How Early is Too Early for Mocks

Well, I plan to begin taking mock in April, but it really depends on whether I can finish all the readings before that.
And I think it will be a good idea to do the MC mock first.
 
This is my second go around and I think a major reason for my shortcomings last June was due to doing mocks before I mastered the material. I started them around this time, focusing on the actual testtaking startegy as opposed to material mastery and found myself scrambling all through May trying to make sure I had everything covered and neglected to take any mocks. So, basically it was reading the material December to February, taking mocks/Q-bank March to April, Attempting to master the material from May to exam date. Everyone seems to be different with this level though. I would say right now is a little too early though unless you feel real good about your understanding of the curriculum.
 
FrankNoPez wrote:
This is my second go around and I think a major reason for my shortcomings last June was due to doing mocks before I mastered the material. I started them around this time, focusing on the actual testtaking startegy as opposed to material mastery and found myself scrambling all through May trying to make sure I had everything covered and neglected to take any mocks. So, basically it was reading the material December to February, taking mocks/Q-bank March to April, Attempting to master the material from May to exam date. Everyone seems to be different with this level though. I would say right now is a little too early though unless you feel real good about your understanding of the curriculum.
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No substitute for knowing the material cold!
 
I don’t think there is a specific date when it is too early.
I have taken two mocks so far, one after I finished all the kaplan videos, another after reading all the books.
 
Original_username wrote:
I don’t think there is a specific date when it is too early.
I have taken two mocks so far, one after I finished all the kaplan videos, another after reading all the books.
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What do you feel about taking mocks at this moment? I found myself actually cannot remember many formulas and concepts. So sad!
 
I started doing mocks even though I have not mastered all the material. I appreciate your insight FrankNoPez. They say do a certain amount of mocks, and I am certainly going to complete that amount of mocks.
Quantity over quality. lmao.
Seriously though, you should practice certain questions across mocks, rather than do entire mocks. Save a few mocks for the end so that you can practice technique, as well as assessing knowledge, but don’t wait to assess knowledge section by section, as the process of answering the questions will actually shape your knowledge and your preparation.
Performance comes after that.
 
I’m feeling pretty good for it being late Feb, my last mock was a 73 overall, but given the grading of the morning that can be slightly off.
Here is hoping that is my score on the real deal.
 
I also wrote exams last year and i strongly regret not approaching mocks much earlier - i neglected them to the end of my study timeline. I understand the worry of trying to work on mocks when you havent covered the material - but my suggestion is to look at the mocks for the areas you have covered. The site http://www.analystninja.com/ does a pretty good job with sectional AM mocks. I strongly advise you not to wait until you have finished the curricum to work through the AM mock papers as you may never complete the curriculum –there is always something new to learn!.
 
I tend to agree with patso rather. Never enough mocks! Of course the material matters… too.
I failed level III because I never felt confident enough with the material to move to mocks. That’s called perfectionism and for such an exam that’s an issue. That’s an issue for me in general so I am happy that as a retaker, I can move to mocks now without worrying about the material that I feel quite confident with by now. But as a non-retaker you will most probably have a timing issue and you will have to accept to practice even though you don’t feel like you master the curriculum 100%.
 
Understanding how to approach the exam and how to answer the questions is a major piece of level 3 that first time candidates overlook. As said above, you obviously have to know the material before you can take an educated stab at mock exams, but I’d also add that you can know this material better than 95% of the candidates and still fail because you did not properly understand the test format and approach it in the right way. If you only plan on taking 2 or 3 mock exams, good luck on exam day. In my opinion, you shoud be spending the final 4 weeks going over mocks and practicing your writing skills. Remember, bullet points are your friend.
 
Planning to do them April 1st, at least in sections.
Timing is not important if you know the material cold!
 
I’ll hit my first mock April 9th! Planning to do 6 of them as always, and do at least 3 years of AM papers under exam constraints.
 
My plan for mock exams is to do the morning section on one night during the work week, then the afternoon section the following night (still during the work week). On weekends, I can plan to do a full morning and afternoon exam on the same day.
For most people (including myself), it’s impossible to plan to do a full morning and section exam on a work day but I think theres value in not leaving practice tests just for weekends - especially since something else could come up and derail that plan.
 
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