Did you all know that there are actual past exams (AM sessions) on the CFAI website??
I just found this out today… argh… I went through 5 Schweser practice exams in the last month and was getting to relax before the exam when I found out there are actual past exams on the CFAI website.
Why doesn’t CFAI make this more promienent? I don’t think that’s really fair.
How many knew about the fact that they were there?
Koontab, I think that is a bit unfair for CFAI to make it so that it’s hard for one to know that it’s actually there, don’t you?
I knew the mock and the sample (that you pay for) are there, but never knew actual past exams were there. I passed level I and II on the first go without them but I think it’s a valuable resource that CFAI should post on their website in bold, with flashing lights!
If people’s knowledge of whether it was there or not was the difference between people passing and failing, that really wouldn’t be fair.
I’m not sure if it’s a blessing that I found out or a curse because I was going to relax and be fresh for the exam but with these 3 exams to go through, I know I’ll be tired.
Going thru will help me pass or being tired will counteract the benefits? I don’t know.
All I can say is, I hope a few thousand candidates out there have not seen them, bring down the MPS, or help ME bring down the MPS, will see how it goes.
Anyway if you are well prepared, simply looking at the today should be fine, assuming you know the material very well and its just about seeing the format a bit.
Yes I knew they were there too, but I’ve been at this for 6 years now. According to the CFAI website, the samples “contain actual previous exam questions.” That makes it seem like some of the questions are from actual exams and some are not. Since I failed Level III last year, I can tell you that questions 1 and 2 at least are definitely from last year’s exam. I remember really screwing up those 2 questions and taking way too long to answer them. The exam says you should allot 38 minutes to questions 1 and 2. I spent about an hour on them during the actual exam.
I would definitely recommend running through the sample exams if you have time, because it’s a good way to find out if you are going at the right pace. I ran out of time in the AM session last year. Sometimes you just have to move on to the next question.
I think there’s alot of ppl that are aware of it, but are still more focused on grasping the material before even attempting to look at the old exams (basically, people who are just sqeezing by will not really take it into consideration since the exams won’t really help unless you have a firm understanding of it).