How to practice writing for AM test

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data247

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For all who are going to take the Level III CFA exam and who passed this one. Can you guys please give me some advices to prepare for the AM session. I come from a country that English is not my mother language and I think writing is really a trouble that is preventing me to beat this beast. You know, since I have to translate all my thinkings into a language, writing style that I do not use in my daily life, especially in strict time constraint situation. I passed the first two levels with flying color in the first attempt, and also understand that this is not mean I do the same thing for the last one with this problem. I downloaded the real exam from CFAI for the previous years and all the grammar, vocabulary, cohesion, coherence, styles, etc seems so “academic” to me.
So, what ‘s the way that you guys find most efficient to improve this weakness?
 
Personally I just read the questions from old exams and then read over the suggested responses. I did this over and over. I never bothered to try to actually write out free responses in practice. As everyone will say – grammar & spelling aren’t important… just go with concise bullet points.
ps – I took a great two week vacation in Vietnam last year. Amazing food!
 
Don’t worry about the weakness right now. Focus on just learning the material really well, not just the “what” but the “why.” Learn the material to the point that it’s intuitive.
Starting in March, do actual past CFA morning exams. Try to grab at least five years’ worth. Do them all one-by-one. Examine the answer keys carefully. Try to understand exactly what they’re after in their answers and why.
After you have done all the exams, re-review all the answer keys so you understand how they have approached a problem over a series of years.
Basically, treat the morning essay (or rather, constructed response section) as an additional study session and prepare for it as you would with any other SS. Your language will not be a hinderance.
Lastly, and this is just my opinion, but don’t do Schweser practice AM exams. They will throw you way off, and they miss the subtleties of the actual exam.
 
data247 wrote:
For all who are going to take the Level III CFA exam and who passed this one. Can you guys please give me some advices to prepare for the AM session. I come from a country that English is not my mother language and I think writing is really a trouble that is preventing me to beat this beast. You know, since I have to translate all my thinkings into a language, writing style that I do not use in my daily life, especially in strict time constraint situation. I passed the first two levels with flying color in the first attempt, and also understand that this is not mean I do the same thing for the last one with this problem. I downloaded the real exam from CFAI for the previous years and all the grammar, vocabulary, cohesion, coherence, styles, etc seems so “academic” to me.
So, what ‘s the way that you guys find most efficient to improve this weakness?
Click to expand...
practice it like any other kind of test. review it more though after you take it. time yourself at least once, timing is importing
 
Marathon_runner wrote:
Personally I just read the questions from old exams and then read over the suggested responses. I did this over and over. I never bothered to try to actually write out free responses in practice. As everyone will say – grammar & spelling aren’t important… just go with concise bullet points.
ps – I took a great two week vacation in Vietnam last year. Amazing food!
Click to expand...
Thanks that you love our food. We also have many impressive spectaculars. Hope that you will be back soon to explore ^ ^
 
Hank Moody wrote:
Don’t worry about the weakness right now. Focus on just learning the material really well, not just the “what” but the “why.” Learn the material to the point that it’s intuitive.
Starting in March, do actual past CFA morning exams. Try to grab at least five years’ worth. Do them all one-by-one. Examine the answer keys carefully. Try to understand exactly what they’re after in their answers and why.
After you have done all the exams, re-review all the answer keys so you understand how they have approached a problem over a series of years.
Basically, treat the morning essay (or rather, constructed response section) as an additional study session and prepare for it as you would with any other SS. Your language will not be a hinderance.
Lastly, and this is just my opinion, but don’t do Schweser practice AM exams. They will throw you way off, and they miss the subtleties of the actual exam.
Click to expand...
Thanks for advice. I will try to practice as much as possible based on previous years ‘s real test but I still do not understand why Schweser is not a useful tool in L3. I think they do a fabulous job in previous levels and what do you mean “miss the subtitles”. Sorry that I still do not have any practice test here.
 
data247 wrote:
Hank Moody wrote:
Don’t worry about the weakness right now. Focus on just learning the material really well, not just the “what” but the “why.” Learn the material to the point that it’s intuitive.
Starting in March, do actual past CFA morning exams. Try to grab at least five years’ worth. Do them all one-by-one. Examine the answer keys carefully. Try to understand exactly what they’re after in their answers and why.
After you have done all the exams, re-review all the answer keys so you understand how they have approached a problem over a series of years.
Basically, treat the morning essay (or rather, constructed response section) as an additional study session and prepare for it as you would with any other SS. Your language will not be a hinderance.
Lastly, and this is just my opinion, but don’t do Schweser practice AM exams. They will throw you way off, and they miss the subtleties of the actual exam.
Click to expand...
Thanks for advice. I will try to practice as much as possible based on previous years ‘s real test but I still do not understand why Schweser is not a useful tool in L3. I think they do a fabulous job in previous levels and what do you mean “miss the subtitles”. Sorry that I still do not have any practice test here.
Click to expand...
I did many Schweser essay questions as well as CFAI essay questions. Schweser essentially gives very detailed answers in their answer key, more detailed than CFAI is looking for…you will notice this once you look at the sample answers from CFAI. Of course, model your answers off of CFAI…but I actually think Schweser is useful in that it is great extra practice and you end up learning many things you could potentially write for a given question…then you can just choose what to include in your actual answer. I personally think Schweser was a great tool and I did 6 full Schweser practice exams…only one full CFAI exam (using 2013 essays) and then the 2012 CFAI essays.
 
Level 3 seems focusing much more on writing-type analysis rather than calculation. Please instruct. 2015 Level 3 candidate here.
 
Hello data247. Where are you living? Hanoi or HCM.
I’ve got the same problem as you do. I expect Level II is really challenging, especially the AM session.
I’d like to contact you for CFA preparation, my skype nick is sinhneu1. Glad to meet you!
 
i write out my answers in point form first. then compare the answers to the answer key, then write it again in memory. this is just to get you used to the way CFAI writes out the answers.
 
i didn’t practice actually writing the AM responses like the real exam.
just bullet pointed instead. even kept to minimum.
i also realized that some topics overlap and the terminology shifts moderately. that’s why i used bullet points to differentiate between topics.
 
I suggested practied early with mock exams and real exam from CFAI, try to organize your thinking logic, using the key wordings and practice more if you could.
Not just thinking, but you shall write them down, bullet point is also okay and compare with the keys provided. I found it useful but I started a little late for this Jun’s exam. I am also a candidate with English is not my fist language, but I tried to think originally in English, not just translate.
I have passed this time Level 3 exam on my second try, so, wish you good luck.
 
Think of this before you start writing in the AM:
Breve orazione penetra is an old Italian idiom. Its literal translation is “short prayers pierce,” or “concise prayers penetrate.” You can extrapolate from that to come up with meaning that “God listens best to brief prayers.” Apply this idea in the AM: know exactly what you want to say and express it with no-nonsense succinctness, and the Grader Gods will shine upon you …
Auburn, CFA (2014)
 
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