Depression-Life Sucks-Can't Believe I Screwed Up-Not Another Year Thread

[CFAbeatmeup]

@Hedgee

@CFAbeatmeup

@Hedgee

@ltj

I’m sorry are there multiple posters in this thread whining about failing with less than a month of study? Did I just read 8 days? 3 weeks? Is that a joke?

Yeah everyone feels awful for you. The fact that you got through L1 and L2 that way is super impressive, you should be thrilled about that and maybe add another day or two on for next year’s exam. LOL

LOL. There could be multiple reasons for someone spending a shorter time than required or planned. Well when I did what I did I know it was a high risk strategy, rather a lot like a call option (not really a high risk strategy). The utility value of the reward (of passing) might have been lower than the utility value of time to pass as this point of time. No one needs to feel awful for anyone else. Do emotions have value, may be they are value destructive.

I think ltj’s point was if you took a noted “risky” strategy, you may should have mentally prepared for a bad result and not have taken it so hard. I’m not here to tell you how to feel, but rationally people that fail to prepare for a goal generally don’t react so harshly to not attaining said goal.

Nothing harsh meant. Apologies if I came across that way. I joined AF this month, expecting a close brush and not sure if I would have the time to go thro the grind next time. Honestly I was expecting AM to be in second bucket mostly except the last 2 sections that I was under time pressure. Hence I was thinking if it makes sense to retab. I had done PM quite well, and was unsure of how I did ethics. Apologies again.

None taken man!

[Auburn]

Retab is for losers

[vgmalu]

One L3 failure and you are depressed??, dude seriously you have never experienced failure in life, i guess.

Experiencing a failure is an experience that

1. Allows you to learn

2. fight

No one is invincible, everyone will fail somewhere down the line, if not here then somewhere else.

Cheer up and fight back!!!

[Glue85]

@Topperharley

@ltj

I’m sorry are there multiple posters in this thread whining about failing with less than a month of study? Did I just read 8 days? 3 weeks? Is that a joke?

Yeah everyone feels awful for you. The fact that you got through L1 and L2 that way is super impressive, you should be thrilled about that and maybe add another day or two on for next year’s exam. LOL

I think killing L1 and L2 leads to overconfidence for L3. That has been my biggest problem and why I’m a 1 boxer. I breezed through L1 and L2 and expected to do the same in L3…hasn’t quite worked out like I’d hoped! Time constraints + overconfidence = L3 fail.

This is exactly what happen to me when I did it first attempt last year, I was already feeling there is no need for L3 since I know everything and exams sucks. I failed band 9. This year I failed band 4 because of being bored. Imagine i felt too lazy to read carefully in the PM session specially after I used all my power for the AM session? I felt so bad after ethics two cases and then depressed already in the individual and instituional case. Life really sucks now and we need to just to take it easy next time and just focus. Screw practcing because there is nothing to practice with for me. I still can remember the questions and answers.

[Glue85]

@vgmalu

One L3 failure and you are depressed??, dude seriously you have never experienced failure in life, i guess.

Experiencing a failure is an experience that

1. Allows you to learn

2. fight

No one is invincible, everyone will fail somewhere down the line, if not here then somewhere else.

Cheer up and fight back!!!

If I passed the test, I would say the same

[Glue85]

@mbjones21

@wharoom

@Topperharley

@Thiru_Cumaran

Well, I too got through L1 and L2 in one shot, but didn’t do so well for L3. 2-2-6 for AM and 8-1-1 for PM. Was confident that I did enough to get decent results for the AM, but not so sure about the PM. In the end, it worked out the opposite way.

One of my friends has the same composition of marks, another one has 3-2-5 for AM and 4-5-1 for PM, and another has 3-2-5 (AM) and 5-1-3 (PM). I’m assuming these are the Band 11-ers.

