gaoyao Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Wow, only 2 hours, that’s awesome! > > Any tips? > > Something in my approach must be wrong. Not sure, and doubt it’s 100% good. Today for instance I missed a problem or two b/c I overlooked some figure (e.g. management fee in return calc), or on the same problem transcribed a number wrong. So it can come back to bite you either way (although I hope some of it was just burnout factor from the long weekend…wasn’t feeling it today!).
I don’t think that it was possible to finish (correctly) this test in less than 2h50 min under exam conditions. I did all the practice tests last year and finished all of them in less than 2 hours, but was really short on time on the real thing. You have to make your writing neater and more organized than on practice tests, and many questions were not trivial. Keep your answers short and to the point. I personally worked the exam from the end to the beginning, worked perfect for me.
I did the 2008 yesterday. Finished right on time. Felt pretty darn tough, then graded out OK w/ a couple timely guesses. I have a couple of Q specific questions if anyone feels like BS-ing or if you can help me figure them out. I am going to post them in an 08 Q thread. Overall, I tend to work slow. If it says 36 minutes, I am going to take 30-35, if it says 9 and I am around 7-8 I try to wrap it up… I didn’t find a question on there that said 24 minutes that only took 10, generally there’s one or two of those on the other past exams, 05-07. On the 08, however, if it was advertised as an 18 minute question, it was going to take pretty darn close to 18 minutes under test conditions. IMO. After grading I searched for the 08 results thread just to see how people scored on each question. There were questions I had to make an educated guess on (or two, or three) and I wanted to get an idea how people in general scored on those or if people were nailing the AM. Not so much. The thread is worth a glance, if like me, you are nervous and/or you have that general worry that no matter what, performance on these tests is always a coin flip. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Level 3: Pass The table below illustrates your subject matter strengths and weaknesses. The three columns on the right are marked with asterisks to indicate your performance on each question or topic area. Essay Q# Topic Max Pts <=50% 51%-70% >70% 1 Portfolio Management - Individual 36 * - - 2 Portfolio Management - Individual 9 - - * 3 Portfolio Management - Institutional 36 - * - 4 Portfolio Management - Asset Allocation 17 - * - 5 Fixed Income Investments 13 * - - 6 Alternative Investments 11 - - * 7 Portfolio Management - Risk Management 17 * - - 8 Portfolio Management - Execution 14 - * - 9 Portfolio Management - Monitor&Rebalance 9 * - - 10 Portfolio Management – Performance Eval. 9 - * - 11 Portfolio Management 9 * - -
maratikus Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > ng30 Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > Did 08 saturday and it took maybe 2hours 15-20 > > minutes. I haven’t had one take more than 2.5 > > (out of 7 or 8 practices). Don’t know why I > > finish so quickly. I hope my answers aren’t > too > > short. > > I just finished the 08 exam tonight and it also > took me around 2 hours. It had a few tough > questions but overall it was very reasonable. I > was pleasantly surprised. No, it was not very reasonable, i understand that you are part of the above and behond kids in school BUT don’t tell me this exam was rery reasonable as far as time concerns. The materiel tested was not out of line because they all were part of the curriculum. BUT it was too much to ask given the time. CFAI does NOT account for the reading part of the question. THis is very Bad. BTW, that was the first time in my life I took an exam and could finish 3 of the questions. With new strategy, I can see how i could have finished but it is only after a year. it should never been that way. You ask ppl to study and you test them fairly, I am not on the run to be the fastest writing runner. This materiel is already strong enought and Nobody can be fake and complete the CFAI exam, you have to know at least something and I think that I know a little bit too. In every exam, i expect to see those who study hard pass NOT those who master strategies. He may be good to some tricks but in the real life trick will not save you BUT your knowlege. This is the first time i take issue with your post. BUT it is because you made seem that exam was easy as far as time concerns.
Hey tibwa, I agree with you on that. Apologies, I wasn’t meaning to come off arrogant. I was just saying reasonable for me personally…but at this point I’m probably around 350 hours and have written a million of these practice IPS so maybe I have a rhythm down. Hats off to people such as yourself who are reading/writing this in a second language, because that would be impossible for me.
where can i find this test to do?
voodoo Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > where can i find this test to do? The 2008 AM is given daily in near exam conditions, in hell.
thanks ppl 
“try to come up with a shorter answer, use smaller fonts. space is abundant, no worries there” I recommend ariel over perpetura.
caspian Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I recommend ariel over perpetura. ariel is a mermaid.
