Took the CBT exam this morning in Los Angeles. Compared to Paper based exam enviroment, people coming and leaving the room could be somewhat distracting, at least for me in the first ten minutes after sitting down, partly because I sat next to the door. The AM session timing was quite tight for myself, had to skip a few questions since didnt have time to elaborate answers. That being said, I didnt find them very much challenging, it’s more about time/pace management i’d say. The PM session was quite a breeze-thru for me, left an hour to double check everything.
1 Like
Sat for it today in US, previously sat for 2019 L3 and this one was less difficult. Barely finished AM but finished an hour early in the PM. Can’t tell how well I did, it’s up to the CFA gods…it truly is a flip of the coin!
1 Like
Something I found useful for time management was to subtract the points (time allocated) at the start of each subsection from the initial time - noted on a bit of paper. Got all the questions answered without getting sucked into any one question for too long
The Boston CFAI mock exam available on the CFAI learning ecosystem
When the results will be sent?
BTW: is the same test for everyone, as in the past? If yes then it would be easy or hard for everyone…or coinflip as already said…
For the people who are saying 2019 was harder - is it just because maybe this is a subsequent attempt you found it easier?
So overall consensus sounds like the exam wasn’t too difficult?
1 Like
My understanding is that questions are likely drawn from a pool - i.e. there’ll be different versions of the exams.
If that’s the case - how are they going to grade the exam on a curve? We’ll have to trust that CFAI will do their best to figure it out.
Interesting - I thought the PM was a harder. I finished 30 minutes before as well, but I wasn’t sure of the answers.
Does anyone know if we have books will change for next exam?
And, I am hoping the fee would be less - its too expense to take these exams.
Sat the exam on Wednesday in London. It was ok timing-wise as I tried to hold myself to a strict schedule (i.e. don’t spend more time than # of points awarded). However, I did find the exam challenging. Having used primarily old CFAI AM-papers as well as Kaplan mock exams in the last few weeks I had somewhat different expectations. Very hard to say how it went. Gut feel is not “horrible” but certainly also not “great”… will be a coin toss for me. Fortunately the curriculum is staying the same for the November session which is a good plan B.
1 Like
Precisely +1
Ok! I think that they can apply the same rule of the past exams: if the questions are different but randomly selected it should work
Agree with a lot here. Was scoring well on practice exams from schweser and did OK on the mock exam 65 or so about 2 weeks ago. AM felt like a breeze. I went into the break thinking this year it will be different. I’m finally done with this thing. Just left PM and I’m ready to sign up for the November exam. PM was rough. I also don’t like how the exam is shorter. There were quite a few things I’m stronger on that did not appear on a question. I was in the PM questioning if I actually studied for the correct exam.
1 Like
Just left the test center. Overall I think the exam was extremely easier compared to what I expected. Finished AM section 45 mins earlier and mostly spent the rest of the time correcting answers. PM finished 1 hour earlier.
PM they were just giving the answers to you in the text.
Really the easiest one among the three levels, maybe because I was not that tired after the exam.
Regarding the exam administration, it became less stricter. I am pretty sure the possibilities for cheating have increased.
1 Like
I have a concern about the easy exam that is something similar to the paradox of skills: the difference between best and worst candidates will reduce and luck has a more important role. I think it was easy, in particular the PM, but it was for everyone then it helps average candidates…imho
1 Like
Did you have trouble writing out the formulas using the formula editor ?
1 Like
Took L3 today - Computer based platform was manageable, typing was nice -though I’m probably one of the few that likes hard copy / paper version tests better. I like being able to circle, box info in the vignettes etc.
As far as the exam, I thought it was harder than I expected. I took 2018-2014 CFAI AMs, 2 Full Kaplan, Full Boston Society mock + all EOC BBS and 1.1K QBanks Qs. Read Kaplan books and also specific Sections of CFAI books and Watched Wiley videos. Had very different expectations as to what was going to be covered. Many of my strongest areas didn’t show up and many others seemed very obscure. Finished the AM with about 25 mins to spare and PM with about 40. Just a matter of teetering back and forth on a handful of questions related to what I felt was some ambiguity. Felt like I trained for a boxing match and when I made my way out to the ring I was In the middle of a soccer game. Almost like I studied for an entirely different exam.
9 Likes
Personally, I didn’t even use it - anything quantitative I just typed out on the traditional keyboard like 1+2*(3+4) etc
is that 1100 Kaplan Qbank Q’s? Did you use the CFAI questions at all? Wondering if those were more representative?
With there being open-ended calculation questions in the AM section where you just gave the numerical response, how would they give partial credit if you didn’t provide the correct answer?