Coping with the fail.

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Just coming from the thread for celebrating a pass, the first thing that pops in my mind was, what do i do if it was a miserable fail instead.
An average of 64% failing the exam in the past shows it’s actually easier to fit two camels through the eye of a needle at once that the chances of passing the CFA level 1 at a go.
There’s been countless blogs of people who spent hours of their lives studying and toiling away at their books while their buddies partied on weekends, attended reunions, and spend their summers scuba diving. After all these, we the miserable geeks left the exam halls with a smile of victory, praying to whatever god may be that the best of our dreams come true.
So what if at the end of it all it doesn’t? what if at the end of horrendous 2 month wait for result to come through, you find out you are in the 64% who banged? How do people encourage themselves to give it another go? How do you cope with a fail?
 
“it’s actually easier to fit two camels through the eye of a needle at once that the chances of passing the CFA level 1 at a go.”
I tried to read the whole post, but I was too confused and mesmerized by this sentence…
 
It’s not the end of the world, it really isn’t. Tons of people fail, don’t make it a bigger deal than it is.
 
Third time round, it gets difficult to imagine the words “Pass” on the results email. It’s not going to make or break your career so don’t blow it out of proportion. Best of luck!
 
^^
I work in a team where six colleagues each passed their CFA exams on the first sitting, two of them don’t even have a prior financial background. Failing what is considered the simplest level by many will probably make people think “maybe he’s not really that good”
 
I failed each level once = )
Charter Holder now. In the end, I don’t remember how it felt; but I do see the letters after my name everyday and it’s a great feeling.
Just have to push through. I am sure if I were to redo it all over again, I can do all of it in one shot, but unlike other, I learn from mistakes and each level should be studied differently.
 
You can retake the exam as many times as you need. I failed L1 twice. The first time I was right out of Business School, and didn’t study enough, hoping college background would provide enough overlap. The second time, I was just starting my career and didn’t study enough. After taking the exam each of these 2 times, I knew the results would be failure. Perhaps you could say I engaged in many of the activities your buddies may be doing, partying, etc.
Last time I took the exam, several years after my two consecutive failures within 6 months, I studied several hundred hours and several thousand practice questions. I took the exam and felt really good about it. I knew I passed before getting the results (but still suspenseful waiting for results).
How did I handle failing twice already? Basically, I would feel like a real loser if I gave up on this life goal of mine. If career is really important to you, you won’t be able to stop. It’s difficult to keep long term goals where progress can be so slow. I look at very rich people’s houses and say, “I want that! I need to work for that!” If I give up after failing twice, I feel so bad that I either have to try to block it out of my memory (impossible), or I need to try again!
I look at people in their 50s with kids in their 30s, who’ve lived fast lives partying and having fun in their youths (I’m still in my twenties) and see where they are now… Broke, lower or upper middle class. Worrying about retirement, etc.
If you are trying to remain focused on your long term goals, you have to look at older people at both ends of the spectrum as examples.
If you have difficult goals, and are ambitious and serious about it, you WON’T be able to give up! I wouldn’t normally quote a rapper in a CFA forum, but as Kanye West says, “For me, giving up is way harder than trying”! Is it the same for you too?
 
“I look at people in their 50s with kids in their 30s, who’ve lived fast lives partying and having fun in their youths (I’m still in my twenties) and see where they are now… Broke, lower or upper middle class. Worrying about retirement, etc.”
People in their 50s with kids in their 30s. So they had kids during their early 20s. Usually those people are the ones that don’t live fast lives partying and having fun in their youths. They were busy taking care of their kids!
 
And whoever said with the CFA charter you will strike it rich! You make it sound like once you earn it, you basically won the lottery. Unfortunately, that’s not the case.
 
What do you do if you fail? Any remedy apart from alcohol?
I failed in June with Band 10, I’d be gutted if I fail again by so little. I felt more confident about the December Exam, but it’s hard to know now without remembering the questions! As in June I thought the afternoon part in December was easier, while everyone else thought the opposite.
For the Europeans who have to go through nearly a whole day at work waiting for the results, how do you distract yourself? Any way of totally forgetting about checking your emails until you get home from work? I should definitely avoid coffee tomorrow…
 
^^
I’d be getting my result around 2pm. So by 1pm, i’d take a break from work and leave for the gym, by the time i’m done, i will be too fagged out such that i can hardly express any emotional outburst after checking results.
 
OliviaP wrote:What do you do if you fail? Any remedy apart from alcohol?
I failed in June with Band 10, I’d be gutted if I fail again by so little. I felt more confident about the December Exam, but it’s hard to know now without remembering the questions! As in June I thought the afternoon part in December was easier, while everyone else thought the opposite..
From what I’ve seen and heard from the majority of people, the afternoon is generally harder. The scariest part is if you missed something that everyone else noticed, and went with the “trap answer”. The trap answer usually comes off as easy, but is designed to screw people who forgot small details here and there that totally take the answer in a completely different direction .
 
lol, funny you say that.. as i recall during the exam, i had encountered a trap answer.. but it was like a total mind fuck.
the answer itself, i knew was incredibly easy.. but then you think ‘how come it was this easy?’ then for some bizzarre reason you think that the right albeit simple answer might be the trap answer! its even worse because you know how they got the other option as well!
 
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