连续两次fail，连续两次band 8，已经不知道该如何准备第三次了。发现论坛的同学大多都是一次性通过3级考试的，非常羡慕！不知有没有第二次(或第三次)pass的同学分享一下经验，谢谢！

这个经验超强，洋范进，

Dear all,

First of all, congratulations to you all passers and do not give up if you were unfortunate this year.

I have been seeing many happy posts from the passers but also a few very depressing ones from those that didn't. At first, I was just going to see how everyone did, but now I have decided to write this, given the fact that I got so much support from the people here during my down time in the past 4 Augusts.

Yes, I failed the Level III exams FOUR times, and I was fortunate to pass this year. In total, I have been with the CFA program for NINE f**kin' years (Level I: 2 tries; Level II: 2 tries; Level III: 5 tries).

I am not here to give suggestions for those who are thinking of retaking or not, because everyone has a different agenda that involves work commitments, families, personal goals... and the list goes on.... Instead, I would like to share my background, my experience in the program and what I think is the key to pass this year.

My lack of solid fundamental knowledge in accounting and finance got me to retake both level I and II, and I also wondered "what the h**k I was doing in college?" Obviously the frat parties, beers, and pimping around came at a big cost... Therefore, be sure you study hard in college. If not, then you better spend 2x the normal study hours on level I and II. Then I made a huge mistake by underestimating Level III, and failed miserably when the pass rate was >70% in 2006, the highest in recent years. I thought I did well on my second try, but still failed and I blamed it to the big drop on pass rate. Third and Fourth try I got band 8, so no improvement.

I am listing my 2010 study method vs my previous attempts:
Past
- Schweser text
- Schweser video series
- Schweser practice exams
- Local review course
- Mock test
- CFAI practice exams
- Past exams (no timing)
- Memorizing formulas
- Started in late January and finished in late May. Final 10 days for reviews and questions

2010
- Schweser text
- Local classroon course (forced me to keep pace)
- CFAI text on important subjects (PM, GIPS, derivatives)
- CFAI EOC questions
- Schweser practice exams (ONLY PM questions)
- Past exams (timing)
- No memorizing formulas, but spend extra time to understand the concepts and do as many problems as possible
- Started in late-Jan and finished in mid-May, but I did questions as I moved on. Final 2-3 weeks for reviews and practice tests (average score 68%).

I think the keys in my case is:
1) Grabbing the concepts, NO memorizing formulas, because there were times when I couldn't apply the memorized formulas on the exam, as CFAI tends to move things around and present the questions in a different way from what you learned.

2) Know the little things that could screw up your PM question. I spent a lot of time on taxation (hated that), real and nominal rate of returns (sometimes the CF is in nominal term, but FY is given in real term), and time line (if retiring this year, do I still have income this year? Should I find the variable for this year (t=0) or next year (t=1)).

3) Read CFAI on Manager Code because Schweser didn't have much material.

Don'ts:
1) Do not just read and keep yourself in pace without digesting all the important concepts, because they will come back and haunt you during your reviews.
2) Do not think because you do well on all past exams, you will do well on the actual exam. Be very sure you understand the little stuffs I mentioned above that could mess up your entire PM question.
3) Do Not worry too much on the results of Schweser's practice exams, because I think the item set questions are too difficult and too specific compared to the actual exam, which is more general and big concept-driven.
4) Do Not overkill yourself. you need to eat, sleep, and maintain a minimal social life. The more I locked myself up in the past, the worse I did because I was too tense. This year, I spent at least an evening every weekend in spring to relax with families and buddies. Psychological state is as important as nailing the LOS.

After having taken Level III for 5 times, I think CFAI is tightening the standard on the expected short answers they want to see in the essay session, so that might have changed the traditionally "piece of cake" essay session into most candidate's failing reason. The PM session, however, has been getting easier in recent years. Nonetheless, if you don't have a solid grab on the concepts, you won't do well on the PM session, in which CFAI purposely tricks you with very simiar choices. How many times have we seen a question where you are left with 2 choices and had to just pick one by chance? That means you are not strong on the concepts. In my past attempts, I wasn't sure on half of the questions. This year, I had confidence of at least 70% of them, and I was right. My good PM session helped offset my poor AM performance.

To end this, I would like to give a few words for those who didn't pass. Don't beat yourself up over this. 200% NOT worth it. Look at me, I failed Level III FOUR times and was in the program for NINE years. I had my down time, but this is only a test, not a verdict to give you a life sentence. You can always come back next time if you choose to. Unless you are in the program for over 9 years, I guess I have the right to say "chill and relax, because there is a dumb-a** called "onon12" that is in the program for 9 years".

Tomorrow will be another day, so keep your head up, enjoy the rest of the summer with your family, loved one, or whatever, then make your decision before the deadline.

Good Luck everyone, signing off from onon12 here....