If You Failed Your CFA Exam Next Week, Would You Retake?

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usj2

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Apologies in advance for the negative nature of this post, but I feel that failure in the CFA is not an area that’s covered enough - people don’t like talking about it, perhaps. That’s exactly why I feel that sometimes it should be addressed properly.

Besides the basic degree and professional certifications like the CFA charter, I also pursued Taekwondo, mostly as a teenager. As I progressed to more senior levels I competed in a few sparring sessions.

I wasn’t pro in any sense, mind you - just some basic fooling around with some coaching from my instructor. But one phenomenon I observed within my own sparring technique was that I would start the fight very conservatively. I would keep my distance and try to slowly work my way in.
It was only if and when my opponent landed a first proper hit on me that I would get pissed off and really aggressive. It wasn’t due to any thinking on my part, purely primal - the aggressiveness was immediate and automatic.
I felt this way again years later, when I stared at my results for my first CFA Level II exam. Failure Band 10. I got pretty annoyed and thought man, now I really gotta finish this damn thing.
It served me well - the drive I got pushed me through the next two levels and I never failed again.
In my retake, I realised I made several mistakes. I underestimated the amount of work involved the last time, and was multi-tasking doing extra freelance work & attending courses to learn a new language. So this time I really made sure I concentrated on just hitting my CFA studies. I also paid more attention to topic weightings and concentrated my efforts accordingly.
Now that the results are coming out soon - if you’re expecting your results, what are your thoughts? Have you decided on whether you would be retaking if you failed? I published a poll on my blog earlier this week and here are the results so far:



So it seems that most of you are raring to rip the exam apart no matter what! I would definitely urge you that should the worst happen and you fail, use that experience to ensure that doesn’t happen the next time. Learn from any mistakes that may have been made and utilize your emotion to drive your efforts!

Having said that - here’s to hoping you don’t have to face this decision on results day! But what you would you do?
 
Absolutely, I don’t think failing calls into question my decision that I need the charter, just my approach to how I studied.
 
I know what i’m gonna do if the shit happens. It’s just that I don’t feel like saying it right now, for fear i might jinx it!
 
I was talking to my brother recently who is in the M&A field and he was telling me why you are fearing failure. If you fail, that also means there is some deficiency in my learnings - so there is no point clearing it and then come to know in real life that you dont know enough in a particular area. So its better off you learn better and then get into the industry than the other way round. He agreed there are pros and cons. But that was a positive way to look at it.
Thanks USJ2 for this. I still hope I dont have to, but then “the truth is actually stranger/bitter than fiction” :)
 
It’s not fearing failure that’s the issue, but letting failure stop you from getting what you want, or somehow devaluing your self worth.
Obviously failure is something to try and avoid in most cases but if it does happen don’t let it affect you (too much).
Monito’s got the nail on the head I think!
 
Hmm, I agree 100%.
I am not sure why I would devalue my self worth if I failed an exam. Its a tough one anyway - I work in IT field for past 10 years and dont have anyone around me who are expecting my results or keep asking me about the results. Probably thats the reason I am not able to understand the pressure of a person surrounded by CFA charterholders and L3 candidates.
One thing is sure, come what may the result will not devalue my self worth, nor will I think I conquered the world if I do clear it!
+1 when you said, probably the way we prepare has to be analysed and corrected. Thats all!
But thanks for bringing this topic my friend it helps talking about it much more when my mind is more relaxed, than when my mind is tensed & emotional about the result :)
All the best everyone!
 
i am a lvl2 retaker and i will keep retaking this MF until I die or pass. i will keep retaking until I hit an outlier MPS :)
 
L2 Band 10, that’s tough. I had the same experience. Took a few weeks to vent some frustration, signed up for the exam, and hit the books early. Like September early.
 
No, I’ll move on to the Actuarial exams (they’re more suited for my math-intensive background but I’ve already invested a lot of time in the CFA at this point..)
 
yes I would but I would absolutely cut out everything in my life next time and I mean everything. No one is allowed to see me for 6 months, 100% focus. Then if I fail again I give up and move on.
 
