"Best" strategy for practice exams

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KungFuPanda

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I will be doing my first full practice exam this Saturday then one each Saturday for the final month. Any thoughts on whether all these should be done ‘straight up’ and graded/reviewed after, or checking answer to each question immediately after answering it (learn as I go), or even doing some open book?
ive heard several opinions and expect the same here, but I would like to know what you all have found successful.
 
Simulate the test day experience!! Take the AM session in 3 hours, take a break for a meal and then take the PM session in 3 hours. Grade it afterward and review the answers the next day. Check the things you missed, and even the answers you got right. Look at the solutions to see how the question was answered. It’s easy to take the exam, grade it and move on but reviewing the answers is important to the learning process.
You need to simulate exam day b/c 6 hours of an exam can be tough if you’re not conditioned for it.
Good luck.
 
Tommy83 wrote:
Simulate the test day experience!! Take the AM session in 3 hours, take a break for a meal and then take the PM session in 3 hours. Grade it afterward and review the answers the next day. Check the things you missed, and even the answers you got right. Look at the solutions to see how the question was answered. It’s easy to take the exam, grade it and move on but reviewing the answers is important to the learning process.
You need to simulate exam day b/c 6 hours of an exam can be tough if you’re not conditioned for it.
Good luck.
Click to expand...
+1 to Tommy….
couldnt agree more. I have taken 5 mocks with this strategy. AM from 9am-12 lunch then PM from 2-5. I take the exams on a Saturday and then spend roughly the same amount of time grading the exam, both right and wrong, and understand the questions in depth and how to solve.
 
I plan on doing that for the last 2-3 mocks. For the first few I think it might be helpful to one 3 hour session then review it and then the next 3 hour session. At least you can do that during the week and facilitates learning along the way…I think.
 
Guys, i find this strategy useful towards the latter part of the practice sessions. I may be wrong, but when I do practice exams, spending 6 hours trying to answer questions that I dont know the anwer to could be a waste of time (for instance, if you are getting 45-50% in the exams). I am finding that trying to answer and seeing the answers after trying to answer each question helps as it is adding to your study hours. once you feel comfortable in answering without this process, then that is the time you try the exam straight (without the answer sheet). When you have reached this level, most of the answers you get wrong are familiar to you and it becomes like a refresher.
I mean, what if you are way behind. is it still worth going through an exam if you dont know the answers to most of the questions (especially the foreign looking ones) and doing that for 6 hours?
 
All great points- thank you. I’m thinking the strategy might be to do a full exam (am and pm) this Saturday in same time frame as June 7. Will grade that night, review on Sunday. All this to get a ‘baseline’– a spot check to inventory my strengths and weaknesses. Then the next next couple do more for learning (answer question or item set then check answer, review method), then finally the last few before the exam go back to completing ‘straight up’ after much practice, extra review and practice problems on weekdays. Best of both worlds, maybe?
Will also be doing a CFA society-sponsored live Mock on the 24th.
 
Yes thats the idea I have.. Qbanks do a good job of refreshing. i actually dont see the qbank as a way to help in answering exam questions (since the question sets are very different). If you notice, Qbank questions are very straight to the point, but i feel like they do this as a refresher (for example: not remembering the drawbacks of the pure expectations theory). It keeps you updated with points you should remember, then after answering all, move to the exams with the “answer and review each question” method, then spend weekends answering the exam without looking at answers..
Was thinking of doing it this way.. thoughts?
 
Tommy83 wrote:
Simulate the test day experience!! Take the AM session in 3 hours, take a break for a meal and then take the PM session in 3 hours. Grade it afterward and review the answers the next day. Check the things you missed, and even the answers you got right. Look at the solutions to see how the question was answered. It’s easy to take the exam, grade it and move on but reviewing the answers is important to the learning process.
You need to simulate exam day b/c 6 hours of an exam can be tough if you’re not conditioned for it.
Good luck.
Click to expand...
GREAT idea! Thanks for sharing.
 
Is there a reason why to review it the next day? I normally grade it and review answers right away.
 
cgy5478 wrote:
Is there a reason why to review it the next day? I normally grade it and review answers right away.
Click to expand...
I could be wrong but I think a proper review takes nearly as long as the exam if you want to work your way through each question. So if you wanna spend 12 hours straight, go for it.
 
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