June L1 compared to Dec L1

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eros79

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Guys,

I was curious to know how was, Dec L1 compared to June L1. Anyone who has given both might want to comment. Actually the idea is to figure out how similar/consistent would the upcoming Dec L1 would be. I am trying to figure out the standard deviation of the level of difficulty of L1 exams :-). So bigger the sample, lesser the standard error :-) ...
 
difficulty level?
Its almost same
Only thing which differs is "individual prep level"

Now I know 80% stuff so it becomes easy to crack the same stuff
also,time management becomes superb as I am practising for almost 45 days
I finished AM 25 mins before time
and PM was tougher.still got 15mins to review and attack 3-5 Qs

You need lot of commitment to crack all levels of CFA
 
I found the Jun exam harder, despite being much more prepared.
 
Let me add another valid point which is true for all levels(as i talked to atleast 10 L-II candidates )
CFAI goes on adding and dropping topics for the exam
They wont test usual Hit areas and will ask Qs from unusual LOS

last Dec there were No Q from Micro econ and this time ,maxm weightage was given in Micro ,less in International
They deliberately do it an its good
 
i think that the format and difficulty was very similar for dec and june.
one i studied for and one i didn't really study for that much, so i know that I felt way better walking out this time than i did in december. i hope i put in enough to pass.
i certainly don't quite feel as good as nitya and think that i scored around an 80% all around or on every section. I am optimistic that overall i hit a 70%, but we'll have to wait and see. i definitely think that i could see 2-3 sections for me in that 50-70% range and i wouldn't be surprised.

time really isn't an issue on this test imo- the practice tests you'll take stretch you way more on time than the real thing does.
 
I feel better about the june exam simply because i put in the time to give myself a chance. but difficulty wise, i thought june was a bit harder than december. (not certain as i don't remember much from the december test) i'm also not confident enough to say i broke 80 in all of the sections. 70 overall may be more reasonable for me. in fact, any passing score will do. but i can't say i feel like i passed for sure.

agree with bannisja that time is not much of an issue. i finished both sections with about 25 minutes left.
 
In the score card when they say <50% 50-70% ect, are they referring to the actual percentage of marks or is it a percentile ?
 
it's your score for that section.
example- if alt investments had 12 questions on the test and you got 10 of them right, you'd be in the 70%+. if you get 5 q's right, you'd be under 50%... etc.
so it's your scores on the questions broken out by section. you'll never know exactly what you scored on the test as a whole, just a big PASS or FAIL and a vague clue broken out by section in this manner.
 
Having done the exam in June, and having relied strictly on Schweser, I would say that everything I saw on the exam was reflected in the books. There are many many clues and hints in the book that can really make your life a lot easier come Dec or June. Go over the highlighter, italized, and bolded statements carefully...as most will be tested. For Ethics, the examples given in the CFA Book are invaluable...will add maybe 6-10 points in the ethics section alone (depending). Finally, the online sample exams are a must....expensive? yes, worth it? definitley if you don't plan on repeating.....One other note I made was the "language" of the questions asked on the CFA exam...much differet than on Schweser...CFA has a certain way of wording the questions....and given the fact that this is a very "conceptual" exam rather than quantitative...I would read the books inside out a few times
 
...oopss...I meant that I relied strictyly on the CFA books not schweser.........
 
nitya36 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> They wont test usual Hit areas and will ask Qs
> from unusual LOS
>
> last Dec there were No Q from Micro econ and this
> time ,maxm weightage was given in Micro ,less in
> International

Interesting point. I wonder if others felt the same? Banni? Anyone else?
 
i respectfully disagree on the level 1 side, but my L2 friends who did take this time said that L2 this year tested a lot of what seemed to be more trivial areas if that's the right way to say it. for L1, sure, things will switch up and obviously with only 240 q's you can't test the exact same things, but you can take a pretty educated guess at what you will and won't see. Econ- i remebered micro/macro and global on dec. this time, there were very few global econ q's. if i had to take again this dec (god forbid... pls say i don't have to take this yet again), i wouldn't study global econ MORE than i had in anticipation of more questions, but would study all 3 pretty equally.

some people don't want to put in the time to learn stuff like hypothesis testing. it does take a while to really understand that stuff and I'd venture at guess at MOST you'd see maybe 3-4 questions on this on the test, more likely 1 or 2.

You might try to guess at questions- econ changed up this year somewhat- could i have ventured a guess that a phillip's curve question would be there? sure. but you can't guess on what to study on this test- you really have to study it all and be ready for any of the LOS's because anything might come up.

one thing that i would say is tested well is ethics- anyone who just took, go pull up the handbook and go look at every one of the little areas- there pretty much was a question on every one. misrepresentation, fair dealing, using the CFA name the right way, etc...
I think while the ethics q's are pretty tricky and the 2 parters are tough, they test the material fairly and really weed out those who have STUDIED the manual and those who haven't because not all of their rules are intuitive.

ok, i'm rambling now.
seriously, if you study a ton, you should pass no matter if you're smart or dumb. this test isn't impossible, it's just a lot of stuff to know and remember. if you're dilligent about it, you'll do fine. don't let yourself get behind, don't cram, and don't skip stuff in hopes that it won't show up. FSA and Ethics I think are the 2 most important areas by far, but as many here can tell you after just taking it, I loved some of the pretty easy freebie type points that I know I earned in sections like derivatives or alternative investments b/c I took the time to study that as well.

how's that for a short answer?
i could've summed it up: you can't hide from this test- it'll expose your weaknesses if you have them.
 
Good talk bannisja, and I agree about having to study real well to ensure passing. That's why after 3 months of studying I stopped two weeks befor ethe exam and decided I'd do better in Dec.

Although it is possible that I pass the June exam, I'd be a little surprised, that's one, and two I am not sure I'd be celebrating this, as I fear that L2 would be much more tougher than if I had really studied well for L1!
Guy
 
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