (L3 has a big section on biases)
you say on your 2nd fail, you were out of FO job. That means it happened at least 4 years ago. At this point, it means you’ve been doing something else for 5+ years now.
If you are still currently in AM / ER or a job that the CFA has direct value for, I would suggest continuing.
Other than that, I would still recommend moving on.
Someone above is correct about sunk cost, the past is over and you should forget about it. but seriously consider the future value, and L3 will be even more difficult.
Only you can answer this question really. But if you’re studying hard there is no reason why it should take you more than 2 or 3 attempts to clear this. I’m a retaker (failed band 8 last year) and feel much much more confident about the material this year. That said there is still alot I didn’t know on certain parts of the exam, so I wouldn’t be surprised if I need one last attempt to clear it (particulary the smaller sections as these really make or break you).
Wait, they’re going to start offering L2 twice?
I think it really sucks that you lost your job because of failing this exam, it’s not completely right but probably ok because you’re in Russia - but you’ve moved on and are still in the industry. Foremost your positive attitude and dedication to this is very admirable.
I did L2 with CFAI books as well - it was tedious but after doing all the EOC’s at least twice, I felt prepared for the exam. L3 is totally different - I hate to be a downer about this but if you can’t adapt your concepts to questions you’re going to have an even tough time with that level. It will tickle your brain muscles in ways that are not mechanical like L2 is. Writing it 6 times and reviewing the same material over and over again has probably made you more able to memorize the answers by rote more than help strengthen your understanding and application of the material. If you cannot adapt those answers to the exam questions, you won’t succeed at this. I would take some time to focus on your job, your wife and children and not stress about this exam. Enjoy your time before the results, and give it one more shot if you:
a)Change your nickname, 5 fails is a huge psychological burden already, you need to get past this. Dropping this psychological load and building confidence in yourself is your first requirement. Without confidence in yourself, it’s hard to succeed at anything
b) Understand WHY you are not getting the exam result you want - you mentioned you have memorized all the formulas - the issue is clearly that you cannot apply the concept. You need to explain to yourself WHY you are adjusting so and so formula and HOW it affects the end result.
c) ask yourself if there’s still a long term benefit to writing this exam. I don’t know about you but here, so many people have passed L2 that it’s no longer a real differentiator in my city. Will it improve you and your family’s life? Is this purely a personal challenge? Both are acceptable and worthy causes, but not if it affects your other priorities.
Good luck, and your writing is excellent for someone who has not written much in English.
Well, when I look on my situation now… really speaking, I do not see myself doing it. I know that the next year there will be another fail. And after the next year there will be one more. I know that inside myself now. And I am not depressed, really, I went through a tough depression after my 3d fee donation. I am calm, really. I understand that practically my failure means I am not for the investment profession. ok, the investment profession is not for everyone, success does not come without failure of somebody else so by my failing I gave a way to another guy who will be better then me in the field. ok.
the reason i still consider to stay is i am feeling my failure as a part of me… like a scar on my hand… like a hump. i want to get rid of a hump, but i do not know how i can do it.
and i feel, fisically, the change of reaction of everyone who knows me. it changed from support (till the third fail) to humor (up to 5th) and now to sarcastic.
i wrote it from tablet computer without spell checker, sorry for typos.
You absolutely don’t need a CFA to be successful in the investment profession. Just look at all the billionaires out there that don’t have it. You may need it to get a foot in the door if you have no connections though. I outperform CFA charterholders in my job (equity research) and I have failed L2 three times now. Mobility is tough without it, but if you can get your foot in the door somehow and then are smart and can do the job then it’s not a big deal whether you have it or not. Make a PM some money with some names and they generally won’t give an isht about the CFA exam.
I didn’t have any connections to get my job in the first place, more of just lucky timing (took over when my firm had turnover right before the recession) and doing well out of the gates (outperformed really well during the recession and afterwards) when I started and if I hadn’t had that happen then I may be doing some other job today.
My rule of thumb would be two times at any level = give up. If you didn’t even try then maybe don’t count that, but if you put in two very sincere efforts then I’d quit.
