LEVEL 2 MPS ordeal (re-taker or level 3 candidates)

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Alimalik

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Seeing the whole discussion about the MPS for level 2 and how frantic everyone is about it I would just like to say that i re-sat the Level 2 this year. Last year the exam seemed more or less the same difficult as this years. Even though I was a band 9 fail i dont think the MPS is around 68 (should be lower).
however i believe other candidates who re-sat the level 2 exam this year or level 3 candidates can comment on the MPS and the difficulty from prior years from experience so that everyone can be a bit relieved. Any other level 2 re-taker or level 3 candidate surfing by???
 
what was your scoring matrix and were you confident you passed when you walked out of the exam center?
 
I was band 8 last year and I don’t think I scored more than 55%.. Last year I guessed on nearly every other question. My scoring matrix was in the middle for every category expect < 50 for derivatives.
This year I felt the AM section was brutally hard but the PM was easy. But overall the same difficulty, i think last year am/pm was more balanced.This year I guessed on about 25% of the exam. I think I scored around 65% so it will be close if I pass or fail..
I think most candidates that fail, score over 50% .. the hurdle into 70% is very difficult in my opinion.. My guess is that everyones “raw” score is adjusted up a few % and the ” adjusted score” MPS is 65% so if you score above 60% raw you have a chance
 
danv0330 wrote:I was band 8 last year and I don’t think I scored more than 55%.. Last year I guessed on nearly every other question. My scoring matrix was in the middle for every category expect < 50 for derivatives. This year I felt the AM section was brutally hard but the PM was easy. But overall the same difficulty, i think last year am/pm was more balanced.This year I guessed on about 25% of the exam. I think I scored around 65% so it will be close if I pass or fail.. I think most candidates that fail, score over 50% .. the hurdle into 70% is very difficult in my opinion.. My guess is that everyones “raw” score is adjusted up a few % and the ” adjusted score” MPS is 65% so if you score above 60% raw you have a chance
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There’s a very good chance you passed this year. My opinion is that the MPS will not exceed 64% this year. If you can score 63% and get >70 in ethics, I think it’s a pass.
 
I’ll also add that I know of someone who never scored above 58% on any practice exam and passed on the first try. I’m sure luck played a bit of a role even though she went it quite prepared.
 
More than70 in equity and AI, 51-70 in CF,FRA,PM,QM. <50in the rest and was a band 8. Anyone else want to add insight
 
I was a band 5 fail last year, 5 sections 51>70 and 5 sections below <50. I knew so little it was embarrassing and I vividly remembering not having a clue about any quants questions I had studied that badly. They were all completely random guesses.
Feel much better this year, although did I find it much easier as I had actually worked? Possibly… I agree with the mock exam comment though, I never got above 58% pre level I and passed.
Confident I nailed equity and even on my weaker areas (derivs, fixed income) I got at least 50% I think. Still, time will tell and I think it will be close. Nevertheless, I am happy that I am in with a shot of passing at least, in my opinion, which is the most you can hope for at this stage.
 
Where the general consensus i believe is that u can score one section <50% and utmost 2 it gets really tough to guage where one stands b/w the 50-71 or the >70 bands. I think 4 5 sections in the >70% category (1 heavy weight like equity ,FRA Included ) and the rest in 50-70 (can include fra or eq) should be good enoughto pass.
 
I was also embarrassed by the amount of guessing last year and was surprised by the band 8.. can only imagine how lost a band 5 person is.. (no offense)
It comes back to the point that it’s amazing to me that anyone can score above 90%.. 45% passing is impressive as is
 
Oddly enough this thread is making me feel a bit better about my chances this year.
 
JayWill wrote:
Oddly enough this thread is making me feel a bit better about my chances this year.
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LOL, same here. Guys my feeling after the exam was that I nailed it, I did very very few guesses and I was very confident. I came home and estimated my score and I got 80/120. Now I can say two things out of this. Either I am at borderline or if a person as confident as I am can just score 80/120 then MPS must be much lower than that.
 
I just do not understand how some people on this forum are able to come away from the test and estimate their score down to a specfic number (eg, 80/120). How in the heck…
 
ltj wrote:
I just do not understand how some people on this forum are able to come away from the test and estimate their score down to a specfic number (eg, 80/120). How in the heck…
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Probably retakers who do something like mark each question in the exam book that indicates their strength on the question (correct, educated guess, blind guess) then go back through and make a mental count before the session is over. Go outside, write it down, then do the same for the second session.
Personally, I don’t see the point. When the exam is done it’s done. All guestimating your score does is relieve some of the pre-results anxiety. Even if I were a retaker, I’d prefer to focus my concentration on the exam itself rather than keeping a count on how I may have performed. To each his/her own I guess.
 
^^i counted that I got 50 questions right ” straight up” and guessed on 70.. 35 (1/3) and 35 (1/2).. I’m think I’m around 75-80 correct total.. that’s about 65%
 
ltj wrote:
I just do not understand how some people on this forum are able to come away from the test and estimate their score down to a specfic number (eg, 80/120). How in the heck…
Click to expand...
It sounds extremely weird but to answer your question is that I almost remembered every question from the exam well after finishing the exam and thats how I estimated it. I couldnt believe I retained that “naturally” but yes I did.
 
I did horrible last year. I mean I got a band 4 (I thought it was higher, but just looked), and I knew NOTHING. I studied, but passed L1 in December (found out in late Jan.) and didn’t have the time to study well with my job. I repeat, I knew nothing – I actually got the test and got angry, 80%+ was guesses. This year I think I killed it tho, as I had more time and a better feel of the test (think broad and conceptually instead of getting lost in minutia).
 
Can I know what your scoring matrix was as far as you remember from last time?? Please
 
danv0330 wrote:I was band 8 last year and I don’t think I scored more than 55%.. Last year I guessed on nearly every other question. My scoring matrix was in the middle for every category expect < 50 for derivatives. This year I felt the AM section was brutally hard but the PM was easy. But overall the same difficulty, i think last year am/pm was more balanced.This year I guessed on about 25% of the exam. I think I scored around 65% so it will be close if I pass or fail.. I think most candidates that fail, score over 50% .. the hurdle into 70% is very difficult in my opinion.. My guess is that everyones “raw” score is adjusted up a few % and the ” adjusted score” MPS is 65% so if you score above 60% raw you have a chance
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So you guessed on half the questions (60) and scored Band 8. This is quite comforting as I dont think I guessed on more than 30.
 
I thought that this year’s exam overall was almost the same difficulty as last year.
Personally, I thought AM was a lot better than PM, but I guess it just depends on what topics you are good at.
 
Was just going through historical pass rates on CFAI website.
http://www.cfainstitute.org/programs/cfaprogram/Documents/1963_current_c...
For the last 4 years since 2011, Level 2 Pass Rate has always been atleast 4-5 percentage points higher than Level 1. And the December Level 1 Pass Rate has mostly been touching the June Level 1 Pass Rate curve or above it.
For 2014, Dec Level 1 pass rate was as high as 44%. June 2014 Level 2 was also very high at 46%.
Guess, the pass rate for L-2 this June can be as high as 47-48% which may push the MPS down.
 
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