IAmNeil

man… i can’t recall any AM questions already.

bulosehi

Maybe that’s the way they intend it - morning for obscure stuff, and evening for straightforward stuff..

maratikus

The frustrating part is that, in real life, internalizing 90% of the material really well is far more important than knowing 100% of the material bookishly. I thought CFA was a practical exam, not so theoretical, but I was wrong. It’s not like finance is theoretical physics with their flights of fancy about superstrings. It’s the most practical subject that exists. Which is why the academic focus was jarring.
EDIT:
It’s not a bad idea to hold 5 3-hour exams and then they can test everything thoroughly; you won’t hear me whine about obscure material.

Andreas42

OP, the alternative perspective is that there were some people that learnt the obscure things as well as the core concepts.  There are only two ways for CFA to measure this.  One would be to hold 20 x 6hr exams for each level so that you can be comprehensively assessed on all material.  Or hold 1 exam that includes a random assortment of concepts.  The fact that a few obscure things show up allow the people that REALLY know 100% of the material to distinguish themselves from those that know, say 90% of it.
It is frustrating though…  I’ve been there and feel your pain.

AnalystForum

Conspiracy theory stuff -
does someone in CFAI have an ax to grind against Schweser and other “Cliff Notes” people? The poor Cliff Noters are going to emphasize the core portion of the curriculum, and CFAI does not want to pass candidates who don’t read their textbooks but read the Schweser Notes alone. That’s one reason why the AM paper was so obscure.
Next year, Schweser will try to include the trivia that showed up on this year’s paper and CFAI will keep one move ahead by setting a paper geared towards whatever Schweser did not think was important enough to include. So the Cliff Notes guys could never win.

bpdulog

Thanks Baystreet. That gives some hope. Fingers crossed.

bcp901

Is is possible to pass without having answered one full question in the AM session. ? If there is sectional cuttoff separately in morning session, then i dont know how is that possible.
deeply worried.