Failed... twice... need your contribution!

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YMeyer

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Hey guys,
I would like to share my concerns with you. I wrote the L1 twice and now not sure if I should write it for the third time..
My first attepmt: Got band 10 because I scored very low on FRA and Ethics.
My Second attempt: Got band 7 but I scored 50-70 on FRA. I felt that the exam was much harder than the one on December 2013, especially in the easy topics like econ, PM, stats, etc. that are easy fo me and in which I did pretty well on the first time.
I think that the difference in my preparation for the first and the second times is that, on the first one I put more emphasis on exercises than knowing the notes. In the second one it was vice versa: more notes, less exercises.
I have to mention that I studied from Schweser materials and solves some CFAI and Schweser mocks but have never done EOC’s.
Now, I am not sure if I should try again. I am about to finish my Econ degree, and don’t have a job yet. In addition, I heard that the CFA Program would be beneficial to those who are already in the finance market and not for those who just want to put the foot in the door.
What are you saying? I think that if I will write the exam again, these time I would read the notes, do EOC (CFA PLUS SCHWESER) and solve more mocks… that’s my inprovement.
and do you have some useful advices about how to study for the ethics section? I don’t know how to improve that.
Thank you:)
 
First, let it be known that when you did a lot of practice (or exercises, as you call them), you did better on the exam. The lesson from this is very simple and needs not be said, but I’ll say it anyway. PRACTICE MORE AND READ LESS!!! Not that there’s anything wrong with passively reading the material, but it doesn’t force you to learn the material the way that doing practice questions do. CFA exams are not a spectator sport.
Second–you failed L1 twice. L2 is a LOT harder than L1, and L3 is harder than L2, so you might want to think long and hard about doing the test again. (Personally, I think you should give it up.)
 
I heard multiple people passing Level 1 on the third try and still getting their charter. You should ask the question to yourself. No one hear will know (from a three paragraph post) that you have the capacity and willingness to pass it. But this time around (If you register) you should change the method for studying.
 
Schweser Q Bank + CFAI EOC / Mocks .. it’s not enough to do them once .. PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE :) and definitely DON”T quit!
 
Thanks for your replies.
I will definitely try again! any advice for ethics? the material is not hard in this section, but the questions might be tricky.
 
Stick with it! Take it again in Dec and kill it. If you can get thru L1 this Dec, you can follow up and take L2 in June. You could possibly be sitting here a year from now with only L3 left to go. No reason to give up. Just because Greenman couldn’t hack it without his life falling apart doesn’t mean you can’t do it.
 
Honestly, I like to see the glass half full - you are more than capable of passing Level 1! Ultimately, it comes down to you. I would suggest looking at your study methods and recalculate your approach. Don’t give up, if you want it bad enough, you will succeed. :)
 
Greenman72 wrote:
First, let it be known that when you did a lot of practice (or exercises, as you call them), you did better on the exam. The lesson from this is very simple and needs not be said, but I’ll say it anyway. PRACTICE MORE AND READ LESS!!! Not that there’s anything wrong with passively reading the material, but it doesn’t force you to learn the material the way that doing practice questions do. CFA exams are not a spectator sport.
Second–you failed L1 twice. L2 is a LOT harder than L1, and L3 is harder than L2, so you might want to think long and hard about doing the test again. (Personally, I think you should give it up.)
Click to expand...
I failed level 1 twice, but will pass L2 and L3 on the first go.
Granted the first one was a band 1 and didn’r really count, the second one was a band 7 with only 3 months of study. But that doesn’t mean one should give up. If you really put in the effort, it’s possible for almost anyone to pass all three.
 
Other people can not judge this situation for you.
Ultimately, it all depends on how well you prepared. I myself failed level I twice, primarely due to gross underestimation (< 100 hrs of study, no mocks). Then I passed L1, L2, CAIA L1 & L2 in less than 12 months. Currently awaiting L3 results.
CFA is not that difficult, but it requires a different mindset. Not simply studying to pass (i.e. > 50%), but studing to be among those who pass.
 
YMeyer wrote:
Thanks for your replies.
I will definitely try again! any advice for ethics? the material is not hard in this section, but the questions might be tricky.
Click to expand...
Ethics = practice .. qbank, CFAI eoc, examples in the book .. Believe or not if you practice enough you will cover all the cases especially for level 1 ..
 
Ethics in level 1 is not as hard as it appears, IMO. I practiced ethics questions from Qbanks and found them very helpful. I took notes on ethics questions, divided it by types if possible. As the result, few times I guessed what they were about to ask without reading 3 choices. Also, I took notes on mistakes/tricky questions (i.e: they talk about guy A in most of the text but question stem is about guy B) and made sure I would never make those mistakes again.
Good luck !
 
