Can this Matrix be a Fail? Need your opinions

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olajideanuoluwa001

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I thought i prepared well for the exam, considering i only studied for 4 months.
Surprising, this matrix of mine landed me in Band 8, i thought it was Band 9 before, but after looking again, it was actually band 8.
Considering asking for retab, dont know if its prudent, but i believed i should get better than a Band 8 even if this is considered as a fail.
Quant >70
Econ >70
CorpF >70
Equity >70
Alt >70
Ethics 50-70
Fixed 50-70
Portfo 50-70
Deriv <50
FRA <50

I obviously thought i did better in Derivatives, but supprised to score below in it. I knew I got tricked in FRA, but I still remember some of the questions that i nailed, and some that i struggled on.

My point is, with this matrix, is it possible that I end up in a Band 8 fail?
I think CFAI probably made a mistake with my result.

I checked some of the pass Matrix here on Analyst Forum, and this guy’s result got me wondering..

-Alternative Investments18*–
-Corporate Finance36–*
-Derivatives36-*-
-Economics36-*-
-Equity Investments54*–
-Ethical & Professional Standards36–*
-Financial Reporting & Analysis72*–
-Fixed Income Investments36–*
-Portfolio Management18–*
-Quantitative Methods18*–
Please I need your view, I am currently disturbed and confused.. Feeling like the 4 months has gone down wasted.
 
To be honest, your fail matrix looks like a decent pass matrix to me.
 
I don’t know what to say and what to do.
I failed band 9 with the following matrix (which seems to be pretty much the pass matrix you posted…)
Q#
Topic
Max Pts
<=50%
51%-70%
>70%
-
Alternative Investments
18
*
-
-
-
Corporate Finance
36
-
*
-
-
Derivatives
36
-
*
-
-
Economics
36
-
*
-
-
Equity Investments
54
-
*
-
-
Ethical & Professional Standards
36
-
-
*
-
Financial Reporting & Analysis
72
-
*
-
-
Fixed Income Investments
36
-
-
*
-
Portfolio Management
18
-
-
*
-
Quantitative Methods
18
*
-
-
 
You can calculate your minimum score on your own or use 300hours.com to do so. My own matrix (Alt, CF<50, Eth, 50-70, the rest 70+) gave me the range from 61% to 89% so almost anything can be a fail.
Comparing matrixes makes little sense as both 6 out of 12 and 0 out of 12 are <=50%.
 
Same, my matrix wasn’t too bad, with the highest weights above 70, but I guess we both got owned by 2 topics below 50. I don’t know why I got less than 50% for Corporate finance. That is the reason why i failed band 10. I missed the MPS by like 1 or 2. FML.
 
hey man, anything can be a fail. I will show u my matrix as well.
-
Alternative Investments
18
*
-
-
-
Corporate Finance
36
-
-
*
-
Derivatives
36
-
*
-
-
Economics
36
*
-
-
-
Equity Investments
54
-
-
*
-
Ethical & Professional Standards
36
-
*
-
-
Financial Reporting & Analysis
72
-
-
*
-
Fixed Income Investments
36
-
-
*
-
Portfolio Management
18
-
*
-
-
Quantitative Methods
18
*
-
-
Really annoying to see this because I think failed by Ethics alone.
On another note, my band score was 10
 
<=50: Equity,Ethics, Portfolio, Quant
50-70: CF
>70: AI,FRA,FI,Der,Econ (Band 10)
Taking into account the relevant weights of each topic I am devastated. I think I failed with 1 or 2 questions or maybe I should take re-tab (joke :D I would rather buy a good bottle of vodka for this 100usd). I was pretty sure about half questions of port and quant. Ethics was my weakest part, but I am still very surprised with equity (expecting >70).To sum up it looks around 65%(a bit more). Obviously MPS is higher this year, but there are some people posting pass results with lower bands which I can’t understand. Congratulations to all who passed. I will not give up :)
 
Eco Quant FI Equity PM > 70
Ethics Derivatives AI 50 -70
FRA n CF <= 50
Band 10
I should have used cfa ethics book, big mistake to rely on Schweser
I bombed FRA completely , for CF I don’t have any clue
Plan is to start studying again from Dec. 10 to 15 hours a week from CFA official curriculum, I know even re reading Schweser can make me through but want to learn the stuff end to end this time.
I will be happy seeing all 70 next year and that will probably do justice with the effort I have put in this year. Anything less will be really disappointing.
Over to FRM now. Will become active around Jan.
D_C
 
olajideanuoluwa001 wrote:
I thought i prepared well for the exam, considering i only studied for 4 months.
Surprising, this matrix of mine landed me in Band 8, i thought it was Band 9 before, but after looking again, it was actually band 8.
Considering asking for retab, dont know if its prudent, but i believed i should get better than a Band 8 even if this is considered as a fail.
Quant >70
Econ >70
CorpF >70
Equity >70
Alt >70
Ethics 50-70
Fixed 50-70
Portfo 50-70
Deriv <50
FRA <50

I obviously thought i did better in Derivatives, but supprised to score below in it. I knew I got tricked in FRA, but I still remember some of the questions that i nailed, and some that i struggled on.