tibwa Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > maratikus Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > ng30 Wrote: > > > -------------------------------------------------- > > > ----- > > > Did 08 saturday and it took maybe 2hours > 15-20 > > > minutes. I haven’t had one take more than > 2.5 > > > (out of 7 or 8 practices). Don’t know why I > > > finish so quickly. I hope my answers aren’t > > too > > > short. > > > > I just finished the 08 exam tonight and it also > > took me around 2 hours. It had a few tough > > questions but overall it was very reasonable. > I > > was pleasantly surprised. > > No, it was not very reasonable, i understand that > you are part of the above and behond kids in > school BUT don’t tell me this exam was rery > reasonable as far as time concerns. The materiel > tested was not out of line because they all were > part of the curriculum. BUT it was too much to ask > given the time. > > CFAI does NOT account for the reading part of the > question. THis is very Bad. BTW, that was the > first time in my life I took an exam and could > finish 3 of the questions. With new strategy, I > can see how i could have finished but it is only > after a year. it should never been that way. You > ask ppl to study and you test them fairly, I am > not on the run to be the fastest writing runner. > This materiel is already strong enought and Nobody > can be fake and complete the CFAI exam, you have > to know at least something and I think that I know > a little bit too. > > In every exam, i expect to see those who study > hard pass NOT those who master strategies. He may > be good to some tricks but in the real life trick > will not save you BUT your knowlege. This is the > first time i take issue with your post. BUT it is > because you made seem that exam was easy as far > as time concerns. tibwa, I said I was pleasantly surprised. I haven’t been able to study much lately and I expected to get nailed. Good luck in 10 days!
slouiscar Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > > >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> > Level 3: Pass > > The table below illustrates your subject matter > strengths and weaknesses. The three columns on the > right are marked with asterisks to indicate your > performance on each question or topic area. > Essay > > Q# Topic Max Pts <=50% 51%-70% >70% > 1 Portfolio Management - Individual 36 * - - > 2 Portfolio Management - Individual 9 - - * > 3 Portfolio Management - Institutional 36 - * - > 4 Portfolio Management - Asset Allocation 17 - * > - > 5 Fixed Income Investments 13 * - - > 6 Alternative Investments 11 - - * > 7 Portfolio Management - Risk Management 17 * - - > 8 Portfolio Management - Execution 14 - * - > 9 Portfolio Management - Monitor&Rebalance 9 * - > - > 10 Portfolio Management – Performance Eval. 9 - * > - > 11 Portfolio Management 9 * - - Thanks for posting this. This is insightful. It would be helpful, however, to know how the candidate did in the PM section. Perhaps they got >70% in all sections. It looks quite easy to get <=50% on one of those damn 36 point chain linked questions. Ahhhhh… the horror!
maratikus Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > tibwa Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > maratikus Wrote: > > > -------------------------------------------------- > > > ----- > > > ng30 Wrote: > > > > > > -------------------------------------------------- > > > > > > ----- > > > > Did 08 saturday and it took maybe 2hours > > 15-20 > > > > minutes. I haven’t had one take more than > > 2.5 > > > > (out of 7 or 8 practices). Don’t know why > I > > > > finish so quickly. I hope my answers > aren’t > > > too > > > > short. > > > > > > I just finished the 08 exam tonight and it > also > > > took me around 2 hours. It had a few tough > > > questions but overall it was very reasonable. > > > I > > > was pleasantly surprised. > > > > No, it was not very reasonable, i understand > that > > you are part of the above and behond kids in > > school BUT don’t tell me this exam was rery > > reasonable as far as time concerns. The > materiel > > tested was not out of line because they all > were > > part of the curriculum. BUT it was too much to > ask > > given the time. > > > > CFAI does NOT account for the reading part of > the > > question. THis is very Bad. BTW, that was the > > first time in my life I took an exam and could > > finish 3 of the questions. With new strategy, I > > can see how i could have finished but it is > only > > after a year. it should never been that way. > You > > ask ppl to study and you test them fairly, I am > > not on the run to be the fastest writing > runner. > > This materiel is already strong enought and > Nobody > > can be fake and complete the CFAI exam, you > have > > to know at least something and I think that I > know > > a little bit too. > > > > In every exam, i expect to see those who study > > hard pass NOT those who master strategies. He > may > > be good to some tricks but in the real life > trick > > will not save you BUT your knowlege. This is > the > > first time i take issue with your post. BUT it > is > > because you made seem that exam was easy as > far > > as time concerns. > > tibwa, I said I was pleasantly surprised. I > haven’t been able to study much lately and I > expected to get nailed. Good luck in 10 days! You are one of the kids that I am betting on. I will bet even on you dead body. I know that you said other obligations ( like other exam and stuff). But I think you got it since not you only have been studying very early but I know you understand a lot of this hard stuff in the materiel. You just need to practice a lot to refresh your memory RAM on ROM and get that thing done. I count on you! As far I am concern, I feel very ok, never feel that way before and I think it is because that I started very early But I will not take anything for granted and I will not rest , sleep until I put the final nail in the CFAI a*** or coffin. Either way, i will take that one and one with then. This whole program has worn me down. Good luck!
gaoyao Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > It would be helpful, however, to know how the > candidate did in the PM section. Perhaps they got > >70% in all sections. > they didn’t. the thread is here: http://www.analystforum.com/phorums/read.php?13,813095,813366#msg-813366
2008 - tough from a time perspective (I ran out even though I knew it was going to be an issue), but actually scored ok (+/- 68). 2007 - not bad from a time perspective, but like someone mentioned in another thread i was having flashbacks to level II. Scored lower (+/- 63). That didn’t help my confidence at all. Before grading 2008 I felt exactly as I did coming out of both level I and level II - that it was hard as hell but doable, and I had absolutely no idea of whether I passed or failed.