Would you re-take for the 7thtime?

CFA Level II
#81

I don’t need to reread anything. You can’t solve it quickly b/c you don’t understand the question. You at best might recognize the topic it’s covering and you recall the basic calcs (probably b/c you’ve read the example calculations in the books so many times). This is the core difference between L1 and 2, and more so between 2 and 3. L1 is on the surface, plug & chug, bang out 300 questions as fast as possible. By default the questions are very straight forward. 2 with Vignettes and 3 with essay portion requires more undrestanding of the concept and the specific question being asked.

Even right now when you told me to reready our post shows me you take everything too literal.

Understanding the question means being in the mindset of the testmaker, why they chose what, and why they presented as so. For example, I love when the question gives you more variables than you need in the exhibit (even though they don’t do that in the example questions in your book which you’ve mastered). By understanding the question, I know what formula or concept I need to apply and can spot which extra data they threw in to serve as a distraction. If you can appreciate the testmaker’s perspective, answering the questions won’t take so long. It only takes long since you think the ‘modified’ question is random - but it’s NOT random.

#82

To the point!! That’s exactly what’s going on. and I am far from testmakers mindsets as from the Moon.

is there a way to improve it?

#83

I see I cannot improve it by reading CFAI text for the 7th time…

#84

[quote=“CFAilure”]

Ugh, I give up. Even your last comment shows how literal you take my comment about being ‘random.’ I never once said you studied the text in a way to be able to regurgitate materials. If anything I gave you the benefit of the doubt that you knew the materials so you should focus more on practice tests.

The reason you passed 1 but fail 2 is because you have poor reading comprehension skills. You misinterpret everything I say or take it too literally. Either way best of luck. I’m done here.

#85

Thanks for your try.

#86

What bands are you getting?

In level 2, what’s your experience? Basically what I mean is, as soon as you turn the page and see an item set, do you immediately think “I know exactly what concept this item set is about, this is about currency translation, so I will have to remember the 3 translation methods” etc etc. Does that mental process happen as soon as you see an item set, or does that not happen?

#87

What bands are you getting?

4-7-9-5-8

it happens exactly this way. i see the topic and remember basic calcs, right.

#88

I’ll say it one more time: my honest opinion is you need to stop wanting to pass the CFA exams. Then you will be content with yourself, and probably a lot happier person for your family and friends to be around.

Do something else with your life. You can be successful in all sorts of ways. Success is relative and multidimensional; it doesn’t have to be determined by passing a CFA exam.

Best of luck in all you do,

-F

#89

Русские не сдаются :slight_smile:

This was my first try to pass L2. Next day after writting the L1 exam I began studying for L2 without any confidence to get a good mail from CFA at 22January, because I want to be prepared to pass for sure. BUT, despite I’ve spent huge amount of hours during those months, despite I’ve done all EOCs at least once, 80% of total Qbank, official mocks 2009 - 2013 and schweser mocks 2011-2013 I HAVE NO confidence that i passed. The real exam, CFAI mocks, EOCs and schweser - they all are very difference and besides, time and stress pressure impede my opportunities to figure out the CFA traps. If I don’t know there were a lot of traps I would say that I guarantee passed, because my feeling of confidence at 75% questions. But now I think there were a lot of traps I had been caught. Anyway if I fail I’ll sit the next exam again.

The time cost of the exam is huge. My family even divided our plans, meetings, arrengements, all our life into 2 categories: BEFORE and AFTER the 1st June.

Огромное уважение за такую настойчивость. В таких жизненных ситуациях я часто спрашиваю у себя - “если бы кто-то приставил дуло пистолета к моей голове, мог бы я сделать лучше, чем я сделал” Конечно, многие вещи человек не сможет сделать вне зависимости от мотивации, хоть стреляй, а на 3 метра попрыгнуть не сможешь например. Но в подавляющем большинестве случае есть промахи, которые была физическая возможность исправить, но не исправил. Лично я, в твоем случае, предпринял бы еще одну финальную попытку, с подготовкой, как с дулом пистолета у виска, выложился бы на максимум, весь киррикилум, весь швейзер, все доступные в инете моки, и тогда уж если снова фэйл, то я решил бы для себя, что это и есть для меня - подпрыгнуть на 3 метра.

#90

I think the problem is speed…

Trying doing more simulated mock unter timed condition

CFA also does have 2x sample exams before the actual… use them but u might need to pay for them…

consider schweser practise exams

2 cents worth

#91

Man, I really hope you passed this time - I am rooting for you. Imagine the feeling you will get when you finally get that PASS email!

If you don’t pass, try again - do loads and loads of mocks. Bury yourself in questions and keep logs of topics you get wrong frequently. Reading the curriculum is only a small part of the study process - you need practice, preferably in exam-like conditions. Time yoursell when you take mocks. Start early.

Best of luck!

#92

.

#93

If you cannot solve it quickly then that means you don’t understand the material well enough. Understand is not the same as memorisation.

