Failed L3 Band 7 first attempt. Need advice from those who passed

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jojogaut

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I failed L3 Band 7 last year on my first attempt. Ultimately I bombed the AM (thought I nailed it walking out). I read the entire CFAI curriculum and did all the EOC questions +last 3 yrs CFAI mocks + 4 Schweser mocks.
I was planning on doing the same thing again this year (+ more CFAI mocks) but I’m beginning to think reading the curriculum again may be a waste of time.
For those who passed L3. What do you think of doing all CFAI EOC questions + all BB + as many CFAI mocks as I can get my hands on + Schweser Mocks? Then rinse and repeat…
Plus of course go back to the curriculum for problem areas.
Thoughts?
 
If you scored poorly in last year’s AM, then I suggest spending a lot more time doing practice AM exams from the past. Do 2007-2014 *multiple times*. Also be sure you can ace any Individual or Institutional IPS question.
Re-reading the entire curriculum again would not be the best use of your time. If you took good notes before, then review them and refine them even further. If not, then buy the notes from FinQuiz – trust me on that one. All CFAI EOCs would help – particularly in the biggest sections – but dedicate more focus/review time to the Blue Boxes.
 
Solve past AM papers 2005/2006-2014 more than once, focus on your weak points and double focus on your strength points because sometimes you feel overconfident and skip certain question however if CFAI twist the question a bit, you’ll get lost .. I never used schweser mocks because i believe CFAI books/blue boxes/EOC/mocks/AM-papers are more than enough to pass.
 
When I took notes my first two attempts at L3, I noticed after failing, that most of what I wrote down as notes to solve problems was wrong (some in small ways, some in very large ways)… Save yourself the time, and energy and buy the Finquiz Summaries… Those were my saving grace… at least you will have the confidence in knowing that it was edited by someone other then just yourself…
 
As stated above, put that 500 hours in, and change some things that haven’t worked for you… For me, I didn’t track my time, but it was atleast over that by a far margin….. Persistence will get you through, whether its this year, or next year.
“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not: nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not: the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.”
- Calvin Coolidge.
 
Thanks for the advice. I never heard of FinQuiz until now but I’ll definitely look into it. I agree, re-reading the entire curriculum is probably not the best use of my time. I am commited to putting in the time and I know there are no short cuts to passing this exam but I want to use my time more efficiently this time around.
I’m going to do as many AM and PM CFAI Mocks as I can get my hands on (gotta start searching for the older ones), plus all BB, and end of Chapter Qs. I will also make sure I nail all Individual and Institutional IPS Qs this time around. I think the key for me will be to get the opportunity to redo the Mocks, BBs and EOC questions multiple times. I spent so much time reading the curriculum for June 2014 that I had zero time to redo even one EOC question, let along the Blue Boxes.
 
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