I’m just wondering whether y’all think that re-tabulation might work out for me. Considering that I’ve done quite well in PM when compared to the above examples, wouldn’t there be a possibility of a Band 11 upon re-tabulation? Provide me some consolation, AF!

I DID leave out about 7 marks of questions from the AM session because I ran out of time. In terms of knowledge, I think I had enough to get a Band 11, but I think the lack of practising writing past papers is what sent me to a Band 10 result. I’ll have to do extra work on past papers/mock exams for 2017 (if re-tabbing isn’t successful).

It’s certainly nothing new but endlessly interesting that so many of us could do great on the PM and horrible on the AM. Just speaks to the difficulty (unnecessary subjectivity?) of the AM in that you must answer (apparently) precisely as the CFAI wants.

Anyone that put in the time and has the knowledge to go 8-1-1 on the PM should not be getting scores of 2-2-6 on the AM. Such a discrepancy should be a rare anomaly, yet we find that nearly everyone’s results (1 boxers and 2 boxers) follow that same trend. You would think that such a widespread trend would disturb the CFAI but it seems that is not only accepted but intended.

+1

If my PM was a devastation I would accept this failure that I didn’t understand the Level 3 contents / materials and would need to work harder to study. But my PM was great while my AM looks like the aftermath of Nagasaki…I was shocked to see my result. Its a contradiction.

But that’s what it is - I have written numerous reports sufficient for key stakeholders both in and out of the firm - but nope not good enough for CFAI standards, albeit one (the acceptable written) brings me money while the other (the unacceptable written) I have to pay…

WTF…

I think the issue is that i put key works such as “the” and “and” in the incorrect places. The subjects in the AM that i thought I got 70% for sure, I received in the 51-70 which blindsided me yesterday

Me too, specially at the questions where only calculations were required. I guess we did not provide enough of “show your calculation”

[vgmalu]

@Glue85

@vgmalu

One L3 failure and you are depressed??, dude seriously you have never experienced failure in life, i guess.

Experiencing a failure is an experience that

1. Allows you to learn

2. fight

No one is invincible, everyone will fail somewhere down the line, if not here then somewhere else.

Cheer up and fight back!!!

If I passed the test, I would say the same

2010 Dec - Level I Pass

2011 June - Level II Fail

2012 June - Level II Pass

2013 June - Level III Fail

2015 June - Level III Fail

2016 June - Level III Pass

I had my fair share of failures, Don’t you think so?

I did not get depressed, all this while i was married and working in IB with all kinds of family/relationship pressures

[Blackou]

Same strategy (and results) for me

@ltj

I’m not ashamed to admit I put in a ridiculous amount of time for L3, the most by far. I didn’t track my hours but I was probably north of 450. I wrote so many AM papers it was ridiculous and I still bombed 4 sections on it.

[hei.so]

@ltj

I’m not ashamed to admit I put in a ridiculous amount of time for L3, the most by far. I didn’t track my hours but I was probably north of 450. I wrote so many AM papers it was ridiculous and I still bombed 4 sections on it.

Same for me. For level 2 and 3 I solely relied on the CFAI books, which means I read every word in it. I have no sympathy for people who say they studied for “3 weeks” and expect to past the AM portion. There is just no way. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that is impossible.

Maybe I’m not a genius like some of you. I did mocks from the last 10 years but I still got <50 on five AM topics. 10 questions is just too many if you do not know your shit.

[wharoom]

Oh no…not another user…not giving me sympathy votes…oh no…life slowly draining…energy depleting…all these years that i have achieved professionally your sympathy was what got me throught them alll…no…please…i think i see a white light…need your sympathy…

[philadelphia_collin5]

@vgmalu

@Glue85

@vgmalu

One L3 failure and you are depressed??, dude seriously you have never experienced failure in life, i guess.

Experiencing a failure is an experience that

1. Allows you to learn

2. fight

No one is invincible, everyone will fail somewhere down the line, if not here then somewhere else.

Cheer up and fight back!!!

