Practice exams?

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jdoshi

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I am studying from shweser 2007 books. My plan is to understand the concepts from all the books, do all the concept checker problems at the end of ever section and finish all the practice exams in book 6.
I want to take as many practice tests as possible. Are the number of tests in these books enough to clear CFA level 1?
Do I need to do anything extra to clear CFA level 1?
 
In addition to all 5 CFA exams, (at a minimum) get a question bank CD through one of the providers.
 
I would suggest going through the CFAI material and reading anything new that has been added.
 
I recommend the Q bank as well. The questions aren’t like the real exam questions exactly (the Q bank has many more calculations), but they’re great practice to make you understand the concepts.
I think paying for all 5 CFA exams is discretionary… one or two should do the trick if your Book 6 results are good (> 80%)
 
Generally speaking, if you are scoring better than 85% on the practice tests offered by 3rd party providers, you are in decent shape. I highly recommend the practice tests by CFAI in addition to the question bank. If you choose 1 or 2 exams only, choose the topic areas that you are least comfortable with.
 
85%?!? I don’ t know anybody who scored that high consistently on the 3rd party exams. I think I scored an 83% once and most of the others around 70 on Schweser exams and I never took any CFAI exam since I had enough practice exams without needing to spend $50. I don’t think those are that beneficial considering there pretty tough and kill your confidence more than give you confidence which is what you need going into the exam. I wouldn’t take a CFAI exam unless its 2-3 weeks out from the exam in which it may help you refocus for the final couple weeks. A lot of it is timing and confidence.
 
85% is a high hurdle, no question. But the reality is that you really have to discount a score by 10% or so for the actual exam in my view and this is what I have heard from some other instructors who have led reviews. But I do think the CFAI tests are worth it. Focus on what the style is like to get comfortable with the vignette format.
 
Cat Fanciers’ Association Wrote:
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> 85%?!? I don’ t know anybody who scored that high
> consistently on the 3rd party exams. I think I
Ahem…
I guess you weren’t around the Level I forum last May. It’s do-able, believe me.
(Book 6… not Book 7 – Book 7 is definitely the confidence killer and doesn’t really apply anymore from what I was told by the Schweser Level I prof).
 
I took two of the CFAI exams last year and distinctly remember a few questions on the LI test that were taken almost verbatim from the sample $50 exams. I think they are beneficial and I plan to take a few of them this year as well.
 
And for us Euro-people that is very very cheap nowadays!
 
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