I did the test in June and failed and then retook December and passed. Personally, the June exam was not what I expected so the failure was expected, but I didn’t fail by much. What I learned however was.
1. Do as many questions as you can including the ones on the CFA website. I was too focused on the content and book.
2. Go through the blue boxes. I did not re-read. I watched videos instead and went over the blue boxes. Re-reading to me is a massive waste of time unless you absolutely do not understand a section. I understood the content but struggled with retention so re-reading will do little to improve that.
3. Do not skip sections. This time, I focused on the sections that in June I just did not have time to go over again and unsurprisingly, Derivatives and Alternative Investments are actually the reasons I passed. The strategy for me of cherry picking the highest weighted sections did not work because I was trash in FRA and could not retain the nitty gritty stuff no matter how I tried. Getting over a 50% was enough for me. I actually recommend being dead on in your best sections and lifting your weaker sections slightly. Have three topics that you can pretty much recite in your sleep.
4. Flash cards. I wish I had made them sooner as I did not make a lot but this really helped with the FRA ratios and even though I was doing poorly in FRA, I managed to be slightly nearer to 70% than 50%