If I passed the test, I would say the same

2010 Dec - Level I Pass

2011 June - Level II Fail

2012 June - Level II Pass

2013 June - Level III Fail

2015 June - Level III Fail

2016 June - Level III Pass

I had my fair share of failures, Don’t you think so?

I did not get depressed, all this while i was married and working in IB with all kinds of family/relationship pressures

Not trying to be a jerk but at a certain point you have to ask yourself is it really worth it? 6 straight years of January - May being total misery (with some nuggets of knowledge sprinkled in) is DRAINING. People sacrifice a lot to prepare for these exams, social lives take a hit, health becomes a concern (both physical and mental). I truly feel for those who have to go through this gauntlet so many times. Are three letters worth more than 3 years of our life?

[ltj]

@wharoom

Oh no…not another user…not giving me sympathy votes…oh no…life slowly draining…energy depleting…all these years that i have achieved professionally your sympathy was what got me throught them alll…no…please…i think i see a white light…need your sympathy…

I’d encourage you to not make topics saying how depressed you are and how much “life sucks” when you’ve put all of like… 2 months into preparing for three CFA exams. What were you expecting?

[wharoom]

Does this mean i do not get any sympathy and encouragement from you too ltj? …pain slowly reaching depths of soul…vision of future blurring…life seeping…i have relied on yoy itj all this time when i became senior management when i passed level 1 and 2 when i travelled to explore…no itj…sympathy please…sympathy…

[Hedgee]

Let’s declare truce and get back to work.

[ltj]

Senior management!? Explorer!?

Didn’t realize we had a hybrid Steve Jobs/Magellan posting among us.

[wharoom]

@Hedgee

Let’s declare truce and get back to work.

Nah not battling them. Just got bored so came here.

[_ksCFA]

i am having a really hard time getting motivated back… and it showed…

Band 10 in 2014… Band 7 then Band 6 this time… it really does sucks… maybe i should call it quits?

[Hedgee]

@\_ksCFA

i am having a really hard time getting motivated back… and it showed…

Band 10 in 2014… Band 7 then Band 6 this time… it really does sucks… maybe i should call it quits?

Having reached here and trief, does not make sense to quit. It just need that extra bit…

[vgmalu]

@philadelphia\_collin5

@vgmalu

@Glue85

@vgmalu

One L3 failure and you are depressed??, dude seriously you have never experienced failure in life, i guess.

Experiencing a failure is an experience that

1. Allows you to learn

2. fight

No one is invincible, everyone will fail somewhere down the line, if not here then somewhere else.

Cheer up and fight back!!!

If I passed the test, I would say the same

2010 Dec - Level I Pass

2011 June - Level II Fail

2012 June - Level II Pass

2013 June - Level III Fail

2015 June - Level III Fail

2016 June - Level III Pass

I had my fair share of failures, Don’t you think so?

I did not get depressed, all this while i was married and working in IB with all kinds of family/relationship pressures

Not trying to be a jerk but at a certain point you have to ask yourself is it really worth it? 6 straight years of January - May being total misery (with some nuggets of knowledge sprinkled in) is DRAINING. People sacrifice a lot to prepare for these exams, social lives take a hit, health becomes a concern (both physical and mental). I truly feel for those who have to go through this gauntlet so many times. Are three letters worth more than 3 years of our life?

well…i see people in other threads having started in 2001 and passing out in 2016. My struggles are nothing in front of them.

I was just lucky to clear these levels.

The issue is that, i believe these smaller struggles help you gain wind for bigger turmoil in life to come.

[littlepokeball01]

If I had failed L3 this year (was very close to failing), I was ready to call it quits. Having passed L1 and L2 is sunk cost, and you’re not “wasting” anything by not finishing L3. You would have done L1 and L2 regardless of whether you pass L3. Hope we can think of it rationally and not be blinded by an inherent emotional bias.

I sincerely hope no one takes this message the wrong way…