Does anyone think it is practicable to skip economics? This includes skipping the studying and guessing the questions on the exam. Economics is worth 10%, so assuming you get some of the economic questions right, you should be able to get at least 2%. This leaves you with 8% of the test being incorrect.
Skipping Economics on test day
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kochunni69
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- Jun 18, 2026
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You have to score a minimum of 70% on all subjects. Guessing will get you 25%
I found that the problem with economics is that it isn’t as cut and dry as most of the other topics. I realy had to stop and think about many of the economic questions - and some people just arn’t good at the graphs and stuff..how everything kind of works together.
I read through the economics books in about a week last year and then just studied whatever economic practice questions there were on all the practice exams. I scored between 50-70 without putting too much effort into it.
Basically, what I am saying is that you should just read through the material quickly. It will help.
I read through the economics books in about a week last year and then just studied whatever economic practice questions there were on all the practice exams. I scored between 50-70 without putting too much effort into it.
Basically, what I am saying is that you should just read through the material quickly. It will help.
They say, “Know a little about everything and allot about some things”.
I don’t think any section is worth skipping. If you have time, read though once and do a bunch of Q’s on the section. If you can’t do that read the summary and just do some questions and read the answers. Remember the 40/50/10 rule: just knowing the basics of the section is likely to get you 40%, plus another 10% -15% for guessing, so you’re looking at close to 50% for just basic review. That’s going to hurt your final result allot less than 20%.
If you get 50% for one set of questions you need 80% in 2 other section of equal size to make it up and average 70% again. If you get 25% you’ll need to get 92.5% percent in these 2 sections. Trust me going from 20% to 50% in one section is allot easier than going from 80% to 92.5% in two. Your time will be much better spent studying for Economics.
I don’t think any section is worth skipping. If you have time, read though once and do a bunch of Q’s on the section. If you can’t do that read the summary and just do some questions and read the answers. Remember the 40/50/10 rule: just knowing the basics of the section is likely to get you 40%, plus another 10% -15% for guessing, so you’re looking at close to 50% for just basic review. That’s going to hurt your final result allot less than 20%.
If you get 50% for one set of questions you need 80% in 2 other section of equal size to make it up and average 70% again. If you get 25% you’ll need to get 92.5% percent in these 2 sections. Trust me going from 20% to 50% in one section is allot easier than going from 80% to 92.5% in two. Your time will be much better spent studying for Economics.
kochunni69
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- Jun 18, 2026
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Blamey, Shouldn’t I get minimum 70% on all the subjects to pass?
I think its not the aggregate score that matters. If its the aggregate score, I would skip at least some readings from derivatives (so much to study for just 5% of the exam
)
I think its not the aggregate score that matters. If its the aggregate score, I would skip at least some readings from derivatives (so much to study for just 5% of the exam
)Black Swan
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- Jun 18, 2026
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kochunni69 Wrote:
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> You have to score a minimum of 70% on all
> subjects. Guessing will get you 25%
Very wrong, I’m surprised you guys don’t know this yet. I’m an L2 candidate and if it were 70+ in all categories, pass rate would be 5-10 percent at best, and I’d be retaking the test in June with you. The only section you MUST pass is Ethics, so know that crap inside and out, and aim for an aggregate score of around 70%.
NYSE: Furthermore, econ, stats, fsa, and ethics are the four you must know, so skipping econ in my mind would be retarded.
——————————————————-
> You have to score a minimum of 70% on all
> subjects. Guessing will get you 25%
Very wrong, I’m surprised you guys don’t know this yet. I’m an L2 candidate and if it were 70+ in all categories, pass rate would be 5-10 percent at best, and I’d be retaking the test in June with you. The only section you MUST pass is Ethics, so know that crap inside and out, and aim for an aggregate score of around 70%.
NYSE: Furthermore, econ, stats, fsa, and ethics are the four you must know, so skipping econ in my mind would be retarded.
Black Swan
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- Jun 18, 2026
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kochunni69 Wrote:
——————————————————-
> Blamey, Shouldn’t I get minimum 70% on all the
> subjects to pass?
>
> I think its not the aggregate score that matters.
