Tips to study Economics and Ethics?

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Skies

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Ethics and Economics are the two sections that I got under 50% last year, which resulted in a not-so-happy ending for my CFA Level II attempt in 2008…
I have to admit that I didn’t spend enough time on these two sections as I studied hard to bring my Equity and FSA above 70%. So, this year I’m determined to bring up my Economics and Ethics…I am just wondering what kind of study strategy would be good for these two sections? Should I start them from the beginning and repeat them all the time? Should I do just every question as I can?
If I could bring them up to the middle and keep two sections at >70%, will I pass next year? Or I need to get at least Ethics >70%, plus two other sections at >70%, and the rest in the middle?
 
Why not try to get everything >70%? You already studied all the material once, and you have nine months to prepare.
 
I can never score everything > 70%…I just knew it. I just want to pass…(pessimist) :)
 
Hello Mister Walrus Wrote:
——————————————————-
> Why not try to get everything >70%? You already
> studied all the material once, and you have nine
> months to prepare.
+1
 
Hello Mister Walrus Wrote:
——————————————————-
> Why not try to get everything >70%? You already
> studied all the material once, and you have nine
> months to prepare.
+1
 
seems like most people that passed had at minimum about 4 over 70%, most folks more like 6 above or more. i’ll say this- don’t assume b/c you got above 70% last year that you’re a lock again next year. similarly, don’t assume b/c you got the lowest band in econ that you know nothing. econ is 6 questions, you could’ve gone 3 for 6 and maybe it was a bit obscure as to what was tested (it was). know your own weaknesses, fill in as many holes as you can while reinforcing the stuff you know well already. but look and understand which sections count the most and make sure that those you’re crushing. ethics i’d say take the time to know. read it again and again, every practice problem. econ, ehh… make sure you have a solid enough base, but your time may be better spent nailing down FI or CF or derivs.
 
This really helps, thanks! as for Econ…being shameful of myself as an Econ major!
 
^ don’t worry. i was an econ major also and went under 50% 2 years in a row.
 
I was Econ & Finance. While I was above 70% in each of the last 2 years (passed L1, failed L2), it was mainly due to a lot of hard work. I’ve never been impressed with the amount of Econ in the program, or how the CFAI presents/tests the material.
 
I was also an econ major and hit over 70 for both L I and L II. There is a lot of material in econ for how little they test, I think like JAM says, you just have to work really hard at it. I read the CFAI book on the first pass and then also read the whole Schweser’s version of econ during the last month of review. I think I may have even watched all of the econ videos as well.
I still struggled with currency arb at times, but figured they would be unlikely to waste more than one econ question on that (after all it is really more like derivs than econ). I was extremely happy when I saw the test questions related more to country growth than currency arb. Pretty sure I went 6/6 for that item set.
As for ethics, again it is just read and re-read, do lots of questions. Ethics comes very easy to me, but I think that is a result of taking a lot of law classes during undergrad. There is just a certain way you need to analyze, run the traps if you will, and determine whether or not an action is a violation. Wish I could articulate it better than that…. I think there was a thread a few weeks ago that went more in depth on this actually.
 
Do you still have the link of the thread that discussed about Ethics?
Thanks for all the advices. Hard work + repeat readings + thorough study is my takeaway from everyone…(I used only Schweser last year which was a little bit too “packed” so I think that I should do better by utilizing CFAI textbooks this year to get a better understanding of how CFA tests Econ…)
And I really need to figure out a way to read the vignettes faster! :)
 
Haha some of the posts are funny. Seems like law students really get the “intuition” of the thinking process….i just hate reading anything longer than a memo….! :)
Thanks for the link!
Chi Paul Wrote:
——————————————————-
> Here it is, not sure if it is as insightful as I
> made it out to be, but here you go:
>
> http://www.analystforum.com/phorums/read.php?12,10
> 36247,1037511#msg-1037511
 
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