The discrepancy in the failing band of your previous attempts is all over the place. It should steadily increasing but it’s not. That should be a dead away sign for you.

Move on with your life. There is other ways to get into front office.

You also have to think about the four years releveant work experience that CFA requires before you get the designation even if you pass all three levels.

Good luck.

#94

is it a language problem?

seeing that the test is conducted in english and u do have to comprehend the question first before actually anwering it.

i myself failed level 1 twice, before buckling myself down to study…dun give up!!!

#95

That’s probably because you learnt one way to answer the questions, from redoing EOCs.

I think you should study only by EOCs + BlueBoxes + Mocks + questions and mocks from providers like Schweser. If you try every CFAI + one or more providers questions and understand what you got wrong you’ll have hundreds of hours of the most effective study possible.

You should only read something if is to clarify a question. And you should that using Schweser/Elan (it’s faster and more to the point - only go back to the main text if you still need more info to understand a mistake) .

You won’t be reading the book or watching videos on the day of the exam. You’ll be taking a test. So you should practice test taking.

Aim for 500, or 600, or 1000 hours. And focus single handledly on questions and understanding their answers. I think it’s almost a certainty that you will pass, and you’ll know it before hand since you’ll have the mocks to guide you.

This is all assuming you will take the exam again.

I’ll take about that decision in my next post.

#96

About whether to continue or not.

NOT:

The letters after your name aren’t really an extreme career changer for the most part. And you’re not really obliged to stay in finance. You have your whole life ahead of you and can decide what you’ll like to do (and we usually like things we’re good at, so you might taste different fields to see what clicks with you and what not).

And the career isn’t really something that important in the long scheme. You don’t seem to be enjoying the study process. Maybe you should free yourself of this burden and concentrate on what really matters. Enjoying family, going out with friends, maybe having fun with poker or sports or studying/reading about stuff that you enjoy more will be better.

In my extremely naive and non-professional opinion, your psychiatrist missed a point. Someone in a wheelchair will eventually adapt because there’s no other choice. As long as you have the choice of taking the exam and are in this mindset, it’s hard to let go.

I think a good approach would be to decide the exam is not for you, and that you are good at different things. You may be a good husband or father, or a good friend, maybe you’re an incredible artist and don’t know it yet - everyone is different, and failing a very specific exam is a very minor thing in life - it’s maybe like losing a single sports competition as a kid. It hurts, but i definitely doesn’t define you.

If you can decide to get out, as time passes you’ll feel more and more disconnected from the exam and the process, and the negative impacts on your life/perception will probably fade away for the most part, especially if you can focus your energy on other things you want or love.

Apparently you can’t let it go because of a psychological thing. If you can manage to clear your head from that, you may be much happier.

MAYBE CONTINUE:

I understand the “mental scar” thing can be painful and hard to get rid of. Another approach would be basically what I described on my first post. Study hardcore. Study all year. Study correctly. Go wild on questions for hundreds or thousands of hours, maybe mind map their answers so you can review it often and quickly. Review all the time. Practice, practice and practice. And then you’ll see you can either destroy the exam or fail again.

In the best scenario you’ll heal your mental scars and feel like a winner.

In the worst case scenario you’ll fail and, without really knowing why, you’ll just have to accept that there’s this one tiny thing in life that you failed at, but that will be a sunk cost, buried in the past. What matters is the future, which you can control.

There will be millions of things that you can do, and in a few you can be awesome, so look for those things and focus your energy on them.

Heck, you may even be awesome at finance, but not at taking CFA exams.

I wish the best of luck in any decision you might take. Keep us posted!

#97

Based on what I’ve read, he clearly knows the material well - just that he is memorizing the content and the tricks of each question instead of working them out conceptually. Since they will never ask the exact same question from the EOC, he’s not going to pass with this strategy. It also sounds like he can’t adapt the material to the particular situation on the mock, and he’s taking too long to eliminiate choices before selecting an answer.

At this point I feel like it’s a mix of a behavioural issue/mindset more than the inability to grasp material. It would probably be better for him to forget all the material and adapt a new study method than to hold on to the residuals and adapt to them to the next exam. Tough place to be.

#98

holy war!

This question is close to be on par with “who was first: the chicken or the egg”

Make a decision once for yourself and stand behind it.

The good one would be to end this never-ending “carnival”

#99

If you actually decide to spend thousands of hours on L2, you are certified ready for the looney bin.

#100

Thanks to everyone who spent her or his time replying or commenting.

After evaluating my performance on the exam and thinking over some of the points that were discussed above I came to the conclusion there was no multiple failures as events, but one failure as a person (and it’s me).

My level of human capital has nothing to do with the program and… and let me save the rest is for my therapy group.

Good luck to all candidates. I hesitated if I need to post this final mark and decided that it worth the effort: perhaps this will help other multiple re-takers to save their selves in the future. The earlier you withdraw (in the case you are a failure) the easier will be the way to recovery.

I am doing it after the 6th test and it feels like 'Oh, no".

“…be good to one another” © S. King