If I fail I, will start as earler as August to prepare again.
 
Why would anyone not take the exam? If you have decided you need it before, there’s no reason why any of that has changed.
Personally, I have retaken each level of the exam once. I passed on the second try for each level.
I can tell you from experience that the second time around the materials become exponentially easier; assuming that you did try the first time around.
There are some elements of luck in these type of exams unfortunately. A significant number of people who fail probably just misses it by 2-3 multiple choice (the sad nature of bellcurve). Many who fail actually knows more than those who have passed because the element of luck does play a factor. Depending on bow you have guessed those 10-15 questions (maybe even less) which majority of the people have to guess too.
Just a brief summary on my take and as to why you should retake it if you are band 7-10.
Cheers and good luck to all.
 
Results like these (only 6% dropouts for sure) and no wonder the pass % is so low - they have every reason to fail you and take your money (plus keep the exisiting CFA charterholders happy) and ZERO reasons to have a higher passing %.
Just my 2 eurocents (before they become extinct)
 
“the true mark of great is not where we are today, but we where we plan to be tomorrow”
 
Mantra for the day “it is ok to fail, it is ok to fail”. I thought I was ready (enough) for level 2 but somewhere in the middle of exam day it became clear that aiming for 70% was not my best strategy. I’ve been comforting myself with the realization that if I DO fail, review will be a relative walk in the park compared to starting in on level 3. Ever try going a full day without a rationalization?
So yes, plannng to retake or press on to level 3.
 
+1 for Suzieq
I know everyone says 70% is enough to pass the exam, and that’s all well and good, but aiming for less than 100% is a good way of failing.
What I mean is if you aim for 100% you’re not going to be very disappointed if you fall somewhere in the 70-100 band. But if you aim for 70, it’s a bad day when you find out your 65 wasn’t enough.
Possibly more importantly aiming high allows you some leeway if things go badly wrong. I had 2 weeks of vertigo right before the exam and rather than reducing my chances to zero I’m probably about 50-50
 
Although I applaud the motivation to persevere through failures in general, I do think that the word failure is bereft of meaning unless it is contextualised. Clearly it means something else to different people even if you hold constant certain tangible factors across these individuals. For a person who wishes to transition into finance from a lucrative IT/Tech field, failure may well have less practical and emotional consequences than for a person that has been unemployed for prolonged periods of time or otherwise has tremendous troubles engaging with society in a normal capacity. The former may well retain job satisfaction in a lucrative field with high compensation packages, the latter may continue to spiral downwards. Not everyone is sponsored by firms to take and retake these exams until kingdom come and must tradeoff forking money from a dwindling savings account against the high stress induced probability of failing the exam and reduced confidence in job interviews. Remeber, the finance industry is contracting and trying to find its new normal, banks are downsizing and increasing their focus on cost management rather than revenue enhancement (prop trading,excessive risk taking are out the window for many), Goldman Sachs reported a return of equity of about 5% compared to 12 percent in the past years.What does failure mean when there is an oversupply of finance professionals released into the labour market competing for the same things you do?
 
I understand (unfortunately only after you wrote about it) - I have 10 years IT experience and know that I can have a decent job even if I dont clear L2. All we can hope here is that the shrinking of the finance world will soon leads to its expansion and we all can get on to the pendulam when its on the way up!
I know hope is not too right the word, but here is wishing you mate a good result which you want!
 
It’s a tough call if I fail L2 given that I’m mid-career doing business valuations looking to eventually transition to PE. One one hand I see the value of the CFA as continuing education to complement my MBA-Chicago/CPA, on the other, I don’t really need it to be successful, and as the CFAI continues to throw up artificial barriers, such as paper test, 1x/yr, nebulously worded questions, etc., I may drop it. I like the curriculum, but don’t like the last century process.
 
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