Strategy on Exam day

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Mosstastic

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I’m just wondering if anyone had given this any thought, and maybe I’m just missing something. Since we know that the topic weights vary and that we could potentially see more Fixed Income and less Corporate Finance, etc. Does that mean that it’s entirely possible that after the AM section we can whittle down which sections would be tested in the PM section giving us a chance to review even moreso on those topics?
Let’s say in the AM section we do not have a Quant item-set. This is a sure fire way to know that Quant will then be on the PM section so we can go ahead and review all the needed formulas, etc. More so, if we already had Alternatives, and we know that Quant is needed in the PM section, then it’s more likely that we will not have Alt again and so on…
Just wondering if any re-takers can shed some light on this. I know @ Level 1 all of the weights were static so it didn’t really make a difference either way
 
  • Morning session: 10 item set questions
  • Afternoon session: 10 item set questions
On the Level II exam, you will have a total of 120 items (20 vignettes with 6 items each) compared to 240 multiple choice items on the Level I exam.
The Level II exam is worth 360 points, corresponding to the number of minutes on the exam. The 120 Level II items are equally weighted, 3 points each, with no penalty for incorrect answers.
On the Level II (and III) exams, some topics are covered in the morning session only and other topics are covered in the afternoon session only.
 
@MissN, I knew all that before posting, but I guess what I’m trying to say is that uring our hour break between AM and PM session, if one of the item sets that we would expect to appear on the test hasn’t already, then it’s a sure sign that it will appear in the PM section and we can probably brush up on our weak areas during our break
 
I wouldn’t recommend reading formulas during the lunch break. If you haven’t learnt them for 4-5 months what would you achieve for 45 more minutes?
 
Gebura wrote:
I wouldn’t recommend reading formulas during the lunch break. If you haven’t learnt them for 4-5 months what would you achieve for 45 more minutes?
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Agreed
 
Portfolio Manager wrote:
Gebura wrote:
I wouldn’t recommend reading formulas during the lunch break. If you haven’t learnt them for 4-5 months what would you achieve for 45 more minutes?
Click to expand...
Agreed
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Yep I plan to just rest and chill the f**k out during that 1 hour lunch break….set my head straight for the second leg. Not gonna bring any study material withme at all.
 
i saw a lady carrying all six of the schweser books to the exam center … assuming that she will read them during lunch break … that was in the Level I exam …..
imagine the looks she was getting from everyone ……. :D
 
Gebura wrote:
I wouldn’t recommend reading formulas during the lunch break. If you haven’t learnt them for 4-5 months what would you achieve for 45 more minutes?
Click to expand...
Actually for Level I, I can’t recall what formula it was, but I had been having a hard time remembering it so during my lunch break I reviewed it extensivley and kept it in my mind before they administered the test. Once they did I wrote it down, and oddly enough it was used in one of the preceeding questions.
Worked for me
 
Mosstastic wrote:
Gebura wrote:
I wouldn’t recommend reading formulas during the lunch break. If you haven’t learnt them for 4-5 months what would you achieve for 45 more minutes?
Click to expand...
Actually for Level I, I can’t recall what formula it was, but I had been having a hard time remembering it so during my lunch break I reviewed it extensivley and kept it in my mind before they administered the test. Once they did I wrote it down, and oddly enough it was used in one of the preceeding questions.
Worked for me
Click to expand...
I brought 2-3 books in my bag for L1 and skimmed the section summaries/reviewed formulas over lunch. I distinctly noted two questions I wouldn’t have known if I didnt review the info. I had less than a week of comprehensive review though; the strategy may not be for everyone but I was probably within a few points of pass/fail and needed it.
 
So I guess during lunch I’ll refresh on the difference between a white knight and a white squire. Or, what’s a tag-along-drag-along clause…or should I go Ibbotson-Chen formula? No wait, Beneish model…
 
It’s a good idea to study some of the material during the break. There are always topics that need a bit of a refresher.
 
I think the most dangerous part about reviewing your notes at the break is the confirmation that you did something wrong on the morning session and fixating on that.
Maybe it’s just me but I’m nuts and that would ruin any positives I’d gain from glancing over curriculum notes again.
 
ltj wrote:
I think the most dangerous part about reviewing your notes at the break is the confirmation that you did something wrong on the morning session and fixating on that.
Maybe it’s just me but I’m nuts and that would ruin any positives I’d gain from glancing over curriculum notes again.
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Never feels good, but at least you wont make the same mistake twice if the concept comes up in the afternoon. Seems unlikely, but happend to me last yr.
 
I asked this before on the forum along with a few other questions, but I got no reply. It’s very clear to me what you’re asking, but I guess it’s a hard question to answer judging from irrelevant subsequent comments…hopefully somebody posts something helpful
 
JDP wrote:
I asked this before on the forum along with a few other questions, but I got no reply. It’s very clear to me what you’re asking, but I guess it’s a hard question to answer judging from irrelevant subsequent comments…hopefully somebody posts something helpful
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well if they test say Intercorporate Investments and International Operations in the morning I would suggest it is quite likely they will test pension accounting on the afternoon….I mean, that makes logical sense.
 
Portfolio Manager wrote:
Gebura wrote:
I wouldn’t recommend reading formulas during the lunch break. If you haven’t learnt them for 4-5 months what would you achieve for 45 more minutes?
Click to expand...
Agreed
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it’s not so much learning new things, but reviewing and retaining. repetition and more repetition helps retain stuff, can’t really argue with that.
I would agree that trying to cram learning new things during lunch would be futile.
 
This is reply to S666 - I always forget to quote…
Yea I’d agree with you on that point. Let me phrase my question differently…
My question, and I believe that of this thread’s author, is along the lines of, if there was 1 set of econ on AM, and none on FI and PM, is it safe to assume I wouldn’t see econ (since it can be 5%) and devote my an hour break time to brush up on FI and PM?
Of course, econ may or maybe appear, and if FI and PM didn’t appear on AM, I should definitely expect them in PM. But it would be interesting to hear from previous takers regarding this in general.
I understand that It would be against the CFAI code of ethics to lay out all the components of previous year’s test, but just anecdotally, any thought from previous takers on this seeminly gray area would be helpful, that’s all I was asking at least.
 
Everybody will apply the strategy that suits him best, of course, but my point is that if one spend the one-hour break revising, the probability of making a stupid mistake during the PM cession is higher. For example the case with Mosstastic - yes, you learnt a formula that helped you afterwards and earn 1 point but you can’t be sure how many mistakes you have made because of exhaustion.
I plan to apply different strategy - for the next 18 days I’m going to spend 10 minutes a day to test myself on all formulas on a different topic and then to check whether I’ve written them right. Two weeks should be enough, there aren’t so many formulas in Level II.
 
Personally, I think that the lunch break is a time to relax. You have 3 more hours ahead of you; you don’t want to burn out your brain during the break.
 
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