Question for re-takers sometimes, difficulty, easier, search, anything

mamuka12

I wanted to know what is the difficulty level of real exam.. take away exam pressure, are the questions as tough or easier or tougher than the CFAI EOC.

I sometimes feel the EOC are too straightforward... does others feel the same?

Thanks.

I tried the search but didn't get anything.

liquidity

Yeah I'd like to hear this too. I remember reading someone said they pull out some pretty tricky questions.

Pegasus2008

In general, no lengthy calculations, but you need to know which numbers to pick. They will give you a lot of numbers in the vignettes, so if you are weak/unsure, you will be confused.

Yes, there are always tricky questions, or questions about things mentioned just a few sentences somewhere, so make sure you check the CFAI LOS. They will NEVER ask you anything not mentioned in the LOS.

You can also say that tricky questions mean you really have to master the stuff well to answer correctly. E.g., pension questions, FSA

You will definitely have enough time to work through each of your questions within the average time, with some time left at the end for quick doublecheck. That is if you don't linger doubting.

As usual under pressure, you will find that you oversee critical data and jump into wrong answers, even though you know the stuff (very well), so I discovered several "silly" mistakes at doublechecking.

Good luck.

kingstongal

A few more comments while I am at it.

In general, questions are asked in increasing degree of difficulties (w/i the vignette), with a few "giveaways" at the beginning so if you find yourself spending a lot of time calculating the first few questions, watch out.

CFAI is not out to trick you, so not afraid of misleading/unclear questions (like the ones you hear alot on this forum), but you already know that (from level I).

However, there are a lot to test, so they do pick and choose areas of focus (otherwise you can easy sit on a 3-day exam), so some time they ask a lot of "tough questions" in some areas, while leaving out a whole key area untested, so if you bet on areas, you may be out of luck, but if you cover all bases then no problem.

but bottom line is that CFAI exam is FAIR and ask you questions you will able to answer if you follow the LOS.

sameeragarwal

Thanks elcfa.

Very insightful, indeed.

RMontgomery

Thanks elcfa... that was very informative...

I got your point...just wanted to relate the questions to EOC.. which is what I am going to do this month...

GLTA

defour44

Even though am not a retaker, I firmly think that reading the question again and again will give you idea what to calculate or answer, that REALLY clears off the silly mistakes even when you know the topic!

MiniMe7

concepts, concepts, concepts, folks. Don't just think of formulas (although you will need to them too), but also think of what the heck the idea is... why stock options exist, why do people use swaps, what all the variety of bonds used for, what P/E measures, etc. That way, even if a "new" question is thrown at you, you know what they are asking and you know how to deal with it. It's good to make your study habit like that.

ayodayo

The EOC has easy to very hard questions requiring a lot of digging.

Having been actually doing the EOC this time I think the exam is comparable but with more tricks, less text, sometimes less info when you need more info to make something clear. The core of both are similar. The EOC has longggg questions and some over the top that you won't see on the exam. The exam sticks to the time per question limit. What makes the actual exam so hard it the time pressure and the fact that if you screww it up, you are doom for another year. You have to be on top of everything, no telling what they won't or will cover in DETAILS.