Never say Never

2004 - Failed L1
2005A - Failed L1 (worse than 2004)
2005B - Passed L1
2006 - Took L2 (did not study much)
2007 - Registered for L2 but didn’t study so I was a no-show
2008 - Failed L2 (Band 8)
2009 - Failed L2 (Band 6)
2010 - Failed L2 (Band 6)
2011 - Passed L2
2012 - Failed L3 (Band 4, with a lot of studying, but no plan of attack for the AM)
2013 - Passed L3
In the meantime:
Toddler son went from a crib to 6th grade, added two daughters, bought a house, worked at two failed firms (big ones) and had a fund closed at another. Two constants during this time was my love for my family and my desire to pass. I can be honest and say at times I wish that desire translated into harder work, but that’s in the past.
I don’t know the CFA’s worth to my career, I’m not a different analyst today vs. yesterday, but it’s not about that anymore. I’m just happy to know I reached a goal that I set. At some point the exam became more than just a professional designation for me. It really became a test of character (diligence, honesty with myself).
For everyone who got it in 1.5 yrs or 3 straight times…congrats. I’m sure you’ve never failed a test in your life; it’s what you’re good at and you deserve recognition. Still, I’m partial to the rest of us who took longer to get to the finish line or are maybe still running. It might just be that they’re learning the exam material AND something about themselevs, and that’s not all that bad.
 
Awesome reflection GPM. I’m going on the 3rd attempt at level III and that really put life into perspective with this beast.
 
GPM wrote:
2004 - Failed L1
2005A - Failed L1 (worse than 2004)
2005B - Passed L1
2006 - Took L2 (did not study much)
2007 - Registered for L2 but didn’t study so I was a no-show
2008 - Failed L2 (Band 8)
2009 - Failed L2 (Band 6)
2010 - Failed L2 (Band 6)
2011 - Passed L2
2012 - Failed L3 (Band 4, with a lot of studying, but no plan of attack for the AM)
2013 - Passed L3
In the meantime:
Toddler son went from a crib to 6th grade, added two daughters, bought a house, worked at two failed firms (big ones) and had a fund closed at another. Two constants during this time was my love for my family and my desire to pass. I can be honest and say at times I wish that desire translated into harder work, but that’s in the past.
I don’t know the CFA’s worth to my career, I’m not a different analyst today vs. yesterday, but it’s not about that anymore. I’m just happy to know I reached a goal that I set. At some point the exam became more than just a professional designation for me. It really became a test of character (diligence, honesty with myself).
For everyone who got it in 1.5 yrs or 3 straight times…congrats. I’m sure you’ve never failed a test in your life; it’s what you’re good at and you deserve recognition. Still, I’m partial to the rest of us who took longer to get to the finish line or are maybe still running. It might just be that they’re learning the exam material AND something about themselevs, and that’s not all that bad.
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Love this.
For me it was seven years, getting married, two children, two moves and three homes later. Yesterday’s pass made everything so very sweet.
 
New to my MBA class.
When I meet CFA candidates in my class, I shake their hands differently than I do others…
When I shake hands with fellow candidates, I really shake them…squeeze them and want to hang on to them just a little longer just and lo to show gratitude and look at the person with tears in my eyes…
 
Dec, 2011 Passed level 1
Jun, 2012 Failed level 2,band 1, technically speaking, gave it up and took exam without preparation, regretful
June, 2013 Passed level 2
June, 2014 „„!! Level 3, I am coming!
 
Congratulations, everyone. Here is my journey:
Dec. 2009 - passed Level I
June 2010 - fail Level II (market and job implosion in process)
June 2011 - pass Level II
June 2012 - fail Level III (thought I nailed it)
June 2013 - pass Level III
Successful in 3 jobs over this period, navigated the market meltdown. Went from one child to two, and now have a 6 and 3 year old.
I’m not sure I will ever outsource mgmt of my own personal investments, but if I do, I can assure you the person will have CFA behind their name, and I will verify their standing with CFAI.
I really enjoyed GPM’s comments above - don’t miss them.
For anyone looking for Lev III study strategy, a post by Rolo550 entitled “Want advice from a passer” worked quite well for me. I can’t find the original post, but if you post your email below I’ll email it to you. Congratulations and best of luck to all.
 
4yearguy wrote:
Congratulations, everyone. Here is my journey:
Dec. 2009 - passed Level I
June 2010 - fail Level II (market and job implosion in process)
June 2011 - pass Level II
June 2012 - fail Level III (thought I nailed it)
June 2013 - pass Level III
Successful in 3 jobs over this period, navigated the market meltdown. Went from one child to two, and now have a 6 and 3 year old.
I’m not sure I will ever outsource mgmt of my own personal investments, but if I do, I can assure you the person will have CFA behind their name, and I will verify their standing with CFAI.
I really enjoyed GPM’s comments above - don’t miss them.
For anyone looking for Lev III study strategy, a post by Rolo550 entitled “Want advice from a passer” worked quite well for me. I can’t find the original post, but if you post your email below I’ll email it to you. Congratulations and best of luck to all.
Click to expand...
totofish*hotmail.com. Thanks~
 
Before this I was always reluctant to talk about my L1 experiences. honestly I’m not sure how many times I was registered, I know I no showed at least twice and failed probably 4 times, and always excused myself I’m an Analyst I have too much work to put the hours in.
Truth - I was a lazy B’tard
After failing Level 1 Band 9 whilst unemployed, I skipped the December test as I had a new job. from then my test results were
2011 June - Pass L1 CFA
2011 November - Pass Part 1 & 2 FRM (not really advised)
2012 June - Failed Band 8 CFA L2
2012 September - Pass L1 CAIA (7 sections from 8 Outstanding)
2013 June - Pass L2 CFA (All over 70 except PM & Quant 50-70 and Ethics under 50)
This is not just a question of keep on plugging, but look at what you are doing wrong and change it. I now work longer hours than i did when I was failing Level 1, but I am serious about doing whatever is needed to pass. I have also look a lot at how I study and tried to make that more efficient.
Everyone’s always asking what you need to do to pass. The answer’s both the same for everyone and different for everyone, the part that’s the same is commit to what you want to achieve and work harder to achieve it and the part that is different is look at how you study and adapt to improve your methods.
Hopefully this year my efforts will result in passing Level 3 first time.
 
[
For anyone looking for Lev III study strategy, a post by Rolo550 entitled “Want advice from a passer” worked quite well for me. I can’t find the original post, but if you post your email below I’ll email it to you. Congratulations and best of luck to all.
[/quote]
please mail it to : [email protected]
 
2008 - L1 failed
Then break two years. During the period, finished my degree in Computer Science and found an entry-level analyst job.
2010 - L1 failed
2011 - L1 passed
2012 - L2 passed
2013 - L3 passed
It is soooo wired that I attempt three times L1 but pass L2&3 on first try…. Luck I guess.
 
Dec 07-Passed L1
June 09-Passed L2.
Took a 3 year break
June 12 - Failed L3
June 13- Failed L3 again.
I am wondering if it is even worth the while to continue? Part of me says yes - Reason probably is more of like, I was an A student in university and I have never failed an exam in my whole life so why am I stuck with this crap? Sounds more of me going on an ego trip? The other part of me which says no is that the probability of me being able to reap the tangible benefits of passing all 3 exams are small. I am doing corporate tax (have been doing that for 3 years or so) and how likely is it that I can make a switch in view that I have accrued too much irrelevant experience (not exactly by choice either)? I figure that if I have not been able to do what I want despite trying to make a switch since I passed L2 4 years ago, what difference is passing L3 going to make?
 
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