Hello all, I was just thinking if there is someone who has already taken this year exam (level 1) and could share his experience / option about questions, timing, calcs questions … any tips that would help others? It would be great to get his feedback. Thks a lot and good luck. PC
I took it, test is a joke, and no I won’t help you
Hello PC: I took the test and it wasn’t that bad at all. Very concept heavy and not a lot of calculations (maybe 15 or 20). With that being said, many of the questions are things that you either know right away or you don’t know which leaves you with a lot of time. If you did okay on the practice test on CAIA’s site and/or mock exams (I used uppermark) you should be made. Good luck.
The CAIA Association would like to remind all candidates that they’ve signed a Candidate Agreement that among other things states that: “misconduct includes knowledge by a candidate of past or present questions prior to sitting for an examination. Candidates must not receive information that they know or should have known contains actual examination questions, in whole or in part, verbatim or redacted.” and “misconduct also includes directly or indirectly assisting others obtain knowledge or past or present examination questions. Candidates must not disseminate information that they know or should have known contain actual examination questions in whole or in part, verbatim or redacted, directly or indirectly, to candidates or to others.” Those found to be in violation of one or more points of misconduct may be subject to penalties that include an invalidated exam, censure, suspension, or expulsion from the program. Candidates and members must report any suspicious activity to misconduct@caia.org or by calling the CAIA anonymous misconduct tip voice box at 413-549-3377.
I’ll be writing on Thursday morning. Question, do you have to stay for the whole four hours or can you leave when you’re done? Thanks
You should be able to walk out of the exam whenever you’d like since the exam is timed according to your computer terminal. It’s nothing like CFA where they roll down gates to trap you or prohibit exits 30 minutes prior to the end of the exam.
Oh wow they do that for the CFA? Hah that’s crazy… I’m taking my exam tomorrow. I think I’m going to take a crack at CFA Level I in December after this… Good lucky everyone!
Thanks JaRvey, Yeah I finished my CFA last year and recall being in lock down prior to escape!
nice. I have CAIA 2 friday and CFA 2 in June. CAIA 1 should be fairly straight forward and most will pass by a huge margin. As for CAIA 2, …
you can end your first section whenever you feel like it, take your break if you feel like it (cut it short if you’d like) and end the entire exam when your done. all in all a much better experience then the cfa lockdown in that regard.
will scratch paper be provided ? coz some calc do require you to write it down first
@h2006 , from the CAIA Handbook The test administrator will provide you with an erasable note-board booklet (no paper or pens are allowed). If you fill up your erasable note-board booklet during the test, the administrator will collect the current booklet and provide you with a replacement. You will begin the second section of the exam with a clean booklet. You may not remove the booklet from the testing room during or after the test and you must return it to the administrator after the test. Raise your hand to notify the test administrator if you have a problem with your computer, need a new booklet, or need the test administrator for any other reason.
Here’s some advice guys: 1) ask the instructor for more than one dry-erase marker. those things write so poorly on the plastic booklet. I’d even ask for 3 if they let me 2) bring your own earplugs. my testing center last year was really noisy and they had the cheap earplugs that don’t do anything. they’re not supposed to let you use your own, but you might be able to do it if you have a nice proctor or complain enough.
Cheers for the tips.
is there a restriction on pencils? like the 0.5 pencil
No pencils, no pens, no paper. You will write with a maker on an erasable tablet that they provide and that you hand in at the end of your exam.
thanks sircon. seriously any advise to me. i am nervous as hell. was the exam more tricky than schweser questions.
Without going into details of the exam I can say this. I scored mid 80’s on the Schweser mock exams and the Q-bank. I basically relied upon Schweser notes for the exam and I found the actual exam harder than I thought it would be. I would recommend going to the source text, not for theoretical purposes but for industry related examples that aren’t explicitly covered in the Schweser notes. Hope that helps. Good luck
Just came back fro taking L1. I found it trickier than Scwesser q-banks. First session I think did not do well. second session I picked up and did better, still not as much I thought I would have done. Not having a good night sleep also can also be attributed to this. now its all about wait and see. in terms of time it was fine. If I pass, it will borderline. I probably guessed on 5% questions, and another 5% I know I answered wrong. I would say 20% I answered with some doubt. no rest for me. I had completely dropped the CFA L3 studies, which I need to pickup from today.
Anybody who relied on the Uppermark Qbank that has taken the test have any feedback as to relative difficulty?