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secondtonone7189

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I am astonished as to why people are so eager to share and help others in a setting such as this. What you are doing is exactly the opposite of what an enterprising individual this program is training you to be would do! You do realize that the pass rate is based off of how your peers perform right? So by helping others you are effectively disadvantaging yourselves. These exams are serious stuff and if you are investing your own time and money to study for them why make it harder for yourself to complete them? Do coaches give their gameplan to the other team before the big game? NO. Do yourself a favor and stop sharing your own gameplan that will put you at Level 10 and your fellow peers in the pass column! Take the extra effort to learn it yourselves privately and hope your fellow peers fail miserably rather than helping them defeat you. This is an individual exam, and when push comes to shove that person you are helping understand the intricicies of the curriculum would without hesitation take you out in order to pass! Now is the time to be selfish and you are unwise to think of it any other way.
 
I disagree with your logic since the CFA Institute does not limit the number of people that can pass an exam. If everyone on AF can exceed the minimum passing score then everyone here will pass.
 
Unless the mps is arbitrary and picked out of a hat of random numbers, then there has to be some logic behind it; ie. how difficult a particular year’s exam is deemed to be by CFAI, that opinion shaped in part by candidate scores.
That’s a big “if” though, since I obviously have no idea how the mps is arrived at.
For the sake of the op’s argument lets just say its true that the more people who pass the higher the mps (amongst other factors). Then yes, I can see how an active forum sharing ideas, tips, and strategies might be detrimental to a candidate’s chance of passing; though the effect would be so marginal as to not matter.
Unless a good majority of the candidates actively use this forum that is.
 
Part of me wants to agree with the OP. But the fact is that of the thousands of people taking each level each year, only a fraction of them will ever go through the time and energy to seek and give help on a web site like this.
That’s why if you go through the threads that pop up after exam results, most of the people that volunteer to post on AF, pass the exam! Obviously that is subject to self selection bias, ppl who fail are probably less likely to volunteer that info than ppl who pass. But people who are active on AF are probably putting more time and effort in than Joe L1 who registered because his employer told him to or whatever.
 
Disagree with OP as well.
The exam is not curved like the SAT, GMAT, LSAT, etc. In theory, every test taker can pass. See if you can find the pass rates from 15 or 20 years ago. Something like 70% - 80% of test takers pass. Why? Because all you need to do is meet or exceed the minimum passing score NOT necessarily outscore your peers.
 
the only argument you can make that I can agree with, are candidates that waste too much time on this forum when they should be studying lol
But since it is indirectly hinted that a 70%+ is a pass, it doesn’t matter too much on the distribution.
Now if you want to open up the conspiracy that CFAI will adjust the MPS upward above 70%… that’s a whole different debate..
 
There could be another perspective. Chad is absolutely right as there is no limit on candidates passing the exam as long as they are above the MPS. Moreover those who help others here are a kind of making themselves better in understanding, retaining and recalling things. At least it works for me perfectly! When I reply to any post, I feel a continuity in my learning. I joined Analystforum after my result of Level I and for 1.5 month I was out of touch but replying to posts brought a perfection in my concepts which is helping me in Level II. I believe knowledge is something which increases with sharing!
 
Actually, I’m fairly certain that test taker performance affects the MPS. On CFAI’s website, they indirectly say that they use a relative standard for determining the passing score:
“To set the MPS before the administration of the exams would require that an absolute standard be applied without regard to the difficulty of the exams; this could potentially be very unfair to candidates, especially across time.”
http://www.cfainstitute.org/cfaprogram/exams/Pages/cfa_exam_results.aspx
So, yes, if everyone else who sits for the CFA exam does exceptionally well, your chances of passing will decrease.
However, since there are like 10,000 candidates in each exam, it’s highly unlikely that any post on AF is going to change the MPS. So, you should feel free to comment with impunity.
 
It’s too tough to go through life thinking of everyone as a competitor. The right way to think about is that this is Team AF and everyone helps everyone else pass. I personally get lots of satisfaction out of helping people learn stuff, maybe even to my own detriment. Only a small fraction of the people who take the exam spend any significant time on AF. Most of those people do pass. Taking the CFA exams is a small part of your life, might as well get some satisfaction out of doing it.
 
you may think you know something, but unless you are able to articulate it well enough so others can understand it - you never know what depths that topic could take on.
unless you have someone on your family willing to listen while you rant financial / cfa related stuff and then give you meaningful feedback (or have some sort of dedicated study group you work with) - AF happens to be the next best choice. Anonymity, the ability to communicate while hidden behind the web, and then to articulate and understand what you are really trying to say - since you type it out, is the advantage provided by AF. Learning on your own is not fun. This mode (thro’ AF) gives some form of learnability and learning ability.
 