I failed first time band 9. I passively read the textbooks for about 6 months, then with a month till the exam i was like shit, i havent done any questions yet. By then it was too late.
After I failed, it was my father who forced me to go again. I didn’t want to but i’m glad I did. I signed up again, and didnt bother writing any notes. I passed.
i already had the base down from the previous exam, so i re bought schweser Q bank, and i just pumped out 100 questions at a time. I did it with an open book. So questions I didnt know i read up on then answered them correctly.
Questions.Questions.Questions.Questions.Questions.Questions.Questions.Questions.Questions.Questions.Questions.Questions.Questions.Questions.Questions.Questions.Questions.Questions.Questions.Questions.
Cannot stress this enough. You have done the exam twice now. Do not waste ANYMORE time re reading all the textbooks. Just start questions and mocks. I think i did about 8 mocks by the time the exam had come around, and once you’re regularly hitting 70 you should be fine.
by the way - Elan Mocks are fantastic, and I felt an accurate representation of the exam. Just my 2 cents.
Go again my boy. One last time and crush it. There is hope.
 
^ solid post.
I’ve unfortunately failed twice as well, Band 7 then 9. Already signed up for December. Ordered some Elan mocks this time to supplement a different set of questions. Going to crush through Qbank again and again…
 
I have only passed level one (in June of this year), so I am certainly no expert here, but my gut reaction would be to tell you to not take it again. OP, you’re a full-time student now but won’t remain that way forever. So if you can’t pass level one without much in the way of commitments (and working full time is absolutely nothing like being a student full time), you’re going to struggle to pass the next two levels. Might as well cut your losses now. I’d return to the test if you ultimately end up joining a firm or entering an industry that considers the charter a prerequsite for promotion. Otherwise, move on to greener pastures.
 
The problem is you get NOTHING for passing level I. Even if you do pass level I, you still have 2 very hard levels to go. You have to ask yourself if you can pass these if you can’t pass the first one relatively easily. Before you decide to give-up though, re-evaluate your study method. You CANNOT pass these exams, as Greenman so accurately stated, by just reading the books as if they were a novel. To pass I recommend: read the material, take light notes in the margins of the books, highlight the hell out of the books, do the blue box examples (In CFA Texts), do the problems (CFA Texts), review your problems, re-read the highlights and notes, do the problems again, then a month before the exam, do the problems again, all of them.
 
There’s an old saying that they have in Tennessee. I know it’s Texas, probably in Tennessee. It goes, “Fool me once, shame on….shame on you. Fool me…you can’t get fooled again.”
L2 fooled me once. That is, I underestimated it, but I came back and did well on it, because I recognized my mistake and fixed it. The OP, however, not only failed to fix his mistake, but he actually regressed.
So my question to anybody who fails the test twice–you got fooled once, and you didn’t learn from your mistakes. You got fooled a second time. Why would you correct your mistakes now, if you didn’t do it the first time?
 
Greenman72 wrote:
There’s an old saying that they have in Tennessee. I know it’s Texas, probably in Tennessee. It goes, “Fool me once, shame on….shame on you. Fool me…you can’t get fooled again.”
L2 fooled me once. That is, I underestimated it, but I came back and did well on it, because I recognized my mistake and fixed it. The OP, however, not only failed to fix his mistake, but he actually regressed.
So my question to anybody who fails the test twice–you got fooled once, and you didn’t learn from your mistakes. You got fooled a second time. Why would you correct your mistakes now, if you didn’t do it the first time?
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You’re insinuating that one cannot ever learn from a mistake if he has made it more than once which is utter drivel.
Go home Greeman, you’re drunk.
 
The Level I exam is really just an entrance exam into the CFA program. Remember that you have two other exams to go. If you underestimated the difficulty of the exam and failed, by all means, learn from your mistakes and re-take the exam, however if you put in a sporting effort and did not pass on multiple efforts, perhaps this game just ain’t for you. There’s nothing wrong with that, but perhaps your strengths lie elsewhere and not in Finance. It’s not like Finance is the only career path in the world. Also, its not like you even need the CFA designation to even practice finance. I know plenty of people who are very smart and do very well in Finance that DO NOT have the CFA charter.
 
Strange that OP did much better on his first try.
I myself failed once, last June I got Band 7 but I had just started studying (had read like 30-35% of the material) but Ihad already been registered so I went, took the exam just to have an experience.
This time I was counting on Band 10 (because my preparation could have been better) but I passed. Having not had passed, I would have gone for the 3rd time for sure.
Already having second thoughts about 10 months being enough to get prepared fot L II (in my case), I guess it will take me at least 2 if not 3 takes. But I don’t like things unfinished. Maybe I never go to L III but if I engage in L II I want to complete it.
So OP you should try and answer yourself what went wrong at your second try? Certainly lack of practice.
What I would do. I would start with Q Bank. 1 subject at a time, 30-40 questions. And when you look into the answers go back to the book and read the stuff pertaining that particular thing only. This way you won’t read 20 pages at one sitting, which is probably ineffective, but you learn (rather recapitulate because you should know the stuff already) one certain concept, formula, rule etc.
Good luck!
 
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