My point is, with this matrix, is it possible that I end up in a Band 8 fail?
I think CFAI probably made a mistake with my result.

I checked some of the pass Matrix here on Analyst Forum, and this guy’s result got me wondering..

-Alternative Investments18*–
-Corporate Finance36–*
-Derivatives36-*-
-Economics36-*-
-Equity Investments54*–
-Ethical & Professional Standards36–*
-Financial Reporting & Analysis72*–
-Fixed Income Investments36–*
-Portfolio Management18–*
-Quantitative Methods18*–
Please I need your view, I am currently disturbed and confused.. Feeling like the 4 months has gone down wasted.
Click to expand...
Wow, that matrix on the bottom is something. He must have been on the max end (or close to) all the >70s considering his max score is 67.5% if I’m doing my calcs right. Under 50 in the two big topics and passing is nuts. Ethics bump surely came into play there too.
Yours definitely looks better on the surface, but obviously the opposite happened where you were on the lower end of all the ranges. You really can’t obsess too much over the results (and especially other’s) since you can’t possibly know the details. Think about how large the ranges are. Your min score is a 47, max is a 75. Obviously you could have failed. Matrices don’t tell all.
Sorry about the tough results, just use it as fire to go get the next one. Maybe start a little earlier too.
 
olajideanuoluwa001 wrote:
I thought i prepared well for the exam, considering i only studied for 4 months.
Surprising, this matrix of mine landed me in Band 8, i thought it was Band 9 before, but after looking again, it was actually band 8.
Considering asking for retab, dont know if its prudent, but i believed i should get better than a Band 8 even if this is considered as a fail.
Quant >70
Econ >70
CorpF >70
Equity >70
Alt >70
Ethics 50-70
Fixed 50-70
Portfo 50-70
Deriv <50
FRA <50

I obviously thought i did better in Derivatives, but supprised to score below in it. I knew I got tricked in FRA, but I still remember some of the questions that i nailed, and some that i struggled on.

My point is, with this matrix, is it possible that I end up in a Band 8 fail?
I think CFAI probably made a mistake with my result.

I checked some of the pass Matrix here on Analyst Forum, and this guy’s result got me wondering..

-Alternative Investments18*–
-Corporate Finance36–*
-Derivatives36-*-
-Economics36-*-
-Equity Investments54*–
-Ethical & Professional Standards36–*
-Financial Reporting & Analysis72*–
-Fixed Income Investments36–*
-Portfolio Management18–*
-Quantitative Methods18*–
Please I need your view, I am currently disturbed and confused.. Feeling like the 4 months has gone down wasted.
Click to expand...
If your <50% were in anything other than FRA i think you pass. Unfortunately, FRA was the most heavily weighted section and you were less than 50%….. That means in a best case scenario you had three 3/6 and one 2/6. I did not pass last year, had a similar band…. I think the truth is that getting <50 in a heavily weighted topic is a killer.
edit- corrected by poster below, best case indeed is 3/6 on all. I need more coffee.
 
Oops, that’s right. I went by his <50 and 50-70 ranges. It’s <=50 and 51-70. Ignore my math then.
Regardless… point remains. Don’t obsess over matrices. Adjust study plans, study longer, etc.
 
It’s hard to compare your “score” to others given how they report the scoring. Lets say you got a 0 (all questions wrong) on FRA and another candidate got 49.999% on FRA. Both of you would show <50% on FRA but you could be in band 3 and the 49.9999% guy could be in band 8. So it’s really hard to tell without knowing your exact score in each topic area. Just something to keep in mind because comparing the matrices can be misleading.
Asking for a retab may be fine but if you get <50 in FRA or even equity then you have a tall task ahead of you to pass.
 
its likely you did very poorly in FRA and DI.. like 0/6 on some item sets..
 
It seems statistically impossible to get a 0/6 on multiple item sets. In all the topic tests, mock exams, etc. I don’t think that ever once happened to me and there were plenty of ones I did poorly on. Simply guessing should net you at least 1 or 2 right.
 
Your min possible score is 43-44%. You likely got 60%.
You must have had a bad time in FRA and/or Derivatives.
Sorry, man.
 
If you got less than 50% on FRA and failed band 8, you would probably easily pass next year by taking the John Harris 3 day class.
 
I too got Band 10. I did a lot of practice exams and I thought I was just a little short of my estimated passing score of 70% overall and the actual exam I think was easier than the official online mock, but I never seem to have a smooth exam day, I did not put enough effort into Fixed Income or indeed apparently all the heaviest weighted topics in hindsight, I would have have liked two more weeks to review. I think I got a bit lucky in Quant and Economics those are usually not strengths…
70+% Alternative Investments, Economics, Ethics, Portfolio, Quant
51-70% Equity, FRA, Fixed Income
<50% Corporate Finance, Derivatives
Corporate Finance used to be a strength I even think I got over 70% in Derivatives last year, but this year there was some tough Derivatives questions which I obviously got wrong. I am not looking forward to rewriting this again, but obviously I’ll put the majority of my study effort into Equity, FRA, and Fixed Income. I swear when I improve one category another category suffers.
 
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