Time To Complete AM

I finished it with at least 30 minutes (maybe more) to go. I had time to go back and check #’s 1-7 and add some extra info that I wanted the graders to pick up. All in all, I thought it was much easier than I expected.
 
around 5 mins left, only able to double check 2 to 3 questions and make some changes
 
Max 2-3 minutes just to make sure numbering and stuff was ok……30 mins sound amazing and if that is true and result in a pass
 
I had just a couple of minutes. But thats because I had no clue to answer a particular topic. It was my mistake as I never read that topic in the last three months. And as luck would have it, I had completely forgotten that.. Talk about not trying to game the exam, Ive learnt it the hard way :)
The center were I was writing, last year they had a big wall clock. I assumed this year it would be available, but then it was not to be and I dont wear a watch either :( I panicked a little (actually quite a lot) answering the first question and lost 15-20 minutes there.. Had to catch up and the fact that I didnt have a clue about one question actually helped as I answered the rest decently :)
Learnings..
1. Dont game the exam, hard fact learnt over three years. Hopefully I dont have to learn it again next year :)
2. Dont believe CFAI or the exam centre, take your own watch :)
 
Took and passed the test in 2012. Nobody in my section got up early and none of my study partners felt particularly good about their performance. I used the full alotted time and didn’t answer (or didn’t properly answer) some questions that under better circumstances I could have easily handled.
 
I think a lot of people crush for time because they are not used to writing full words on the exam - think about it, when you do practice exams at home, you probably write alot of short-hands and abbreviations don’t you?
It’s important to practice writing concisely but in complete words (if not complete sentences).
if you’re used to writing “Long hzn - 2, til retirem’t & post” at home and then switch to writing “Long time horizon, 2 stages. 20 years until retirement and 25 years+ post retirement” during the exam, you will probably be caught off guard.
ps* that was NOT one of the answers on the exam, it was purely an example :)
 
NANA Hachiko I think thats a very good point. When I did practise tests and I did do them as a real practise tests, I remember writing bullet points and some kinds of short forms.. (Not necessarily hzn for horizon..) But all these habits faded away in the exam hall :)
Looking back, thats something which should be improved upon as well :) Thanks!
 
^ Agree. I found myself writing full sentences in the exam, despite knowing that bullet points will score just as effectively. I did remember to use a couple of techniques to shorten the time. One was to say M (M = million) at the beginning of the answer and then use M throughout the answer. Another was for plug-and-chug questions- write the formula first, substitute numeric values, get the answer; and then explain what each term in the formula meant, in English. The advantage is that you can skip the explanation in English part if you’re short on time, with (hopefully) no noticeable impact on your score.
Example of the second technique
“FVIF(ecg) = (1 + r*)^n (1 - T*) + T* - (1-B) Tcg
= (1 + 5%)^10 (1 - 10%) + 10% - (1-1) 20%
= 3.4567 (or whatever)
where
r* = 5% = effective rate of return
T* = 10% = effective tax rate”
etc etc.
If you are in a time crunch, just leave out “where” and all the explanation that follows.
EDIT: removed potential violation :)
 
Wow hats off to you if you had the time to explain what each term meant. If penalised for not then i stand no chance. Wonder if the rest explained. If you use schweser i noted that not all notations in a formula is the same with assigned readings. I used schweser. Notwithstanding, no time to explain.
 
I didn’t explain. I put the formula. Like in the above example, I would have written just:
= (1 + 5%)^10 (1 - 10%) + 10% - (1-1) 20%
edit: then obviously I would calculate down for the answer as well
Maybe I’ll get hit for assuming that I’m not being graded by a kindergardener. Plus I have to assume I didn’t make any stupid calculator errors since I did try to double and sometimes triple check. It would be helpful if the CFAI posted, for like even just one IPS question, what a “bare bones” minimum answer is that would get all credit. That way we can extrapolate from there, what the other questions would be. But that will obviously never happen.
 
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