Need your help on exam advices!!!

[mylinh]

Hi guys, I don’t know what to say but this is already my third time taking the level 1 CFA exam. For the past 2 time, I always scored more than 80% on all MOCK, sample exams, Shweser mock exams… but I always end up failing at band 9 and band 10. In June this year I studied REAL hard, did all the questions in the end of chapters and did all the MOCK, sample exams, practice exams, my score is always in the range of 82-96% on all the practice exams in similar conditions as the actual test. BUT I keep failing, and this is already the third time!!
I seriously do not know how can I improve any more, I have already master all the knowledges and all the topics covered in the exam as shown in my consistenly scored 82-96% in all the practice exam, Qbank, mock exam, sample exams.. But I have failed twice ((
Please help to give me some advice, I am so panicking as the exam is approaching and I am so nervous since this is already the third time!!

 

[ohai]

Well, er… this is a toughy. Based on what you described, you are either:
1) Extremely unlucky.
2) Prone to panic attacks or other psychological effects that compromise your exam performance.
3) Somehow “cheating” on the practice exams - taking extra time, referring to notes, etc.
4) The victim of a CFAI conspiracy to conceal your true exam results, and to ignore your 30+ emails, as well as your requests for retabulactation.
So, I don’t know. Unless you can determine the cause of the performance disparity between your sample exams and the real exam, it seems like you should just do your best and see if you pass this time.

 

[bloodline]

It’s far easier to fail when you panic than it is if you are inadequately prepared. Panicking under exam conditions will generally make you omit clauses in questions which will invariably lead to a fail.
For me, I’m starting to slow down on my studying levels, and relax more as the day approaches, on the exam itself, i will try to start with the sections I have always found easiest during practice. In my case, the quants section. The psychology behind this is that the first 10 minutes of your exam and how you approach the first 10 questions matters a lot in the whole. If in you start working on a section that you’ve found relatively easy during study, your confidence during the exam will improve, you will likely be a lot calmer and ultimately think a lot clearly.
Panicking + encountering difficult questions first + exam day conditions + the thinking that cfa is a hard exam to pass + a bad breakfast + not having enough rest a night before + worrying that you may forget formulas = Ultimate Fail!
I wouldn’t worry about remembering all the formulas I have studied, no one is able to; what you should focus on is clear understanding of outcome statements and definition of terms. I wouldn’t also worry if 20 minutes on arriving at the venue, i found out that i have forgotten a section i read the night before, I will rather focus on the parts i can recall vividly and tell myself what a smart guy I am for remembering those parts.… . let’s face it, there are only 120 questions and chances are several places won’t be covered, the moment you panic because you’ve forgotten a section, that moment you step on a downside hill, it takes more then luck to recover from that.