Reminiscences of a cocky CFA Level III candidate

G

Goodwill

New member
Joined
May 31, 2011
Messages
0
Reaction score
0
I am a frequent visitor to this website and have found it helpful in my preparations, despite my lack of contribution to discussions most of the time. I meant to write this post sooner as a way to give back but just got around to it. I sat for the CFA Level III exam this year and will probably be sitting for it again next year.
Why I was cocky: I passed levels I and II on first attempt without completing a single practice exam.
As you might expect, I didn’t do a practice exam this time around either. Turned out to be very poor judgment on my part…
Result: I got owned by the morning session. It was filled with mental blocks and improper time management. I left a lot of it unanswered.
I studied relatively hard for the exam (300+ hours) and wish I had attempted the morning session at least once on a practice exam going into the real deal. Composition has never really been my strong suit and that’s another reason why I struggled to create time for practice.
Moral of the story: Take a practice exam - atleast for the morning session. Also, if you’re like me and don’t enjoy writing, practice the art of writing ( not necessarily on this forum like me, but can’t hurt…)
Good luck to all candidates. I will post an update as to how badly I failed on the 12th to help further convince you.
 
I sat the same exam as the OP. Unofortunately, I also left a lot of the morning session questions unanswered. Unlike the OP, I did at least half a dozen practice exams. However, I wasn’t strict enough timing myself for the practice exams. Take my advice here: allocate a three hour chunk for writing the morning practice exams and no matter what happens or what you do during the time allocated when the alarm goes you stop writing. There’s real pressure to finish writing answers to every question in the real thing. You’ll give yourself a better idea of what the real thing willbe like and a better chance of adapting your style so you can complete the exam.
I got caught taking more time on questions I thought I knew well and just didn’t get around to thinking through and writing something on the ones I initially skipped.
 
Even if you do one essay question at a time, it is important to time yourself when doing the mock exams. And be sure to do all the mock exams you can.
Good luck to you both.
 
If true, it is impressive you passed L2 without doing any practice exams.
Any charterholder could have told you though that you would probably not get passed L3. Even the best test takers can’t beat blank paper
 
That’s why you have to go through and practice writing the key words and answering the actual questions. I guess we’ll see if it worked in about a week!
 
I call passing any CFA level without practicing an utter BS. Knowing or even mastering the materials would be enough if each question have one correct answer. Many CFA questions have a correct answer and a more correct answer, you should choose the better one. In addition to that, approx 30% of the questions have some sort of light tricks. You have to practice to to avoid such traps. On L3 exam this year, I thought i was so smart for the exam to the level that I made a very stupid mistake. I enjoyed taking L1 and L2. They were like cool mental exams. They fed my adrenaline rush. I felt high during and after the exam. I went to L3 with the same attitude. I prepared well, but I overdone the AM session. I started by writing show-off answers. I was progressing great, but slow. It was a bit late when I realized how short a time is left. Started rushing up. I didnt encounter a challenging question, the problem is I didnt have enought time to encounter all questions. The last answers were mere bullet points. I dont feel good about it. This was too stupid.
 
WOW! YOU ACTUALLY PASSED LEVEL 1,2 WITHOUT TAKING A SINGLE MOCK..REALLY? WELL YOUR LUCK RAN OUT THIS TIME. MAN YOU ARE TOO BLESSED. SAY THIS TO THE DOZENS OF PEOPLE WHO ARE STILL STRUGGLING WITH THEIR LEVEL 2 BEAST. AND BY NO MEANS ALL OF THEM ARE DUMB (NO OFFENCE INTENDED). SOME OF THEM ARE ACTUALY PRETTY BRIGHT. MAN YOU SHOULD THANK YOUR STARS FOR BEING SUCH ARROAGNT BRASH AND ON YOUR FACE. NO PRACTICE EXAM..THINK TWICE BEFORE SAYING THIAT
 
I passed level 1 and 2 from first attempts using schweser + only 1 mock released during the year. When it comes to Level 3, last june was my third attempt and my chances are 50%. I used CFA books, past am papers, past mocks and still couldn’t feel condifent about it at all.. Hope that makes u feel better :) ..
 
For what it’s worth, I never took any mock exam for L1 & L2 either.
Certainly planning to for L3.
 
ABAL wrote:
WOW! YOU ACTUALLY PASSED LEVEL 1,2 WITHOUT TAKING A SINGLE MOCK..REALLY? WELL YOUR LUCK RAN OUT THIS TIME. MAN YOU ARE TOO BLESSED. SAY THIS TO THE DOZENS OF PEOPLE WHO ARE STILL STRUGGLING WITH THEIR LEVEL 2 BEAST. AND BY NO MEANS ALL OF THEM ARE DUMB (NO OFFENCE INTENDED). SOME OF THEM ARE ACTUALY PRETTY BRIGHT. MAN YOU SHOULD THANK YOUR STARS FOR BEING SUCH ARROAGNT BRASH AND ON YOUR FACE. NO PRACTICE EXAM..THINK TWICE BEFORE SAYING THIAT
Click to expand...
Dude, stop yelling at people…
 
ABAL wrote:
WOW! YOU ACTUALLY PASSED LEVEL 1,2 WITHOUT TAKING A SINGLE MOCK..REALLY? WELL YOUR LUCK RAN OUT THIS TIME. MAN YOU ARE TOO BLESSED. SAY THIS TO THE DOZENS OF PEOPLE WHO ARE STILL STRUGGLING WITH THEIR LEVEL 2 BEAST. AND BY NO MEANS ALL OF THEM ARE DUMB (NO OFFENCE INTENDED). SOME OF THEM ARE ACTUALY PRETTY BRIGHT. MAN YOU SHOULD THANK YOUR STARS FOR BEING SUCH ARROAGNT BRASH AND ON YOUR FACE. NO PRACTICE EXAM..THINK TWICE BEFORE SAYING THIAT
Click to expand...
Why write in capitals? we can see clearly, freako!!
 
Goodwill wrote:
“…. despite my lack of contribution to discussions most of the time. I meant to write this post sooner as a way to give back …..”
Click to expand...
It was a better forum with you as a non-contributing member.
 
I’m not going to name names, but some of you are missing the point of the post.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top