I don’t agree that you should find the minimum study time. Your goal is to pass the exam, not to pass using minimum time. I feel you should go all out. Not at the cost of work, but that’s just my opinion, I’m not a very fast learner and I need to study harder than other people to get good grades, maybe you are different.
I started studying in November. But if you’re very busy with work, I would start in October. 2 hrs a day for a month = 60 hrs per month*8 mos = 480 hours. Try to finish the material by December end, I wish I’d done that.
Trying to find the ‘minimum time’ needed to pass is a recipe for disaster. If you’re not all in, you’re unlikely to get through it. Maybe take a year off if you’re burned out.
its got to be the eassy part … i failed as well, altogh didn’t spent as much time as preparing. Thought i passed, as i thought i knoew mos tof the essay questions and did fine on 2nd half - but very bad result on essay section. I think your problem might be similar to many others who did poorly on essay - you might know in your head, but writing down - it is not coming in correct format/details that CFA wants.
Did you do all the CFAI problems in the books until you got them all correct? If not, I would focus on being ready for the AM session by doing every written response question you can find. Get used to writing the correct answer on paper rather than relying on being able to recognize the right answer, ala multiple choice.
Im probably not qualified to advice but just basing on my own result breakdown i posted. Focus on making sure you get above 70 in all the pm. Thats at least 5/6 which is 83 percent. I had all above 70 bar one question under 50 which is highly probable i got at least 83 percent. Am is a different story i had 4 questions under 50 which i never know why and would be carrying to my grave. But if pm is 83 u can still get 57 in am and CONFIRM a pass since nobody gets 70 and fails. Why subject yourself to uncertainty of am grading. My 2 cents.
People always say that but i wonder how you can do that.
To me, i just study as hard as possible and do my best on the exam, AM and PM, and even if i asked everything as best as i can, there is no way i can be sure that i get 83% or 75% or 55%…
What i am trying to ask is, in theory, you are correct, if you score high enough in the PM you can still pass with an average scor in the AM - we all get that. But how can we prepare ourselves to score well in the PM? how can we concentrate on getting over 70 in every section?
The best strategy is still to just study as hard as possible and write mock exams, concentrate on both AM and PM as you never know how well you will do on the exam.
i would add … practice writing and cross check your answer vs. CFAI guidline answer. I thought i would pass … thought i knew most questions on morning esssay section - but did horribly. I did’t have much time in practicing writing, thought i would pull it off.
So in addition to learning, learning to write the way CFAI expects is a big part i think. I’m going for my 2nd try, but this time will focus on mock exams/writing more. More importantly you need to know what/how CFAI expects answers to questions.
Aside from the manual practicing , I would say you need to gee yourself up in confidence and mental approach way before the exam.
I gave myself no excuses and aimed high. I know what kind of student I am and I knew if I aimed to pass, I would probably just miss the cut off.
Tell yourself you’ve got this, don’t think poorly of yourself ever, and aim to get that 6/6 or 5/6 per question set. Never think that 70% is enough. You are going to do badly on some sections, this is given, push yourself harder than you’ve ever pushed, and then push some more, over that hill, that will give you belief in your abilities. Study til you don’t second guess any answers. And when you’re near the top of that hill, everything you did before that day will decide if it is Hamburger hill, or become King of the Hill.
I recommend giving yourself a 0 on any mock AM answer that doesn’t repeat the solution, verbatim. This eliminates some of the over confidence going into the AM session of the actual exam.
I went to Windsor Week and found that I would get the correct answer but would fail to write it out in a “conclusive sentence” - I would miss a point there. WW also taught you to move on. On exam day, if you don’t know the answer, move on to another question - you will know that one and then you can go back and BS if you have time later!
zen123 - it sounds like you have an awesome study plan. I think you just ran out of luck. Did you at all get into a time warp? I know that I was practicing for 9 questions in the AM this past June’13 and all of a sudden I see 11 questions!!! WTF??? I was geared for 3 questions/hour and really had to scurry to reap some extra points as there were 2 more vignettes/cases to read compared to previous exams!
You will do great in '14. Do you have a good memory? If so…relax until January and start hitting the books then. Don’t waste time on Ethics + BF + GICS until the very end. These are time wasters if you ask me. I can try so hard on understanding the CFAI ethics and still get 3/6 - grrr. Concentrate on IPS and Derivatives - the CFAI seem to love Swaps and they love relating derivatives to IPS questions. Knock it out of the park!
My writing sucks balls. Not going to lie. I work with a grader and asked him about it and he told me that they pass the exam around to decipher one wonky word if need be, let alone a complete sentence (which probably happened in my case). The graders also look for your answer to any question on any page. I didn’t write an answer in the “template provided” and scored >70% on it, so knew that it had been graded. Don’t waste time rewriting.
Also - review your afternoon session until the end. I was done with 45 minutes to spare and reviewed until the end. I fixed 3 of my calculations having read the questions too fast. That’s 3 extra points baby!
The grader is a Portfolio Manager where I work. He grades exams every year. Not a private tutor but a CFA coach of sorts. If I was ever freaking out he would calm me down. He never compromised the integrity of the grading process, he only assured me that they were very fair and try their best to find points - wherever they may be! He said to never worry about re-writing if you fail to write in the “templates provided” - as long as you have clearly indicated the question you are answering you should be just fine (worked for me).
Also - he told me not to concentrate on writing clearer - just to concentrate on the material. My writing is terrible and they were able to get through it apparently!
The grading process is very sophisticated actually (well, of couse! It’s the CFAI!). They account for grader’s drift - ie. being too harsh at the onset of grading and being too nice at the end of grading. Everything is as fair as can be, which I appreciated. They will also regrade your entire exam if you are on the cusp of passing to find that one last point to push you over the edge. Pens and pencils are ok too (although they tell you to write in pen - if your answer gets smudged because you wrote in pencil that’s your bad). I wrote in pen, however and scribbled out my mistakes.
The grading process for L3 can go on for a long time even after results are released. I have heard of someone who received a “Pass” in February after formerly receiving a “Fail” in August because another answer was accepted. This person was not inquiring about his answers at all, it just happened to work in his favour. So - they do try to be as fair as possible.
I hope this helps - somewhat. It definitely reassured me that I wasn’t getting duped.
It is very reassuring, but how come so many people (myself included) find the AM easy and did everything we could to answer as precisely and accurately as possible and still did so much worse than PM?
I passed the AM but not nearly as good as the PM (and i was so surprised because i wasn’t as confident in the PM).
And AM too there is no guessing, you either know it or you don’t, and i KNOW THE MATERIAL, i know exactly what to write 85% of the time but the score didn’t reflect that…
