Somebody, and I forget who, did an excellent job collating all the 2011 Level III pass rates in a spread sheet. I think the degree of difficulty is reflected in the average scores (60.8% in the AM and 69.5% in the PM). If you look at passing scores only vs failing (a much smaller sample size) it was 61.6% vs. 51.5% in the AM and 69.8% vs. 65.3% in the PM.
I thought this years PM was probably the easiest of all the multiple choice sections (albeit with 400+ hrs of studying) across all levels. The AM was a crap shoot. I think this link is shown in the 2011 averages.On average passers did 8.2 percentage points worse on the AM than their average PM, while fails did 13.8 percentage points worse. I believe, with studying, Level II can be the easier exam given the format. I had a lot of trouble with Level II, but looking back I can lay it squarely at the feet of inadequate prep–I never felt the format of the exam beat me. I think my prep for Level III was more than sufficient. If I I got beat, it will have been by the change in format and I think that change makes Level III the harder exam.
Level 3 is like a combination of the difficulty of calcs/ processes performed at level 2 and a really shitty and boring undergraduate management class.
-You know the ones with endless, mind numbing lists of seemingly unrelated stuff, you have to know all of it though, and you have to suffer through some ass hat repeating in class “Well you know it’s up to us as managers to pull meaning out of chaos” like they know what the hell they’re talking about.
2 Weeks till test time I knew the material in Level 2, and was mainly just drilling/ practicing/ running on the gerbil wheel. 2 Weeks from test time in Level 3 I was still coaxing out a really solid understanding and having eureka moments over various study sesions, and I felt like those continued right up until the day before when I just had to say “enough” and give myself some breathing room before exam day. For me both preparation and test day were way more intense.
Like others have noted just look at the pass rate and realize that applies to all the guys who are smart enough and have a strong enough work ethic to plow through Level 2.
I think Level 2 had more material to memmorize and is a big hurdle, but I passed 1 and 2 simply putting in the time.
First Level 3 attempt, I put in just as many hours, knew the material, and the AM session killed me.
Second Level 3 attempt, I mastered the material, went to a 5 day Intense Schweser review, reviewed all old tests, took several practice tests… and I think it killed me again.
Simply learning to take the AM session in 3 hours is a big step towards success. For me it is almost impossible to do complete the exam in the given amount of time, even on practice tests I’ve seen before.
I also think PM was easy this year, so I hope that it puts me over the edge, but not at all confident.
Level 3 is harder. The pressure to pass is even greater than at Level 2, because all you have to do is pass this one little test and you’re done, forever. People get health problems studying for it - I think I got an ulcer in spring 2008 when I was cramming like crazy. Probably studied more than 500 hours and I still only passed by the skin of my teeth.
The key to the exam is the morning session, which can make or break you. You really need to be well-acquainted with how to approach it, in terms of focusing your answers, time management, and even flipping pages. That’s why those past exams the CFA provides you are worth their weight in gold.