There is a lot of candidates out there who suggest that the exams are graded on a curve. However, in asking CFA Institute about this and reading about how the exams are graded on their website, I have found no evidence suggesting this is so.
 
What? I just posted a quote from CFAI that said that the MPS is not determined by an absolute standard. CFAI only determines the passing score after grading the exams. If the passing score is not absolute, then it must be relative. In other words, there is a curve.
 
You’re misinterpreting the quote. The MPS varies because the exam difficulty varies. Their goal is to maintain a consistent passing standard over time.
If you’re not certain, simply call them.
 
According to page 10 of this CFAI document:
http://www.cfainstitute.org/cfaprogram//Documents/the_cfa_program_our_fi…
“SETTING THE MINIMUM PASSING SCORE
CFA charterholder members on the CFA Institute Board
of Governors set the MPS each year. The Board convenes
approximately six weeks following the exam to determine
the Levels I and II MPS and approximately seven weeks after
the Level III exam to determine the MPS. This is one of the
Board’s most important responsibilities. Although pass rates
may fluctuate, the Board’s objective is to set a consistent
standard competency level across years.”
The same document refers to a “just-competent candidate” which means to me that the MPS fluctuates because of fluctuating competency levels. Theoretically, this “just-competent candidate” does not change much so if you know more than the “just-competent candidate” you will pass.
 
I do think that the test is ‘curved’.
Rationale:
1. If not, why is MPS set after the exam is graded?
2. As others have posted, and CFAI indeed confirms, the MPS varies to reflect exam changes from year to year (in terms of difficulty). How does one determine that 2011 exam was more difficult than 2010. By looking at performance numbers (average score, 90th percentile etc.). Again - if the performance on an exam determines its difficultly level, and is used to determine MPS, it is graded on a curve (no matter what name you use for it).
 
It is curious to me that the MPS is set after the exam is administered. Still, I have not found anything from CFAI indicating that a curve is being applied.
If a curve were being applied, don’t you think the passing percentages would be more consistent from year to year?
 
AMCC wrote:I do think that the test is ‘curved’.
Rationale:
1. If not, why is MPS set after the exam is graded?
I think you are contradicting yourself. Setting the MPS after the test is graded is the essence of a “curved test”. Because once everything is graded, you can set the MPS to pass the percent you want to pass… hence.. the curve.
duh
 
CFAI I’m sure just decides how much money the want to make from retakers that year and sets the MPS that way.
 
secondtonone7189 wrote:
I am astonished as to why people are so eager to share and help others in a setting such as this. What you are doing is exactly the opposite of what an enterprising individual this program is training you to be would do! You do realize that the pass rate is based off of how your peers perform right? So by helping others you are effectively disadvantaging yourselves. These exams are serious stuff and if you are investing your own time and money to study for them why make it harder for yourself to complete them? Do coaches give their gameplan to the other team before the big game? NO. Do yourself a favor and stop sharing your own gameplan that will put you at Level 10 and your fellow peers in the pass column! Take the extra effort to learn it yourselves privately and hope your fellow peers fail miserably rather than helping them defeat you. This is an individual exam, and when push comes to shove that person you are helping understand the intricicies of the curriculum would without hesitation take you out in order to pass! Now is the time to be selfish and you are unwise to think of it any other way.
*game plan
*intricacies
I do believe overall candidate performance is included in setting the MPS.
HOWEVER, you’re ignoring the fact that this resource is used by a small percentage of test takers. Having this resource helps everyone in that small percentage, including those who post. Many times through trying to help others I increased my own understanding. I’ve also made networking connections and learned a tremendous amount through this site that far exceeds the value of a pass. I posted something like 2,000 posts in the 1.5 years it took me to go 3 for 3 and I definitely gained far more through actively posting than I lost. Most importantly I will always choose to be a quality person rather than a “selfish” one as you put it.
That being said, I hope you at least do well academically in life to compensate for having to live with your petty self. Although, if you’re worried about things like this forum keeping you from passing, your odds don’t look so good.
 
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