Answering Essay Question

I

injapan33

New member
Joined
Jan 15, 2015
Messages
0
Reaction score
0
Regards to response to essay questions, how should the response begin? E.g. If the question asks : What are the liquidity needs of Mr ABC over the next year? Should I begin the response directly with bullet points or should I begin with ” The liquidity needs of Mr ABC are…” I shall prefer the former response to save some time. Any thoughts ?
Thanks!
 
I have the same doubt and This will be my 3rd attemp. Extremely dissapointed last year and I truly didn’t understand why I failed. I’m not native english speaker, so I fear I’m not being clear when answering. I found “Discuss” questions extremely hard. To answer a question, it takes me double of time alloted.
Please any help on how short an answer can be will be really appreciated. Answer provide by CFAI to past essay questions are just impossible to write in time alloted.
Help on “show your calculations” really appreciated.
If you know some answer guide from a provider that can be helpful, please let us know.
Thanks to all
 
This is how I answered liquidity needs questions.
Mrs/Mr X have following expenses within the next *** period,
a) Expense 1 = ****** $
b) Expense 2 = ******$
c) Contingency reserve = ******$
Hence total liquidity requirement for Mr/Mrs X = Sum of a,b,c = ******$
This is all is required, no need to write lengthy stuff. It worked for me atleast!
 
Adding to above, if there are present value calculations. You need to show them.
For ex: College fees in 2 years is ****$ and you are expecting to get a return of X% from the investment. I just added the below.
b) Expense 2 years from now = ***** $
Return earned on investment = X%
Present value of the expense to be earmarked for College fees = *******/(1+X)^2 = ***** $.
This is what is meant by “showing the calculations”. CFAI even gives partial credit for just identifying the correct expense, even if your calculations were wrong.
 
Best practice is to show as much work and thought process as you can. That doesn’t mean fluff, but if you include your PV calculation, even just saying I/Y = N = , then even if the final answer is wrong you can get partials
 
Be concise because you won’t have time to finish the AM session. I missed the last 2 questions due to lack of time but luckily it did not end up costing me.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top