AM - WTF was that!?!?!

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PistolPt

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I thought the AM was absolutely brutal. I thought some questions were vague and the subjects were very obscure, nothing like the mocks/exams I took preparing (and I took 7, including the last 3 years). Also, I was finishing all mocks/prior year tests in 2 hours or less. I finished this with 4 minutes to spare.
In the 2010-2012 AM sessions I averaged low 70’s (conservative grading) in practice (exam conditions). I bet I get 55-60 on this thing.
On the other hand I thought the PM was very straight forward and similar to the mocks. Finished in 1:30. Spent 15 minutes reviewing and checking for tricks by the CFA, but definitely felt I got at least a 70 if not 75 or better.
That morning was RIDICULOUS though. That probably cost me the exam.
 
definitely was long couple obscure q’s barely mewntioned in curriculum but that is what cfai does i guess. hoping for a 60
 
Oh GOD I am freaking out… I was SURE I was well prepared going into the exam… I feel like I BOMBED the crap out of it…
The good thing is the concensus here is that everybody thought the AM was hard… hopefully there’ll see how everybody did in the AM and grade accordingly.
 
I remember that there was one question that was specifically hard (for me anyway). I don’t specifically remember what it was about, not that I can talk about it anyway. But it was question 8 or 9. You fellow candidates that also took it, can recall it… I think that would count as mosaic theory, esp since the grading emails will disclose how many questions there were.
 
MK514 wrote:
Oh GOD I am freaking out… I was SURE I was well prepared going into the exam… I feel like I BOMBED the crap out of it…
The good thing is the concensus here is that everybody thought the AM was hard… hopefully there’ll see how everybody did in the AM and grade accordingly.
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I feel the same way dude. I was VERY well prepared for that exam. Felt better than Level I or II going into it.
What’s frustrating is I don’t even know how to study any better if I have to take it next year. I don’t even know what more I can do.
 
MK514 wrote:
Oh GOD I am freaking out… I was SURE I was well prepared going into the exam… I feel like I BOMBED the crap out of it…
The good thing is the concensus here is that everybody thought the AM was hard… hopefully there’ll see how everybody did in the AM and grade accordingly.
Click to expand...
Yeah man I think a lot people get worked up after the exam. We seem to only focus on the questions we know we got wrong or just made blatant guesses on.
Ask yourself how many problems approximately that you are 100% confident you were correct on, which ones you had felt decent about (for MC down to two choices) and which ones you made blatant guesses at and add up the products for your expected grade [A(1.00)+B(0.5)+C(0.33)]. It’s totally subjective but may ease your mind.
 
My reaction exactly - WTF was that?
It seemed like the AM exam was set by academics - concentrating on obscure portions nobody cares about, and mostly useless in testing your true mastery over the subjects.
I felt like I was on Jeopardy answering trivia, while I had prepared for a job interview that would test my core skills.
PM on the ohter hand was pretty good, it had a few “clever” questions and a few head-scratchers but by and large, tested the right skills.
 
1recho wrote:
It seemed like the AM exam was set by academics - concentrating on obscure portions nobody cares about, and mostly useless in testing your true mastery over the subjects.
I felt like I was on Jeopardy answering trivia, while I had prepared for a job interview that would test my core skills.
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THIS. Some of those were in there to see if you read every footnote vs. mastered the curriculum. Although cant say I am too surprised.
 
If I end up failing it because I spent way too much time on the IPS stuff in the beginning.. definitely a mistake to start with that in my opinion.
 
The AM was pretty tough. I wrote quite a bit for each answer and wrote until there was about five minutes left. I don’t think I passed the morning, but I don’t think I did worse than a 60. The PM wasn’t too bad. There was only one vignette that really tripped me up. I’m pretty sure I got at least a 75 on the PM so hopefully it evens out and the MPS comes in pretty low.
The exam was so qualitative. A lot of the previous exams and mocks were much more quantitative.
 
I’m pretty sure I failed the morning. That was intense. My >700 hours preparation was not enough to prepare me for that, apparently.
Even though I practiced time management, I still ending up wasting time trying to figure out some of the questions. Spending 15 minutes on 4 minute questions was a mistake I was actively trying NOT to make but still made anyways.
PM much easier.
 
I have to disagree with everybody on this one. I have seen about 10 morning exams (including Schweser) and I thought this was the easiest of them all. I actually finished about 30 minutes early. Had time to go back and double-check through #7.
And I did not think the afternoon session was significantly easier. I was actually done with an hour to spare, and was able to double-check the entire thing.
All in all, I feel really good. If I didn’t pass, I will be incredibly surprised.
 
So takers in the Falkan Islands and Djibouti found the AM super easy. Me thinks they may have received a different test
 
1BigStudMuffin wrote:
did all you jabronis finish every question?
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I think I left 5 or so unanswered. Time management was a huge issue for me. I think if I had handled that well, I would have been in much better shape.
 
Im glad i am not the only one who got screwed in AM. I missed few parts.. i ran out of time.. that would be the only reason if i fail. Should have timed properly.. sad :(
 
andytrader wrote:
So takers in the Falkan Islands and Djibouti found the AM super easy. Me thinks they may have received a different test
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Dagobah, actually. But that’s not a choice on the menu, so I picked another remote location.
 
Greenman72 wrote:
I have to disagree with everybody on this one. I have seen about 10 morning exams (including Schweser) and I thought this was the easiest of them all. I actually finished about 30 minutes early. Had time to go back and double-check through #7.
And I did not think the afternoon session was significantly easier. I was actually done with an hour to spare, and was able to double-check the entire thing.
All in all, I feel really good. If I didn’t pass, I will be incredibly surprised.
Click to expand...
One of my co-workers had this same level of confidence. Morning, he finished with plenty of time left. In the PM, he finished and left in under 2 hours. Said it was a breeze. Result was a fail. Hopefully it isn’t that way for you too, but it can happen.
 
I found the AM To be very different than previous years… I too found some really obscure stuff that I didn’t enjoy but did not find it too too hard. There was definitely time pressure on the AM however I did finish with 20 to spare for a quick review and actually found an error I had made…
PM was harder than I had predicted. Got stumped on a few of them. Def harder than any PM mock I’ve done…
I think I had enough to get me through but you never know so I won’t get overconfident. I really wish I felt like I did after level 2 - felt like a rock star last year and had a great result. Don’t have that same feeling this year…
 
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