I even can not remember what was Portfolio management vignette(s) about. Was not it about which type of model the equation which was both multifactor and smth yet?
For me, it was derivatives and portions of FSA. But as a tip, yeah its good to know how to perform those complex FRA and swaption calculations, but make sure that you read the material and have a strong understanding of the concepts because a large bulk of the test is conceptual.
Portfolio mgmt questions sucked…
For amount of time spent vs bang for the buck, PM has to be the worst. I think most of PM was interesting (except taxes which are following me to L3, awesome). Derivs take a while, but as I’ve said- once you get them, this will be your favorite section on the test- there are not many curveballs… it just clicks. Econ for me both years I took L2 I rocked on practice tests but was under 50%. They test this area very obscurely, as they typically do PM also. This year’s PM was surprisingly not that left field. AI if you study it is the easiest of the small sections to nail easily. It’s not that long, just own it. FSA usually is my best and they usually test it straightforward- this past year was curveball FSA- a ton of SS7 which IMO is the hardest section of the L2 material. Equity is long but fairly straightforward. FI is fairly straightforward, gets a bit more hard w/ some of the qualitative, but it’s doable. CF is fairly straightforward and a section that should be locked down b/c it’s not as bad as others. Ethics to me is the hardest b/c it’s grey. I spent a really long time on it and thankfully it paid off. For 1st time takers, I can’t stress enough how much ethics will destroy you on L2 if you don’t take it EXTREMELY seriously.
FSA FSA FSA!!! I hate FSA. Glad I don’t have to do it anymore.
Derivs and PM hands down Deriv - futures and fowards were really easy but option delta-ing and swaptions were pain in the butt (which i had to 3/6 of the questions on actual exam) obscured and ambiguous says it all
softhard Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Derivs and PM hands down > > Deriv - futures and fowards were really easy but > option delta-ing and swaptions were pain in the > butt (which i had to 3/6 of the questions on > actual exam) > > obscured and ambiguous says it all Agreed. I put the most time (relative to the other lower weighted sections) into these two sections. Derivatives wasn’t quite as bad as anticipated, but PM was a beating.
Derivatives was retardedly difficult. I passed LII, and got 51-70 on derivatives, although I think the gods were on my side for that section… If you’re a trader I’m assuming it’s not quite as bad perhaps, but im sure not.
I found derivatives and fixed income to be the most difficult. Alternative investments was almost as easy as last year’s AI questions. And that’s hard to do. It’s hard to explain but I thought this year’s test had harder material than last year’s. But the problems were more “solvable” (i.e., I could figure out an answer without actually knowing what I was doing on some of them).
ETHICS. Don’t overlook it simply because you don’t have to memorize formulas. It seems straightforward enough… until you get to the test.
I did the best in Alternative Investments, Derivatives, and FI (70+). My worst topics were Econ, PM, and Quant (<50). The rest were in the 50-70 bucket. I failed. FSA always gives me a hard time. And I can’t stand Ethics on L2. I nailed it in L1, but I feel like they ask fringe questions in L2. They’re not straightforward, in my opinion, so you end up trying to decipher a proprietary and subjective body of knowledge. I like econ and quant, but I’m not surprised I didn’t do well. I intentionally sidelined the small topic areas.
Derivatives is one of the most difficult topics to grasp and has some challenging formulas. That said, it is in my opinion also one of the only aceable topics. If you can master the EOC questions from the curriculum I believe Derivatives can be your ace in the hole. I got > 70 and am pretty sure I got 100%. I think they balance out the challenging nature of the topic with straightforward questions. Two exceptions this year were Contango or Normal Contango and the weird Treasury Bond question. Otherwise, if you can master FRAs, Futures, Forwards, Greeks, and swaps, you’re going 10/12 + a 50/50 shot on the Contango question. In a way then, I would say that the most difficult is everything else…basically, whatever CFAI chooses it to be for that year. No shortcuts!
Alt Inv: This section is ok. Private Equity was a weak section of mine and the 1 vignette was all PE so I scored <50. But overall I thought the other Alt. topics were fine (real estate, hedge funds, etc.) Ethics: Manageable at your home practice tests, but on test day they will throw you some major head-scratchers. Fixed Income: A weaker area of mine. I think this section is difficult. FSA: Difficult but manageable. Most candidates put a lot of time into FSA anyway, so it eventually becomes a better area. Port. Mgmt: Treynor Black sucks. Everything else is fine. Derivatives: It was difficult at first. But like others have said, after you do enough problems, this becomes very formulaic and becomes a strong area. Equity: Easy at home. They will throw a few curveballs on test day. But overall not bad. Quant: Not bad studying-wise. But they can throw some curveballs here too. Econ: Very elusive. Some questions seemed really easy on the test (e.g. 1/3 rule, c’mon). But again, CFAI can be devils with econ. Corp. Fin.: Not bad.
What curveballs did they throw with regard to quant for the 2009 exam? Thx
Quant was all on ANOVAs which are quite straight forward questions. First half of quant is never too bad on the exam - I remember reading the ANOVA stuff first time and thought it was a bit crazy but after a few practice exams you realise all the questions are the same - “here’s an ANOVA output, can you interpret it? Calculate Y, F, R2, which is dependent variable” etc. The 2nd half on time series is impossible unless you’re used to it or willing to spend a lot of time on it. Fortunately it’s almost never tested. Probably means it’s a dead-cert this year so worth doing a lot of practice questions just in case. d31dy Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > What curveballs did they throw with regard to > quant for the 2009 exam? Thx
Fix income~I failed every time