So the 2014 moring exam is now on the CFA website. I kow most of you havemore exciting lives than me, but I’ve been wanting to see the answers for a while.
It’s an interesting read for those of you who went through the exam. Looking at the answers there was very little I did not know on the day, yet I did not crush the morning exam. Why?
Firstly there was one thing I did not know: Trading strategies by VWAP vs. Implementation shortfall. I knoew this from a performance measurement standpoint, but that did not help. This is okay, you cannot know all the curriculum, certainly it’s frustrating to drop 8 points, but it’s recoverable, after all I still passed.
Secondly I did not answer the questions well. this is a combination of factors: poor recall on the day, poorly written ansers and poor time management.
Poorly written answers are an expensive mistake. I was writing long answers because I knew the material well, but this costs you time. Also if the marker is looking for 2 reasons they mark the first 2 and ignore the rest. I knew this on the day but still found myself writing repsonses where I tired to combine 2 justifications into 1 (e.g.
Poor recall was another problem. There was one question on the day I had no idea what they were talking about, now looking back it’s much clearer. There were other questions where when I look at the answers I cannot say OMG why didn’t I know that. It’s all quite straightforward, but recalling the right repsonse under pressure is not. The only solution to this is practice, lots of practice. Themore you find yourself having to think through an answer the more opportunity you are giving yourself to get it wrong. But to be able respond instantly requires practice.
Finally, but most importantly. RTFQ. Take the time to read the question. This does not mean necessarily read the entire story, but read carefully the question, ths is doubly inportant if you are using a template. I changed the answer i had put on a template and frankly it was messy by the time I’d finished with it. I socred poorly for a question that I should have done better on. Whether this was changing from a right to a wrong answer or if my final answer was illegible I don’t know.
I hope this is useful to those of you with the exam ahead of you this year. In any case all the best of luck, but work hard and luck won’t be a factor.
It’s an interesting read for those of you who went through the exam. Looking at the answers there was very little I did not know on the day, yet I did not crush the morning exam. Why?
Firstly there was one thing I did not know: Trading strategies by VWAP vs. Implementation shortfall. I knoew this from a performance measurement standpoint, but that did not help. This is okay, you cannot know all the curriculum, certainly it’s frustrating to drop 8 points, but it’s recoverable, after all I still passed.
Secondly I did not answer the questions well. this is a combination of factors: poor recall on the day, poorly written ansers and poor time management.
Poorly written answers are an expensive mistake. I was writing long answers because I knew the material well, but this costs you time. Also if the marker is looking for 2 reasons they mark the first 2 and ignore the rest. I knew this on the day but still found myself writing repsonses where I tired to combine 2 justifications into 1 (e.g.
Poor recall was another problem. There was one question on the day I had no idea what they were talking about, now looking back it’s much clearer. There were other questions where when I look at the answers I cannot say OMG why didn’t I know that. It’s all quite straightforward, but recalling the right repsonse under pressure is not. The only solution to this is practice, lots of practice. Themore you find yourself having to think through an answer the more opportunity you are giving yourself to get it wrong. But to be able respond instantly requires practice.
Finally, but most importantly. RTFQ. Take the time to read the question. This does not mean necessarily read the entire story, but read carefully the question, ths is doubly inportant if you are using a template. I changed the answer i had put on a template and frankly it was messy by the time I’d finished with it. I socred poorly for a question that I should have done better on. Whether this was changing from a right to a wrong answer or if my final answer was illegible I don’t know.
I hope this is useful to those of you with the exam ahead of you this year. In any case all the best of luck, but work hard and luck won’t be a factor.