June 4 exam discussion

[ttee22]

qic.

[Kyle_Smith]

My observation so far is, if you are good at calculations, you will find AM session easier. If you like qualitative analysis, PM is for you.

[Kyle_Smith]

@diyerlee

I was taking exam in crowded Shanghai. In my case, the PM session is way much easier than the AM one. I didn’t even have time for a review for the AM session, but feel confident with the PM by far. I basically read the notes and part of curriculum after going back and recalled the exam questions. It turned out that I have confidence with 72 Qs, not sure about 17 Qs, and pretty sure I was wrong with 6 ones, while forgetting about the rest 25 Qs.

Here’s my bold guess (scenario analysis):

Option 1: If I got my 72 REALLY correct, and failed the unsured 17Qs, but by accident nailed 12 out the 25Qs that I forgot, I might have 70%

Option 2: If I got 72 correct, and merely 20% of the rest 17+25, namely 8, correct as well, I might have 80/120 (i.e. 66.7%)

Option 3: Apart from 72 Qs, I only have 6 ones correct out of the rest unsured 17+25 Qs, my score would be 65% which is sort of dangerous

Option 4: I’m confident with over 50/60 Qs in PM session, that said, I might have to get at least 32/60 correct in the AM session to pass

I just cannot stop over thinking abt the exam and kinda frustrated. When I read the new issued Bloomberg Pursuit, there were only two words I could remember, ‘Monte Carlo’ and ‘Bermuda’ as they’re correlated to Monte Carlo Simulation and Bermuda Option…poor me! After a night filled with wild-guess and self doubt, I stayed 7 hours in the office on Sunday and paralyzed myself with work.

I will have my result during the short stay in Hong Kong and I know I can’t have an easy life in this 8 weeks. This is a sad story…but good luck with all of us! Hopefully we can have chance for the prepration of Level 3 in 50 days.

I think you have a decent chance to join the Level III candidate club dude, hopfully see you in there.

[abashtavy]

PM was disgusting - a 60-question minefield.

[NutsAM]

For me, I felt that both parts were comparable in difficulty, but overall easier than the mocks I did at home. Had a good feeling right after the exam (which turned since then a bit).

I was struggling a bit with the FRA item sets, rest was quite ok. Hope that this will be sufficient for passing. Finished both parts after 2:15h, so I had some time to check some answers. There were a few tricky questions, had to guess 6 questions randomly. Maybe 15-20 were I could narrow down to 50:50, so round about 95 questions were I was sure. Assuming some unforced errors in these 95 questions I should still be above 70%, even if everything else is wrong. Fingers crossed

[joe35y]

First I felt that the exam was way easier than all the topic tests and mock exams.

Felt pretty confident waking out of the exam. There were a couple of sections i felt like I got 6/6 right. A few other section were i had to guess on 2/3. So hoping that it evens out for a passing grade. On a few of the guesses I forgot some of the formulas where there should have been easy plug and chug points. I felt that the PM section was way easier than the AM.

Now comes the waiting game

[cuddle]

I think the actual test questions are a little bit easier than the CFAI mock test and topic tests in a werid way. There are some questions in the afternoon session are super easy and some are really hard. Some questions I dont know whether I overthought too much or I fell into the trap.

[h21]

i think mock prepared me well but there were traps and question i just have to guess, i guessed less than mock but i dont know, i guessed a lot of ethic questions so it could bomb or go well, derivatives i guess couple and also portfolio calc where i just didnt get the idea for one or two questions.we will see oh well. I get tricked by the wording for some Fi questions and realized after the test crap… oh well

[CFALOBO]

AM section was killer for me, PM easier, but still challenging. I can see myself pulling off 76 correct questions for 63% and pass if MPS is that low this year.

[aggybail]

"Watching game of thrones finally caught up with everyone!!! Everyone was teasing me saying OMG HODOR this HODOR that…now I know!!! FRIKKIN AMAZING! Also got to watch my Warriors play. Warriors blow out the Cavs perfect way to cap the end of the weekend. "

lol this post made me really laugh!! but now i feel guilty because i did not stop watching GOT while studying. it was my one break a week and I watched the episodes while eating dinner!

[CFAlovehate]

So are we all sitting the same test worldwide or is it different exam questions per country? Also is the MPS based on all candidates worldwide or only test scores in your own country?

[Shobhit]

I am expecting number of correct answers to be in the range of 76-84 out of 120. What is the expected MPS this year?

[JayWill]

@Shobhit

I am expecting number of correct answers to be in the range of 76-84 out of 120. What is the expected MPS this year?

Nobody knows what it will be, and can only roughly extrapolate it after the fact based on pass/fail score topic ranges that candidates report. That said, based on past theories I’ve read, 76 would probably be right on the cusp of either a Band 10 fail or just passing.

[CEO10K-DAY]

@biuku

i don’t understand how it’s a proctor’s business what you do before the exam.

if you forgot to give your buddy his car keys back, and it’s 8:35 and he’s sitting 3 rows behind you, you just walk there and give him his car keys. Why would a calculator be different.

candidates should be more assertive at pushing rules with proctors. you won’t get a professional conduct issue if you quote a CFAI rule correctly from memory to a proctor who misunderstood it (because they first heard what a “CFAI” was 8 days earlier). there was a story on here about a guy whose proctor told him not to write on the exam book. he had to basically do all the math in the calculator. an hour later the proctor said he could write in the exam book. I would just write in the exam book and let the PROCTOR get the slap on the wrist if he dares to escalate it. no way CFAI would find against a candidate who wrote in their exam book, when they are supposed to do so.

That is absurd! The only way you get to be a proctor is if you’re a charterholder! He surely has experience taking the exam and wrote in his book? My exam booklets looked like works of art after I was done with them.

[Cynical_Man]

charterholders? lol those proctors are probably making minimum wage +10-20% based on wherever they are. They have nothing to do with the institute and barely know how to check a calculator (trained prior to the test).

Charterholders are only involved in grading essays for level 3. My finance professor was one of those, and I believe he used to get $100-150/hour from the CFAI for that (probably more, can’t recall now).

[CEO10K-DAY]

@Cynical_Man

charterholders? lol those proctors are probably making minimum wage +10-20% based on wherever they are. They have nothing to do with the institute and barely know how to check a calculator (trained prior to the test).

Charterholders are only involved in grading essays for level 3. My finance professor was one of those, and I believe he used to get $100-150/hour from the CFAI for that (probably more, can’t recall now).

Have you ever talked to the proctors? They’ve passed all three levels.

[Cynical_Man]

I am not sure who are the people you are reffering to as ‘proctors’, but if you are talking about people who walk through the isles and distribute books and answer sheet, I can guarantee you, in San Francisco, they probably have no idea what the test was about.

[Cynical_Man]

del

[berave]

I also always thought that proctors are either charterholder or a local CFA institute member

[M_Mitchell08]

@berave

I also always thought that proctors are either charterholder or a local CFA institute member

i know for a fact, at least in Dallas, they are not. Talked to one of the proctors between the morning and afternoon and they work for company that is contracted out by CFAI to administer the test.