From Band 5 to pass 2010, understand, important, concepts

Bad5shah

My last Dec 2010 result was band 5 fail but I managed to pass this June.

The reason I made the huge jump cos I totally relied on the CFA texts and mock in Dec 2010 and I did not fully understand major concepts.

So, I enrolled for Kaplan, followed Schweser books and worked all the way. Unforturnately as I have to give up my social life, I gained extra 10 kilos weight.

Most important reason is that I learned to love the material as I go along.

If I can do it, so can you. Don't give up if you haven't put enough effort.

profil

jpm Wrote:
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> Band 7. This is my 4th attempt. I took several
> years off to do my MBA in Finance. I am thinking
> of doing this again in December, but I need to
> know if I should. Can you provide some guidance?
>
>
> Q# Topic Max Pts <=50% 51%-70% >70%
> - Alternative Investments 8 - - *
> - Corporate Finance 20 - * -
> - Derivatives 12 * - -
> - Economics 24 - * -
> - Equity Investments 24 - * -
> - Ethical & Professional Standards 36 - - *
> - Financial Reporting & Analysis 48 * - -
> - Fixed Income Investments 28 - * -
> - Portfolio Management 12 - - *
> - Quantitative Methods 28 - - *


Hats off to you jpm. Having the determination to taking lvl 1 4 times is not easy. When I took lvl 1, I thought it was so hard and I hated someone who said lvl 1 was easy. Later I found out that lvl 1 was actually quite easy compared to lvl 2 and lvl 3. lvl 1 is easy in a sense that you don't have to completely understand everything to pass. To pass lvl 2 and lvl 3, you have to understand everything cold.

If I were you, I would try networking instead. Imagine you spend 1000 hours on networking instead of pounding books. Assuming you spend 1 hour on 1 person, that's 1000 ppl in total. It gives you more bargining power on job hunting than with just passing CFA.

mp3bu

I'm sorry. I passed Level 1 on the first try in December of 2008. Don't have my results from that test any longer. Passed Level 2 on my second try this year. Now a Level 3 candidate for June '12.

jbaldyga

I have wrote Exams twice, in Dec 2010 and June 2011 and failed in both. Most disappointing things was Ethics. Both the time it was under 50%. I know, I have to do a lot in all the sections but Ethics is somethings I have always worked on an and can't decide what else to be done.
I indeed face the concerntration in ethichs and most of the questions I do in ethics in mock goes right. Done know what approach to be followed.

Kindly suggest.

dvilayphet

Yes. That will mean the difference between a Band 5 and a Pass. It is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to pass these exams without thorough understanding of how CFAI is going to test you. You really do have to practice via questions and mocks as much as possible in order to engrain what you've read and feel comfortable with all of the different ways that CFAI tries to trick you on these exams.

Good luck.

skycfa

So I also failed band 5 on my first attempt this past June. I admit that I didn't start preparing well in advance and only dedicated the last 2 weeks before the exam to study (schweser notes), but it was pretty intensive studying. I didn?|t have any time to go through EOC questions or any mock exams either as I was still learning the material up until the day before the exam. I do have a financial background though and I thought it would be an advantage.

Before the exam I had no expectation of passing but after I came out of it I though with luck I could have pulled through otherwise a band 10 at min?K To my dismay it was a 5 ??

Question is, I felt somewhat confident after the exam and thought I knew what I was doing, I don?|t think I can study any differently apart from doing more practice questions and sample exams but will that really mean the difference between a band 5 and a pass?

Results Matrix
performance on each topic area.
Multiple Choice
Q# Topic Max Pts <=50% 51%-70% >70%
- Alternative Investments 8 - - *
- Corporate Finance 20 - * -
- Derivatives 12 * - -
- Economics 24 * - -
- Equity Investments 24 * - -
- Ethical & Professional Standards 36 - - *
- Financial Reporting & Analysis 48 - * -
- Fixed Income Investments 28 * - -
- Portfolio Management 12 * - -
- Quantitative Methods 28 - * -
We have divided the full group of candidates who did not pass into 10 approximately equal score bands. Your score band below shows how your overall score on the exam compares with all other failed candidates.
Your score band: 5

transferpricing

jpm Wrote:
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> Thanks. How do you think I feel? What would you
> do?


What do YOU want to do with a CFA? Which area do you want to work in? Is it req'd/needed, more than MBA in Finance?

cityboy

Thanks. How do you think I feel? What would you do?

MarginofSafety

damn, 4th tempts for L1? Is that gonna take you another 8 tempts to pass L2?

sameeragarwal

Stoploss....As per me , you should certainly go for dec'11 exams..you were pretty close both the time and its just unfortunate that you dint get through on both occasions.....also i think you shouldn't be changing you prep provider...stick to scheweser...imagine if scheweser was that bad you wouldnt have scored band 9 or band 10.....some more efforts n u'll be on ur way to level 2.....for me m still not certain if i wuld attempt this dec or take some more time n come back in june 2012.....