What kind of scores should I target on practice exams at this point?

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We’re 39 days out and ive taken 3 6-hour practice tests the past three saturdays under test-like conditions (timed at a desk in the library - at the same times i expect to take the real exam). at this point, i review what appears to be my weakest single section in the week following the practice test. ive scored about 78 on the three tests so far. this concerns me only because i would like to be more confident going into the real exam.
the QBank has been somewhat helpful up to this point, but i feel like even the advanced questions can be too easy at times compared to the practice tests.
am i aiming too high or is a goal of 85 on a practice test realistic in the weeks just before the exam (mid-may)? where should i be at this point and should i change anything?
 
I think thats a pretty good score, if you are doing the Schwesser exams how are you doing vs. the average candidate scores? Also one of my friends scored quite well on exam (All 70+ bucket except FRA) and he told me he only scored 80+ on one of his practice exams.
 
p.s. i spend each sunday reviewing the exam, but then i review the full sections i score the weakest in (i.e. FRA, econ, portfolio management) during the week rather than financing/operating leases specifically if i get one of those questions wrong. i do, however, take extra time in financing/operating leases in my FRA review if that happens to be a challenging topic for me. should i be more focused in my reviews or keep it general, so to speak?
 
swatty27 wrote:
I think thats a pretty good score, if you are doing the Schwesser exams how are you doing vs. the average candidate scores? Also one of my friends scored quite well on exam (All 70+ bucket except FRA) and he told me he only scored 80+ on one of his practice exams.
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averages appear to be in the mid 60’s for the 3 that ive taken thus far, but that provides little comfort for me. my goal is to comfortably score higher than 70 rather than beat the averages every time. maybe my logic is flawed though…direction would be helpful
 
I’m about same stage as you, just completed the morning and afternoon practice exam set for the first exam, averaged out to a 75. I plan on doing what you do in reviewing the whole section that I am a little bit weaker in (FRA and Quantitative methods). I think 80+ is where I wanna get to scoring on those practice exams. I’m going to review the weaker topics as well as use Qbank within the week to go over some questions and then practice exams on weekend.
 
With 80+ I think you are a lock to pass. Even a 78 is probably a lock. For me, my std deviation has been extremely low (like, a couple %) and I think that’s the case for most people as well.
I’m in the same boat as you with regards to failing to improve….I just don’t know what else I can do aside from what I’ve been doing. Review exams. Try and learn what I did wrong. Try and memorize and understand more formulas. Focus on reading questions better. etc. etc. Last week I was feeling great about my studying going into mock 3 and then I got a 68 (down from 70 and 71 from 1 and 2) and overall I felt like exam 3 was significantly more difficult. I guess you didn’t feel that way, though. :(
 
With 80+ I think you are a lock to pass. Even a 78 is probably a lock. For me, my std deviation has been extremely low (like, a couple %) and I think that’s the case for most people as well.
I’m in the same boat as you with regards to failing to improve….I just don’t know what else I can do aside from what I’ve been doing. Review exams. Try and learn what I did wrong. Try and memorize and understand more formulas. Focus on reading questions better. etc. etc. Last week I was feeling great about my studying going into mock 3 and then I got a 68 (down from 70 and 71 from 1 and 2) and overall I felt like exam 3 was significantly more difficult. I guess you didn’t feel that way, though. :(
 
actually, i wound up taking exam 3 in book 2 (exam 6 of 6), without actually knowing it…will take exam 3 of 6 this saturday
 
Have you guys taken the CFAI practice exam (the full exam available for download on the site). I’m just taken first Scheweser exam and got a 69.2%. I’m not unhappy with this score but definitely feels a little borderline for comfort. Wondering if someone from this year or even previous years can compare Schweser scores to CFAI scores (practice or real exam).
I scored poorly (50-60%) in the sections I took for granted (derivatives, quant, and alt. investments), so going to tighten these subjects up and do another practice over the weekend. My score in FRA hurt me as well 62%, but improving this score is going to take a lot more work I think (I’ve gone over this material 3 times already).
 
i plan to take the CFAI mock next weekend (5/5), after taking my fourth schweser practice test this weekend. i would also like to hear comparisons from past level 1 takers. in my opinion, a 69% isn’t much to worry about just yet, we still have over a month before the exam. i see you’re studying with schweser so you have several practice tests, keep taking them, noting weak areas, and maybe spend the weekdays in between tests brushing up on those topics. that’s what ive been doing and ive seen improvements in the areas ive reviewed.
however, ethics has been hit or miss for me (sometimes i score 90+ and sometimes i score <60), but i havent even looked at that since december and dont plan to til maybe a week or two out from the test.
 
I feel like ethics is a good section to spend alot of work on. I do not feel like the questions are overly difficult once you get a grasp, CJ, I would highly recommend using the CFAI textbook reading on ethics as it was extremely helpful, on the practice tests I have scored around 80% on the ethics section and it is the 2nd largest section.
 
I just took my first Mock Exam, offered by Elan Guides. It seems most people in this thread have been using Schweser. Does anyone know if the Elan mocks are supposed to be harder than Schweser mock exams?
I scored a 60% on my first one today and I am starting to freak out a little. Although the Elan Guides say a score of 65% on their exams is a good score, it seems like most people on this forum are doing significantly better on Schweser exams.
 
@GoBigRed: There are mixed opinions about which ones are harder. Use the search function.
I scored 70% on the first Elan mock and a 75% on the first Schweser mock. I did most of my prep from Elan so I thought I would do better on the Elan tests. However, I think I can improve about 10% on both. Let’s see…
 
I’m scoring around 67% on the Schweser. I’m a little worried but I figure with a lot of studying and practice questions, that I will raise it 10 points. Still a little nerve racking
 
kawells wrote:
I’m scoring around 67% on the Schweser. I’m a little worried but I figure with a lot of studying and practice questions, that I will raise it 10 points. Still a little nerve racking
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10 points you think? I’ve scored 69%. I’d be happy if I can raise that 5%.
 
ftwcfa wrote:
75% - 80% is a solid range.
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What I want to know is what were people who passed the exam getting on the Schweser mocks.
@ftwcfa, what were your score ranges prior to passing?
 
Was averaging low to mid 70’s. Maybe at the end I scored high 70’s, but never broke into the 80’s. Thought the real deal was easier than the Schweser mocks (but don’t get me wrong, still was difficult).
Q-bank was helpful and was scoring 80% range there.
Btw, had >70% in every catagory for level 1. My buddy that I took practive tests with who was typically scoring 5-10 points below me on every test got 8/10 >70%. Both of us had a decent margin of error.
 
Thanks ftwcfa…makes me feel a little more confident in my scores (average 67). Definitely going to aim for mid/high 70s on average before the exam though.
 
cleverku: I’m in the same boat as you. I’m barely passing right now (i’ve taken 4 schweser mocks and my scores are 70,70,67,71 on 1-4) and I’d love to raise my score 5%. I thought that would be an easy task after taking the first one and getting a 70, but that has proven to be very difficult. I feel like I’m making less stupid mistakes, doing the easy problems faster, understanding what the problem is asking faster, and yet my scores aren’t reflecting it. Tomorrow (5/5) I take the CFAI mock so we’ll see how that one goes. Hoping for a 75!!
 
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