Realistically, I’ll be giving up after about 4 tries…
No its an April fool joke. The poster who indicated that this was the truth should re-read the question before answering…
I think that’s not correct. Some people are good at mechanical stuff, but fail on the more broad part. Opposite is many times true too: bad at mechanical (detail-oriented, depth-type, vertical thinking), but are extremely good at broad stuff which requires big picture thinking, integration skills. Passing or failing L2 has little bearing on L3.
The answer to the question of giving up or not should only be decided by you, not by people on an internet forum!
Time honored wisdom states that you give up on a goal when the cost outweighs the benefits.
If you want to be a successful trader the most important thing is your PnL and how you arrive at it. If fundamentals are important to your edge, then the knowledge in the charter would help for sure, but only to a point. A passed CFA 1 trader who has a tighter sharpe ratio than a passed CFA 2 trader is obviously going to be more valuable in the long run.
If you want to pass CFA II just to prove it to yourself, that’s fine. But that may come at cross purposes with being a good trader. You have to decide where that limit is.
As per the Russian expression, you can’t chase after two rabbits at once. Pick the fatter one and go after it.
the man said he’s weaker ““at applying the concepts to tricky question which cross-section lots of topics.””
L3 has more application of concepts than L2.
L2 has more mechanical plugging
hence, L3 should be harder for him.
ok I agree then.
The CFA program doesn’t define who you are. You should be looking to other sources of satisfaction including family life. It’s not about giving up, it’s about seeing what else you can do with your time. I’ve had great luck with the program but I promised I would never re-write if I failed. Now that I’ve written L3, I still say the same, but I’m not sure what I’d do. It really comes down to how you handle stress. For me the stress and strain and poor habits formed while studying are just not worth it. If it means I earn less over my lifetime, so be it.
I’m no where near to offer you suggestion, but one point i want to say is congratulations on attempting it the sixth times. I remember for one time i coulnd’t even bear failing one time (something else than CFA). It takes courage to admit defeat and attempt again. Thumbs up.
A real pf manager wont have much choice, he will accept anything that is thrown at him
Preved!
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Level 3 is much tougher than level 2, that’s for sure - because there you really have to apply concepts. Had a third try last week - don’t feel confident. How you will deal with that if and when you pass level 2?
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ask yourself if you really need it, cause that’s really a huge investment, mostly in time than money
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if you know the theory - solve the problems, it’s mostly about solving, you have to dream about it, literally
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take a break from it.
In case you read Russian:
ты откуда?
3 ий уровень гораздо тяжелее - я уже третий раз сдаю. Тебе правда это нужно? Хотя, если 7 лет в это играешь, тогда конечно сложно бросить.
Чтобы я посоветовал – если всё в порядке с теорией - решать, решать и решать. Причём решать вдумчиво, не научным тыком, а, если не знаешь ответ, то открывать книгу и штудировать теорию. Нет ничего сложного в теории сфа, ну абсолютно ничего. Самые сложные математические операции – умножение и деление. Просто теории очень много и она не только количественная, то есть очень много надо запоминать. Хотя и это тоже условно, потому всё очень логично устроено. Если есть сложности с запоминанием - используй сокращения, ассоциации и т.д. Это очень хорошо работает. Я уж не помню по второму уровню, но вот в качестве примера из третьего, как я запоминал
Формула корреляции между двумя рынками
кор = бета 1 * бета 2 * сигма в квадрате у меня стала Би Би Си квадрат
behavioural biases я запоминал по первым буквам
LOSSER - Loss aversion, Overconfidence, SelfControl, Status Quo, Endowment, Regret Aversion
AMFA – Anchoring & Adjustment, Mental Accounting, Framing, Availability
Ну и т.д. и т.п.
Полно же тестбанков. Я дично пользовался Allen CFA и Analystnotes.
Ну как то так. Удачи!
я из Омска…
тестебанков и вправду полно, но… я постоянно вот в каком цикле: просмотрел вопросы после главы - не помню решение - смотрю в ответы - читаю теорию - потом следующая глава - забываю решения задач по предыдущей. то есть теорию я помню плюс-минус, а вот если поменять в задаче местами слагаемые 
или даже подсунуть мне процентную ставку, которую надо перевести в годовую - тогда все, труба, вопрос требует обдумывания, решение растягивается на 5 минут вместо 3 и потом последнюю виньетту ты тупо гадаешь, т.к. у тебя осталось 3 минуты до конца. но это лирика.