dyga

Band 10 last year.

Changed nothing - just put in a bit more time and effort to prepare. Used Schweser only both times, didn't even open CFAI books.

mcmc

as per my name it was my 3rd time and passed

Band 4
Band 7
Pass


I STRONGLY suggest you dont take a year off or quit. If you see those LOS comparison posts for 2011, you will notice that the material is pretty much the exact same thing. If they totally revamped L3 and brught in a ton of new study stuff but then i can agree.
If I failed I would have no question about it did the 4th time based on this. All those " I wish they tested this stuff" " i cant beleive they ddnt test this .. " is likely going to work in your favor next year. let the week go by, relax, let it digest, organize a plan and sit down with both Los's and re-write you can do it

ohai

This time, I use the Schweser classroom CD. Its presentation notes are very helpful. It highlights all the key points which is suffice for the essays. Able to write down the key points are the key for essays.

Analti_Calte

I failed in 2009 Band 10 and passed this year. Both times I used CFAI material and did a 3-day Schweiser review course. Only difference was in 2010 I finished the material with more time to do the old 06-09 am exams. The first time around I only did one am exam which I think was a mistake. Plus you just retain more material the second time around. I got a few simple calculations wrong in 2009 and there was no way i was going to make the same mistakes in 2010. Off course luck, good or bad, is a factor too.

justin88

I failed as a Band10 twice. This year I used the same approach, read Schweser and do all CFAI problems. The key difference I made this year was to time myself on all practice exams. This is key. The prior two years i struggled to finish the am session. This year i got done with a few minutes to spare.

zwjy

I was band 4 last year, but didn't really put in much effort to studying (my own fault). I also only did the Schweser practice exams instead of the CFAI ones.

This year I began studying early, but took a break from March through mid-April. Last half of April and May I was studying pretty hard (esp compared to year before). I did all the exams the CFAI had on their website and paid for an additional one. That helped me more than anything.

strikethree

3rdtimesacharm? Wrote:
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> as per my name it was my 3rd time and passed
>

congrats 3x now you can remove the '?' from your name!

NakedPuts00

This was my second try on Level 3 and I finally passed.

On my first try, I only used Schweser Notes. I was very confident after the exam but I failed with a band 5. I almost fell off from my chair because my average score for the practice exams were all above 70. I think I failed because my answers are too brief and not to the points they were looking for.

On my second try, I read the CFAI texts and did a lot of practice exams just as the previous year. This year I took my time and explain my answer in detail, but I ended up not able to finish my exam (there were at least 2 questions at the end I had to write something randomly without making any sense). I also felt confident right after the exam, but as time went by and after comparing answers with others, my confidence started to weaken and turn into fear. At the end, I thought I would fail but it surprised me to the opposite.

liangfeng

Band 7 last year

Did CFA end of chapter questions during initial reading of curriculum and did them all again at review.

Went through the old essay questions until the answers were memorized.

Repeated all CFA website mocks and samples until I passed

former

I didn't use anything else but CFA Curriculum.I just did all the EOC questions.I started my review from April and completed by June 4th. I feel excited that I was able to pass.I didn't do any practice exams or sample exams.I just make sure I understand every knowledge points in the curriculum - not just calculation but knowledge points,i.e. adding security to the portfolio and how to judge whether it should be added or not and actually there was a question on that this time.

The key I think is to understand the knowledge points fully without any questio marks. I think the benefit of doing practice exams is to help you control time and pace,but overall I don't think it helps on your knowledge points. You don't want to waste your precious time in doing questions that would appear on real exams at a almost slight chance,so why bother?

But you gotta do all the EOC questions and make sure you understand them and understand why the question is asked.There is some similar pattern between the real question and EOC question at least the logic.