L3 repeaters who were shocked that they failed last year better, failed, feeling, injury, passing

Zesty

I took the L3 last year and walked out of the exam feeling confident that I would pass. I was shocked to see that I didn't (and a band 7 to add insult to injury). For those repeating the Level 3 this year, were there any of you who felt that way last year? If so, what are you doing differently this time that makes you feel better about passing this year (if any)?

Would appreciate some insight. Thanks.

nannan66

totally been there.

This year, I did the sample exams much earlier and added Qbank. Hopefully, this will work.

wake2000

I walked out last year thinking it really wasnt all that bad - but was shocked in August. I took the 09 exam a couple weeks ago and I gotta say looking at it now - it was a TOUGH exam. I feel like the 1 think I didn't account for is that AM kills just about everyone.

The key is knocking the PM out of the ballpark - so this year - I've been doing lots of QBANK and vignettes found in the end of chapter readings. I feel like if I can do well there, I should be able to squeeze the "Pass".

bkballa

Read it on the boards here a few years back - but the wind has to blow the right way sometimes for you to get lucky.

cityboy

I also walked out feeling relatively confident - certainly better than I felt after L2. Failed band 10, even asked for a remark. Ethics and IPS were the areas that dragged me down, while I did well on most of the other sections. This time I have focused purely on CFAI text, and have done my best to get through the work at a steady, calm pace. But still have to consciously work at staying calm each day and believing that I'll be successful this time.

Iginla2011

The only thing worse than getting a Band 7 Fail last year, was telling my wife the result on her birthday.

This year I've been drilling down on each LOS, from the CFAI texts, a little harder (as opposed to general topics) to cut out the noise. After rereading every topic, I wrote out each LOS and the answer. I've also decided to take all of next week off from work to study so I can go morning to night for 10 straight days. I took a week last year but my daughter arrived 5 days before the exam so it doubled as a paternity leave and I only spent about 2 days actually studying.

Starting today this is how I am spending each of the next 10 days.
6-9 AM: Take a 3 hr. Practice test
10-12 AM: Grade it
1-6 PM: work EOC questions over again and review notes
6-8:30 PM: Dinner & bed time stories to the kids (4 & 1)
8:30- 11 PM: Make topic flash cards on every question I answered wrong that day & review notes.

Best of luck everyone

mik82

I failed last year, Band 6. Not very good. The morning session was my downfall - low grades on the Institutional IPS and Monitoring/Rebalancing stuff.

I do think there's some luck involved. Last year, they ask a lot of Econ. questions in the morning and afternoon - where I hadn't spent much time. Then, there were other topics that I killed myself learning that weren't even asked.

This year I did all the CFAI readings, wrote out bullets for each LOS and did every EOC problem. Figured since Schweser didn't work well for me last year, was time to change approach...

Unforseen

ndzhai, I think time spent amount of time this year (well over 400 hours) as last year, but allocated differently. The last month was the most important though, because that is when it all came together.

This year, more time on specifics of the LOS than the broad topic outlines I favored last year. More time left for practice exams this year, too. I think I took 3 or 4 last year from various providers, and this year I'm taking 9, 8 of which are CFAI issued (my office has collected CFA resources over the years).

Especially as we get closer to exam day, I am paying more attention to the wording of the guideline answers CFAI provides so I associate key words with certain topics. For example I took the 2006 test today and noticed that on the pension question CFAI kept using the phrase "duration of liabilities" where I referred to "time horizon". If I can take a little of the subjectivity out of the written portion I am hopeful I can get a point or 2 more that will ensure I pass.

aidebaobao

this topic is so dreadful...

Can any of you tell how many hours you have put in last year vs this year then?

mcmc

I wonder now that CFAI publishes the bands if they track how people do over time and if they see people leaving the program if they are under a certain band.