> If its the aggregate score, I would skip at least
> some readings from derivatives (so much to study
> for just 5% of the exam)
On this note, skipping derivatives might work, its the only section I can say is skippable, however, many of hte complex, lightly covered topics and optional readings become testable material in L2 and aid in your overall understanding on test day for LI as well. So skipping derivatives comes down to a function of how much time you have and how painful you want the L2 studying to be.
——————————————————-
> Blamey, Shouldn’t I get minimum 70% on all the
> subjects to pass?
>
> I think its not the aggregate score that matters.
> If its the aggregate score, I would skip at least
> some readings from derivatives (so much to study
> for just 5% of the exam
)On this note, skipping derivatives might work, its the only section I can say is skippable, however, many of hte complex, lightly covered topics and optional readings become testable material in L2 and aid in your overall understanding on test day for LI as well. So skipping derivatives comes down to a function of how much time you have and how painful you want the L2 studying to be.
kochunni69
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- Jun 18, 2026
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Well.. its my bad to spread the wrong info. I know I won’t score 70% on derivatives today.
overall 70% would be great comapred to 70% on each of these subjects.
overall 70% would be great comapred to 70% on each of these subjects.
i find reading Econ once was enough to allow me to eliminate those obvious no answers. Which usually means a 50% chance of getting it right. or Expected score of 50%.
But putting in the effort to get that 80 and 90 might not be worth it, depending on where you are for the other areas. But to risk 25% on Econ is scary when it’s worth so much.
But putting in the effort to get that 80 and 90 might not be worth it, depending on where you are for the other areas. But to risk 25% on Econ is scary when it’s worth so much.
cfaboston28
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- Jun 18, 2026
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Econ is 10% of the exam…Try to do it one more time..if you still don’t get it..just leave it. I am l2 candidate and failed Econ (less than 50). Econ was brutal last year.
Even you dont have to pass Ethics..I know people who have got between 50-70 in Ethics and still have passed.
70% aggregate in the exam would be a PASS.
Even you dont have to pass Ethics..I know people who have got between 50-70 in Ethics and still have passed.
70% aggregate in the exam would be a PASS.
cfaboston28 Wrote:
——————————————————-
> Econ is 10% of the exam…Try to do it one more
> time..if you still don’t get it..just leave it. I
> am l2 candidate and failed Econ (less than 50).
> Econ was brutal last year.
>
> Even you dont have to pass Ethics..I know people
> who have got between 50-70 in Ethics and still
> have passed.
>
> 70% aggregate in the exam would be a PASS.
cfaboston, out of curiousity how difficult is the econ material now given you did poorly in level 1 on it.
Right now my focus is almost 100% on level 1, and even thinking of level 2 is too far in the distance. But i want to kind of get a feeling at how much it would hurt if i sidelined one portion of the test in favour of portions that are worth more.
——————————————————-
> Econ is 10% of the exam…Try to do it one more
> time..if you still don’t get it..just leave it. I
> am l2 candidate and failed Econ (less than 50).
> Econ was brutal last year.
>
> Even you dont have to pass Ethics..I know people
> who have got between 50-70 in Ethics and still
> have passed.
>
> 70% aggregate in the exam would be a PASS.
cfaboston, out of curiousity how difficult is the econ material now given you did poorly in level 1 on it.
Right now my focus is almost 100% on level 1, and even thinking of level 2 is too far in the distance. But i want to kind of get a feeling at how much it would hurt if i sidelined one portion of the test in favour of portions that are worth more.
Black Swan
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- Jun 18, 2026
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I’ve known kids who had +70 on everything but ethics and failed. I’m not saying CFA Boston is wrong, I’m just saying that the CFAI has some crazy grading scheme that we can only guess at approximation models and from what I’ve seen, its best to view Ethics as a must pass. I’m guessing CFABoston did well on FSA to do that poorly on econ, which is understandable, I believe I scored between 50-70 on FSA, but scored 70+ on econ ( I was scoring 90-100%’s in econ on the CFAI practice exams) so I guess that made up for it. To play it safe, I would aim for 70+s in the categories I mentioned before and plan on passing ethics.