CFA Level 2 2016 retakers

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Deal_Clincher

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Failed in Band 9 this year with only 2 areas >70 (Equity and PM) <=50 in three areas.
Studied for only two months and studied about 300 hours, which was not good enough. I will be starting from this weekend(due to hectic work schedule). Will refer to Schweser & Willey primarily.
Change in strategy:
Doing all CFAI BB & EOC questions for thrice
Practising variety of questions from coaching institutes Q Banks
Starting from March will be focusing on taking only mocks (approximately 15) & analyzing + Willey 11th hour guide program, heard a lot about this.
Target:
70+ in all sections, I will call that a perfect redemption.
What is yours?
 
i failed last year band 6 and this year band 10. hard to take but little positive is that im going in the right direction and not backwards.
i scored >70 in FRA, ethics & corp fin
51-70 in deriv,equity, fixed income and quants
<51 in rest.
guessing i need to focus more on equity and fixed income and the not neglect the smaller areas
 
Failed in band 8 …used schwez. Will go through CFA curriculam for meaty subjects first..and practice mocand question in last 1 month .
 
In a similar boat to you mate, band 6 to band 10. Devastating!
>70 in FRA, Corp fin & Derivatives
51-70 in equity, ethics, pm, quants, alt
<50 in economics & fixed income.
Fixed income probably the biggest killer for me. If I decide to go again that and equity will need serious improvement.
 
Band 6 last year, Band 9 this year. Thought I had a great chance this year. >70 FI and Quant, <50 PM, 51-70 everything else. Thought I would have scored >70 in equity, thats my biggest letdown. A big part of me wants to start reviewing again now but i dont want to burn myself out. May start slow and crank things up November/December.
 
Failed band 10. Band 6 last year, so an improvement but still a fail :(
Item Set
Q#
Topic
Max Pts
<=50%
51%-70%
>70%
-
Alternative Investments
18
*
-
-
-
Corporate Finance
36
-
-
*
-
Derivatives
36
*
-
-
-
Economics
18
-
-
*
-
Equity Investments
72
-
*
-
-
Ethical & Professional Standards
36
*
-
-
-
Financial Reporting & Analysis
72
-
*
-
-
Fixed Income Investments
36
-
-
*
-
Portfolio Management
18
-
-
*
-
Quantitative Methods
18
*
-
-
 
Same, band 6 to 10. Only positive is we didn’t go backwards. The thought of starting again is worse than doing it I think. I can’t quit now being this close. One last go around then quits for me!
 
when do you guys plan to start? my band 10, scored greater than 70 in FRA, Equity, Derivatives and Quants. failed in Ethics, PM and Econ. rest between 50-70
Do you think October should be a good month to start, my work requires travelling and hence I want to start early.
Thanks
 
I was a retaker this year and passed (failed Band 8 2014)
This year when I started studying Feb/Mar.. I had forgotten everything, I knew the general concepts but all the formulas were gone.. I spent 100 hours this year just “catching up” to the knowledge I had forgotten from the year before I estimate that this year I studied a total of 200 hours on top of 300 in 2014..
My advice is to do 1-2 item set per day starting now.. Should take about 30min per day.. By January/ February start doing 1 full mock per week.. This way you will retain all that you learned this year and stay fresh.. In April/May go over all the BB/EOCs…
Save to 2016 Mock for the last 2 weeks and really tighten up weak areas..
 
Jeez… Hard luck Wilsonturk… hard to swallow band 10 with ur score.
I am sure u will nail all sections next time.
Best wishes!
 
This is essentially what I’m planning to do–slow and steady. Was a Band 10 and flunked Ethics. Distancing yourself from the material to ‘avoid a burnout’ seems like a convenient excuse, and further gives away every edge you have. The material is understood, now slowly memorize it to learn it (and probably never forget it at work or in an interview). The silver lining is this isn’t sophomore geometry, this is stuff that should yield returns for years to come.
 
^+1.
I actually suggest watching the videos once again before even picking up any books again.
I would suggest Wiley just because of Peter. Basit is extremely good, but for me, Peter is the best. The energy he puts into his presentation is awesome.’
I was band 7 last year. This year I didn’t start studying until March. Didn’t even get done watching all the videos, but hit the high percentage topics - Equity, FRA, CF, Derivatives, FI (didn’t help much because of the new guy on Wiley), Quant, PM. I had read schweser notes only last year and really flipped through them this year along with some Wiley notes as well. By the way, Wiley had a REALLY good reading on Pensions; WAY better than Schweser or curriculum. Unfortunately, this year I didn’t get a chance to do EOC, BB, or mocks. Credit for that goes to Wiley videos.
If you think about it, 100 odd hours of videos is not bad. By the way, I never played the video at original speed. Get VLC and play them at the minimum of 1.15. I’ve gone all the way up to 1.8, just because sometimes they talk so slow that they would lull me to sleep.
Anyways, good luck to all retakers! It sucks, but it is very possible.
 
dont give up. do all the black boxes/EOC multiple times. start doing practice exams month before the exam
 
Retaker here with Band 8 this year with >70 FRA,EQ,PM <50 FI,Econ,Quant with rest in between. Skipped QM totally and underestimate Econ may suggested my results. Study FI using only CFA curriculum but obviously the end result shows that I don’t understand FI at all :(
My strategy for next year’s exam is to start from those weaker topics scoring <50 at a slower pace using Elan materials starting today to slowly get back the momentum and then do CFAI BB and EOC to ensure better understanding. Can anyone share which prep provider did a nice job for FI (in your opinion) as I using 2014 Elan materials which has outdated FI readings from a friend.
Much appreciated.
 
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