Survey from CFAI

you might have been lucky mate, or they may screw you on your level 3 D-day this June, shaking … I will reply to the survey just as a religious thing

I did fill this last year and failed. I got it again today. This time I am thinking about skipping it.

I just got this survey now

I got it too. Time to bump ilvino’s pledge.

Got it, took it… lame. But it was a good way to waste some time at work!

eltia - they have said they do not include the no-shows in the pass rate calc.

eltia Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I just took the survey. Looks like CFAI is on the > track for more aggressive marketing? (Perhaps due > to the recent drop in CFA candidates enrollment?) Actually, CFA enrollment is at an all-time high. This news article came across Bloomberg earlier today: CFA Exam Draws Record 128,600 in Search of Wisdom Lost in Crash May 13 2009 10:35:57 May 13 (Bloomberg) – A record 128,600 enrolled to take the Chartered Financial Analyst exam in June and, if history is any guide, more than half will fail during Wall Street’s worst shakeout in at least three decades. Candidates from 154 countries are scheduled for three levels of the CFA exam, the Charlottesville, Virginia-based CFA Institute said yesterday in an e-mailed statement. The first level of the exam is offered in December and June; the final two levels are administered only in June. A CFA is the ultimate credential on Wall Street possessed by Bill Gross, who runs the world’s biggest bond fund at Pacific Investment Management Co., and Abby Joseph Cohen, Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s senior investment strategist. It’s especially true after financial firms cut more than 311,000 jobs since global markets started to unravel in 2007, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. “Now more than ever we need well-trained, ethically centered investment professionals operating in the financial markets,” Bob Johnson, senior managing director of CFA Institute, said in the statement. “Candidates and charter- holders regularly tell me that when looking for a new job or working with potential and current clients, the CFA designation distinguishes them from those without the charter.” Wall Street has suffered from the financial crisis that claimed Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., Merrill Lynch & Co. and Bear Stearns Cos. New York City has lost more than 23,000 financial jobs from the beginning of 2007, and that number may double by the second quarter of 2010, according to the city’s Office of Management and Budget. CFA applicants climbed 9 percent from last June, compared with the 35 percent decline in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index in the same period. 250 Hours of Study There are about 84,000 CFA charter holders globally, according to the statement. The not-for-profit CFA Institute recommends candidates spend at least 250 hours studying for each phase of the test. Completing all three levels costs about $2,500 and takes an average of four years. Of the 49,797 people who took the Level 1 exam in December, just 35 percent passed. Topics range from ethical standards and securities valuation to financial statement analysis and portfolio management. The CFA program started in 1963 and stems in part from Benjamin Graham, a pioneer of value investing who mentored Warren Buffett and advocated a rating system for financial analysts.

cpk123 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I may be blaspheming here - but ask SWG for proof: > > > there was documented proof last year that people > who received the survey last year and answered it > --> passed !!! must disappoint - thats not true :((

Wow I never knew Benjamin Graham was Warren Buffett’s mentor. Oh yea, did the article mention last year 22% of these enrollment were no show? Anyhow. I am drifting, time to back to studying equity… Ah Porter, why are you such a pain in the butt…

eltia Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Wow I never knew Benjamin Graham was Warren > Buffett’s mentor. > > Oh yea, did the article mention last year 22% of > these enrollment were no show? > > Anyhow. I am drifting, time to back to studying > equity… Ah Porter, why are you such a pain in > the butt…

The media seems to come out with some sort of an article “the exam” around this time EVERY FREAKING YEAR. This is actually highly correlated with the spirit of the survey at a 95% confidence level - assuming a constant variance to prevent heteroskedasticity, of course.

Actually I am not that surprise Graham et. al. has a hand on the founding of the CFA program. (This sounds like the kind of thing they would do.) The bits I was surprised are Graham’s relationship to Buffett (never expect such a close relationship) and the Bloomberg article fails to account for the no-show ratio for the CFA exams (which was quite a significant percentage last year). The statistic was released from Stalla in case people are interested to know. OK I am really drifting… must close browser…

eltia Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Well, CFAI never tell us what denominator they use > when calculating the pass rate. If they didn’t > include the 22% people who were no show, the pass > rate is overstated. It on their site… they dont include no shows… in effect its around 35~36 %