1st Mock Exam

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aarguello

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Just took my first mock exam and I scored 55% - dismal! I'd been scoring 75-80% on the Schweser Qbank. I must strongly recommend that everyone take the CFA mock/sample exams. While Schweser is certainly a helpful supplement, it's nothing like the mock exams questions. I'm concerned about my score being so low with only 5 weeks until the exam. Does anyone have any feedback? Please!
 
Guess what, I got a 55% on my first CFAI Exam. After working on the weak areas I was up to ~70% (back and forth between 68-72). Although I failed in June, I have faith you have time to improve and conquer the beast!
 
I got a 65 on my first mock. Got a 57 on my first Schweser Practice exam with about this much time left when I took in June. By week of exam I got 85 on Mock #2 and was scoring high 70s on Schweser practice tests. I passed actual with above 70 in all sections.

Don't freak out and stay focused. You are not as far off as you think. Things are going to start clicking over the next few weeks
 
Just got a 75% on first mock exam. Ouch on economics and derivatives, but rest of test went well.
 
Hi MT327,

could you please share with us what was your strategy in the last month ?

Many Thanks
 
Yea...would love to hear what the best way to prepare during the last month...
I'm going all over the place right now trying to reinforce & remember all the small things.

Which one is better to purchase from CFAI?
Samples or mocks?
 
chicago_bull

if your fund situation permits do all the sample and mock exams that CFAI throws at you. they prepare you in a subtle way towards the real test, so you are not surprised during the real exam itself.

samples are each of 60 questions, while the mock exams are 120 questions each. and I believe you have 3 samples (1 free) + 2 mocks.

so take them all. and if you purchase them all at one shot - I believe the CFAI allows you to take them all for about 180$.

CP
 
During my last month, I looked at my most recent practice exams and figure out where my weak areas were. I spent a few nights reviewing the concepts from these sections and I ended each night doing at least 30-40 questions from the q bank on these topics. I found it very helpful to focus practice questions from the q bank on very few sections at a time so that you really understand them before moving on. I would also only do medium and hard difficultly levels because the q bank is a bit easier than the real exams.

Then I would do another 120q practice exam, hopefully see improvement in the areas I was working on, find new weaknesses, and repeat.

There are going to be times where you freak out over the next few weeks as things come up that you completely forgot about, but if you stay diligent everything will start coming together. The key is to not get overwhelmed. Remember your practice scores will likely improve at a very gradual rate.

I would highly recommend setting short term goals and schedules. With a month left I printed out a May calendar and wrote in goals for each day. I also scheduled nights off. Stick to the nights you choose to take off. You are going to feel guilty at times for taking a night off, but I found a well placed night off did much more good than trying to pound things into your head when your brain is asking for a rest. I tweaked the schedule as needed but stuck to the plan for the most part. Knowing that you have a plan and are hitting short term goals will do a lot for your psyche.

I don't think I did any of the sample exams, except the free one and did both mocks. Unless I have that backwards? The ones I did I believe were 120 questions each. I think it is very important that everyone do the mocks if for nothing else than to see samples questions written by the institute. Their wording is very different than Schweser (and thankfully more to the point).

Hope this helps.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Just got my level 2 books on Friday. Can't believe that time is here already.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at Sunday, November 2, 2008 at 06:35PM by MT327.
 
Chicago_Bull Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Yea...would love to hear what the best way to
> prepare during the last month...
> I'm going all over the place right now trying to
> reinforce & remember all the small things.
>
> Which one is better to purchase from CFAI?
> Samples or mocks?


In my experience, I found that picking one section to focus on over the course of 1-3 nights at a time is much more beneficial than jumping all over the place. When you are working on quant, work on quant, don't think about some detail you can't remember regarding Deferred Taxes
 
CPK123 and MT327

Thanks a lot for the input....
I guess the short term goals approach is certainly a good way forward....
No point jumping all over the place & being confused or uncertain....
Gotta reinforce the bits togehter one at a time

I guess I'll be purchasing the mocks very very soon!
 
ouch - I just got 59%.. Economics killed me. As did ethics strangely, because I normally bank 75%+ there. If I sort that out I should be up to the high 60s pretty quickly. Need to improve FSA to be getting consistently 70+
 
d11j0d Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> ouch - I just got 59%.. Economics killed me. As
> did ethics strangely, because I normally bank 75%+
> there. If I sort that out I should be up to the
> high 60s pretty quickly. Need to improve FSA to
> be getting consistently 70+


I found my ethics scores to be all over the place. Especially with Schweser. Best advice I can give is to do as many questions as possible. I found ethics on the real test to be very tricky. Don't underestimate it!!
 
I'm feeling terribly discouraged. I attempted a Schweser morning session practice exam and I was lost for a lot of the content. I am pretty sure I am looking at a failure on 12/6. I don't think i'd score anywhere near a 60-70 like some on here. Bleh
 
wow way to be real optimistic...you have a month left, keep your head up and study hard. getting down now is pointless and completely self defeating.

i scored a 48 on my first sample exam, got it up to a 65 on my third sample after an additional 3 weeks of studying.

you'll keep having lightbulb moments as you study...you'll keep picking up bits and pieces as you read and reread and answer questions.
 
Do you have any words of encouragement for someone who hasn't finished the readings yet?? I'm done everything except Ethics (working on it now).. but I read the other books soo long ago, don't think I remember anything!!
 
I've been taking Qbank questions most of the way through the material. I've only got SS17 left to go. I've been getting ~75% on each of the practice exams. I've taken over 3000 Qbank questions. Today, got 55% on Mock. Talk about depressed. Econ and FSA killed me. Feels like I've been kicked in the balls.
 
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