Retakers - DIfficulty? difficulty

Wendy01

For those who sat for L3 last year as well, would you say this year's exam was more/less/of the same difficulty?

wake2000

Morning was easier, afternoon was harder.

ohai

i don't know... i was walking in feeling much better prepared but have the same feeling about the results this year. i was band 10 so maybe the cards fall my way this time. definitely it is a very different exam from last year.

What was interesting about last year's exam is that most of people on the forum felt it was relatively easy. a lot of people felt it was the easiest level they took and felt confident. many thought it would be one of the highest passing rates. but when the results came out it was shocking to see one of the lowest passing rates. from what i learned, it's never what it seems.

bodhisattva

PM is easier than last year, AM is more dilutional (timing wise, becuase of only 9 Q sets). I was able to finish writing all the Qs last AM, but had to skip a 18pts Q this AM.

mar350

lenchik101 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> i don't know... i was walking in feeling much
> better prepared but have the same feeling about
> the results this year. i was band 10 so maybe the
> cards fall my way this time. definitely it is a
> very different exam from last year.

This

aidebaobao

I wouldn't get too caught up in pass rates -- especially comparing L1, L2, and L3 to each other. not to get all quant on everyone, just remember that at L3 the dispersion around the scoring mean is much, much tighter; therefore your margin of error is tighter for L3. You have to put yourself in a position to "win" every question. Whatever you do, you want to "fall" on that passing side (duhh...hehe), especially on the big questions. you need every point you can muster.

PalacioHill

IMHO morning much easier, Afternoon much harder. But last yr I was not nearly as prepared as I was this yr. There were a lot of questions in the PM where you can argue for any one of at least two of the answers.

Feel like im starting with 5/6 on each PM section because of the nature of the questions. Doesn't leave a lot of wiggle room for mistakes.

Zestt

AM- Definitely short on time...I left one and half questions practically blank, but my own fault because I saw 9 instead of 11 questions and thought oh this should be easy on time and took too much time with IPS Q and by the time I looked up when I had finished that Q it was 9:56am...and from there it went south.
PM- I found it tough and very detailed oriented exam...too many little tricks, too many double choices that I had to take an education guess between two answers that I could argue for on both sides.

I am really curious to know how some of you repeaters found it?! I found this to be same difficulty as last year in general terms when you put the two sessions together...I think CFA is definitely trying to keep the difficulty level the same from year to year, I did find the morning to be way more calculation intensive than any other level 3 years I have seen out there recently. I think this made it a bit of time crunch for me personally.

PS: Remember do not discuss exam details...I am refraining from going on any of the topics with exam Q & A and will probably just come on here from time to time until after results...so enjoy your summer people and good luck on 6am of Aug ??/2010

mik82

Both sets were more difficult. At least last year- there were no taxes

Roflnadal

I agree with doubleA and NJLVLIII. I found the am easier and the pm harder. In 2009 I failed in band 10 and did poorly in the am and well in the pm. I expect this year it will be reversed, just hoping it's a pass. Overall I felt much better leaving the room this year than last year, so hopefully my gut reaction is valid. Not sure if this is because I was more prepared, or the exam was easier or I'm just completely wrong on this.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at Monday, June 7, 2010 at 04:32PM by jayjay77.