Ok, so i am going over prior years level 3 exams from the CFA website. And the very first question on last year’s exam is to CALCULATE a roll yield. Yet there is no CALCULATE LOS from last year’s curriculum for that topic. WtF??? I thought that was the purpose of the key words for the Los. There are many questions on prior exams with CALCULATE listed as the key words but the respective LOS were not labelled that way. Thoughts?
So in 2017 level 3 material there is no formula for calculating roll yields? I find that highly unlikely.
I hardly even pay attention to the LOS I just focus on all the material within.
There is a formula for it, however there is no LOS that states calculating it on the exam is a requirement . CFAI makes it very clear that we are to focus on the key words in Los when studying. Explain, discuss, calculate , etc. Putting a CALCULATE question on the exam when the topic on roll yield was explain, is very contradictory. It’s is misleading in my opinion.
I agree.
You should boycott the exam on Saturday. Maybe picket outside the testing center. That’ll show 'em.
2 points:
- What choice do we have? Honestly?
2: The full LOS was in Alts Reading 24 LOS M: "explain the three components of return for a commodity futures contract and the effect that an upward- or downward-sloping term structure of futures prices will have on roll yield"
If you can explain, as the LOS states, the 3 components and how they interact/impact the roll yield, how far is the jump to actually calculate it? If I was explaining this to someone, I’d probably use math to illustrate my explanation.
Either way, there’s only a few days left, so focus on the points you can get!
This question stumped me last year while taking the test. I was disproportionately shocked that this was the first thing we were asked to calculate that I spent so much time trying to recollect the formulas when I should have just moved on. It was all downhill from there.
The irony is that out of all the practice exams I took this year, I think the 2017 CFAI exam was the easiest.
I just dont see the point of them having their precious key words if they are not going to follow them. That’s all. The swesser instructor at level 2 said dont memorize the black scholes because its not a calculate LOS.
this is why I never use past papers as practice for Level 1 and 2. however, since CFAI does not have an essay mock exam available online for level 3, I have to use them and thankfully there’s an IFT guide telling you which parts of past papers are still relevant with 2018 curriculum.
I just don’t see the point of them having their precious key words if they are not going to follow them. That’s all. The shwesser instructor at level 2 said don’t memorize the black scholes because its not a calculate LOS.
Exactly, calculation of roll yield for commodities is not one of them
someone link this guy to the IFT spreadsheet that lists irrelevant questions from past AM exams
This thread makes me lol
Last year many people, including me tanked the first question. The worst part was that it was the first question. Just remember that if something similar happens, just skip the question and come back to it at the end. Don’t waste your time. Score somewhere else.
Yeah, that being the first question was pretty shocking when I took it last year. Spent a couple minutes too long on it. I got it right and luckily finished all the other questions in time. It’s actually pretty simple to answer just takes some thinking.
Don’t be surprised to see other questions like that this year. If you are prepared you can answer them.
Commodities was the one section I felt confident about spending minimal time on in review based on the limited presence in the L3 curriculum. Opened the exam book, saw yield was Q1, laughed to myself and immediately skipped it and turned to Q2. Came back after I had run through the other questions and snagged some points based on some of the stuff I recalled while completing the other questions.
Actually felt good about it realizing that 1) lots of people probably didn’t study commodities and 2) many of those in the same boat as me probably saw the question, spent a ton of time panicking, and lost their mojo for the remaining questions. Moral of the story: if you don’t know something on exam day THAT’S OK. The exam is designed that way. Go find something in the exam book that you can knockout easily, build some momentum off that, and come back for the “scrap points” on the question that you would’ve struggled with and wasted time on,
I sit down, open the exam, see the first question, “nope, not happening”, turn to next question lol when I saw it last year I was like if this is what they are going to ask me then screw it. In other words, they will throw ish at you so be prepared. Shake it off and move on. You got this. Man, feels amazing to be done. It will be worth it 
i mirror everyone’s sentiment above. immediately started cold sweating the second i saw that as question numero uno. took a few mins to write out the formulas and what not to garner a point or two and then just moved on; wasn’t worth tanking the rest of the exam. my redemption came at CAIA when similar question showed up across both levels. either way, moral of the story is that if it doesn’t come to you within 10-15 seconds, go harvest points elsewhere instead of brain draining for 7 minutes on one miniscule sub-part of a question which your BS response is unlikely to garner any of the points allotted.
This is basically the key takeaway here. There might be issues like this here and there with the exam this year. Call it unfair, or whatever, but we all have/had to deal with it. If you feel that strongly about it then send the CFAI an email after the exam and hopefully they can improve things on future exams.
I, like others here, struggled with the first case. I still 50-70’d it, but it was a battle. I spent the allocated time on it then moved on and didn’t let it shake me. I went back to it when I finished the last question and probably picked up a few more points. Something will likely stump you on the AM session, where you’re thinking “what the hell where was this in the curriculum?”. Don’t break yourself on it. Skip it and pick up points elsewhere, and go back to it if you have time.
I left 3 sub-questions blank last year and still passed the AM session handily. Good luck!
That question is not relevant anymore. Check IFT 's relevancy summary
I was really surprised last year, I was not expecting to start the exam with a roll yield calculation
wait so they made you take two prices and and derive what the return was? HOW DARE THEY!