MiniMe7

I thought the ethics section was one of my weaker areas.  There were several questions I felt were in the gray….

ap0258

I felt Ethics was my strongest section. We’ll see I guess!

AndyNZ

Me too , I was astounded by how easy  I found it.

profil

Urban Myth.  You can CERTAINLY get under 50% in Ethics and still pass the exam.

chandsingh

^ Yes, there is an upside ethics adjustment. This is a Fact.
But saying you will certainly fail with a < 50% score in Ethics is totally False.

genuinecfa

Someone could use publicly available data (score reports, score posts, etc if this exists) and create a multifactor model to determine pass rates.  This would be indicator.  Would be interesting to see this across levels.  Apply those concepts!
Also, OP: If you “gave” the exam, you would have been a proctor, no? I believe you mean that you “took” the exam or “sat” for the exam?

luckygiftvn

I can attest to this. My friend scored <50% in ethics in the Level II exam last year and passed. I saw the breakdown myself. In fact  he only passed FRA and Equity  and failed the rest (<50%) . “MPS” he put that number to the test!!

Kapie

I got above 70 on ethics for L1 and below below 50 on ethics in L2, passed both times.

wake2000

Most of the time ethics will be the deciding factor.  I am surprised none of you guys have even mentioned anything yet especially the CFA charterholders
If you read the guiding principal.  You will realize the CFA Insitutite uses the modified Angoff Standard Setting Method.  Google and read up on that and how they derive the weight.
Ethics will always be weight heavily thus the MYTH is true; (expected
performance of a just-competent candidate on each question
on the examination.)
“The Angoff method has been used as a criterion for the
establishment of the MPS for the Level I examination since
1996, for Level II beginning in 2005, and for Level III beginning
in 2007. CFA Institute retains independent psychometricians to
conduct standard setting workshops for each exam.
This method involves a large and diverse group of CFA charterholders.
The lead psychometrician divides participants into
two smaller groups for each level of the examinations. Each
participant reviews the entire examination, question by question,
and makes an independent judgment on the expected
performance of a just-competent candidate on each question
on the examination.”
http://www.cfainstitute.org/programs/cfaprogram/Documents/the_cfa_progra...

Andreas42

I scored below 70% on Ethics in level 1 and below 50% on ethics on level 2 and passed both.  Based on my scoring rubric for level 2, I think I was pretty close to failing (above 70% on 5, between 50-70% on 4, below 50% on 1), so I don’t know how valid this is or how close to the border you need to be for it to swing you.