Your 40/60/80 score...

CFA Level III
#81

Total: 59.1%

AM:58.2%

PM:60%

Passed~

It was close… wink

#82

62.56 AM

75% PM

68.75 average.

Really thought I did better on the AM. Won’t complain about it though.

#83

hmmm interesting… so some people pass with 59 and some failed at 63?

so my previous theory was probably correct, that some questions weigh more than others.

I don’t think all MC questions are 1 point each.

#84

AM: 73.2

PM: 76

Overall: 74.6

Pass

#85

Excel

#86

61% AM

78% PM

Overall 69%

Pass

#87

No, all MC questions carry the same weightage. Trying to derive a score from the result distribution matrix using any method is completely bogus and incorrect.

For example, the commonly used 40/60/80 method for MCQ is complete nonsense. You can never get exactly 80% (nor 60% nor 40%) in any section - the itemsets are in multiples of 6.

So for example, Fixed Income MCQ was 1 item set, 6 questions in PM paper worth 18 points.

  • If CFAI will put you in > 70% category, then you scored 6/6 or 5/6 (or multiples of those) which implies you got 100% or 83.33% respectively in that section. If you use the 40/60/80 method you’re losing atleast 3.33% not to mention 20% if you acutally scored 100%. A better approximation might be to go with the expected value of your score in that section - if you are placed in > 70% category in a section, then you either scored 83.33% or 100% - two outcomes with probability of 0.5 each. So expected value for that particular section will be 83.33% x 0.5 + 100% x 0.5 = 91.67%. Even this is just probabilistic approximation.

  • Similarly if they place you in 51% - 70% category, then you scored 4/6 (or multiples of that ratio) which implies you got 66.67%. In this case you’re pretty much certain what you scored.

  • If you’re in the final category of <=50%, then you scored 0/6 or 1/6 or 2/6 or 3/6. If you attempt to calculate an expected value with those 4 possibilities with 25% probability each, then you get expected value = 25%.

So the 40/60/80 method is utter nonsense, even if you go with some level of probabilistic analysis, it should be a 25/66.67/91.67 method for the PM paper. For the AM paper, even such rudimentary analysis is impossible.

People do 40/60/80 for fun/ to gloat/ bask in their glory etc.

We cannot infer that each MCQ question carries a different weightage based on 40/60/80 or even the more logical 25/66.67/91.67 method.

Each MCQ is worth 3 points (which is the time alloted to that MCQ as stated by CFAI) while grading the question and calculating what you scored- there’s no complexity there.

Note that weightages are assigned to each MCQ to arrive at a MPS which is a part of the Modified Angoff method - it has no connection to individual scores.

#88

Doubtful. The expectation function is NOT even monotonic - that is, if x is your 40/60/80 score and E(x) is your expected raw score, it does NOT follow that a > b ==> E(a) >= E(b).

Why is it so hard to grasp that the 40/60/80 metric is stupid? You could have gotten 50% using this and had a better actual score than someone who got 70% using it.

#89

Pass

40/60/80 - 62.9%

AM - 61.9%

PM - 64.0%

Caveat: Above is just a very innacurate depiction of true scores :slight_smile:

#90

Good post, but it doesn’t make sense to assume that 83% and 100% are equally likely outcomes given that someone scored over 70%.

Not exactly analogous, but if you flipped a fair coin six times, if you knew that there were greater than 4 heads, it would be much more likely that there were 5 rather than 6 total heads.

#91

Pass.

Overall Score: 64.50%

AM Score (Essay): 53.00%

PM Score (Item Set): 76.00%

This has to be the ugliest pass ever but anyway it’s over. Weeeeeeee!!!

#92

Passed.

Overall : 69.72%

AM: 61.4% (exactly half of the question >70% and half <50%, but doing better in Individual Port Mgmnt got me the pass)

PM: 78.0% (all >70% except for the 51-70% in Equities, which I rightfully hate)

#93

Why do you think I said (in the opening paragraph of the thread):

I was hoping to avoid some self-righteous, pretentious crap like this:

#94

Pass 65.4 %

AM was 58.5%

PM was 72.0%

Thank the lord that is over for me. Did Dec 2011 / Jun 2012 / June 2013, with two young children. Think the wife would have divorced me if I didnt get through.

#95
  • Your 40/60/80 score is: 68.3% - Your minimum score is: 56.8% - Your maximum score is: 80.8%

AM 67, PM 69

#96

Passed.

AM 59.2%, PM 80%, Avg 69.6%

#97
#98

Overall: 64.2%

AM: 52.8%, PM: 75.6%

#99

Failed… =(. Band 8.

  • 40/60/80 score: 63.5% - Minimum score: 46.2% - Maximum score: 76.1% Essay Q# Topic Max Pts <=50% 51%-70% >70% 1 Portfolio Management - Individual 20 - * - 2 Portfolio Management - Individual 15 - - * 3 Portfolio Management - Individual 16 * - - 4 Equity Investments 17 - * - 5 Economics 20 - - * 6 Portfolio Management - Institutional 18 * - - 7 Portfolio Management - Institutional 14 * - - 8 Fixed Income Investments 17 * - - 9 Fixed Income Investments 9 * - - 10 Portfolio Management - Risk Management 18 * - - 11 Portfolio Management - Performance Eval. 16 * - -

Item Set

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

#100

had it by the skin of my teeth!

40/60/80 score: 62.5% with AM at 53% PM at 72%

min : 43.5%

max: 77%