- This topic has 6 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated Apr-203:57 am by
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Up2
hey all, just checking in with the group here on our last mile to the finishing line…
for me, it feels like a tough mountain to climb (still!) – level 2 seems impossible with the amount of things to learn (and remember). took the last week off last minute to really cram, focus and make sure nothing leaks out of my brain.
how are you all doing/holding up?
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Up3
interesting insights jasdev! yes, i think i’m giving up on reading somewhat, jumping straight to mock questions and doing as many as i can, checking where i went wrong, study those topics i got wrong, repeat for this last week. fingers crossed that works o:)
would you say level 3 feels “easier” vs. level 2 in terms of preparation and amount of material?
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Up3
Erm, I want to be careful when I say that it does feel easier but perhaps only because there is less material overall, and it is far more inter-linked than at L II. The corollary is that I feel like you need to know everything a lot better and be able to recall material from L I and L II to help with your understanding/calculation at L III.
There’s probably less places to hide at L III and I’m worried that I will be penalised for not having read through the entire curriculum by exam day.
The written portion of the exam is actually fun and interesting, but I write credit papers in my day to day work and my director is ruthless about keeping things short and sweet in writing, which must help with this.
There are parts of the official curriculum which are a drag, just like at L I and L II.
Also be wary of people who tout their written mock scores like those are worth anything at L III, because it’s super subjective marking your own work and so I don’t bother, I just try to map my answers to the guide answers as close as possible and only kick myself if I missed something completely. -
Up2
While procrastinating on the online topic tests, I compared my failed L2 attempt to my successful L2 attempt to see where I could benefit from focusing my spare time now, and it was interesting to see what changed year-on-year.
Ethics improved massively.Quantitative Methods dropped like a stone.Economics stayed shit (infuriating as I have a degree in the subject but can’t seem to reach a level of understanding with it).Financial Reporting and Analysis actually got worse.Corporate Finance improved.Equity stayed good but when I passed I was off-the-charts good.Fixed Income dropped massively (surprised too because I understood it quite well the first time round).Alternative Investments & Derivatives shot up (I neglected them on my failed attempt).Portfolio Management improved (surprised as I didn’t study it in either year pretty much).Moral of the story is there’s always an element of luck, don’t let that get you down as it can work in your favour too, and you can always “punt” a topic by giving it a quick read-through ahead of the exam and maybe, just maybe, you’ll retain enough to do okay in that topic.As I still have to read through Equity, Risk Management, Trading and Performance Evaluation, and complete Fixed Income, I’m praying to all the gods who will listen but also leaning towards learning through tackling questions directly and reading to bootstrap my understanding. -
Up2
thanks for sharing your thoughts @jasdev @artyeasel – it does make me feel a little bit better as i’m finding level 2 impossible at times. hopefully have done enough to head to level 3 this time next year!
for now, i’m motivating myself by thinking of the holiday i’ve planned after the exams, and the amount of catching up i’ve to do with friends and family in the summer 🙂
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Up2
Freaking out a little, but at the same time glad to be near the finishing line as the CFA cramming lifestyle isn’t fun. Still averaging about 60% in mocks, but good news is that it is trending up slightly, so hopefully enough to scrape through.
When I’ve free time, just doing long walks to rest the mind while doing other life chores, before jumping straight through. Even 30m solid break without anything CFA-related helps.
And I’m only a L1 candidate. WHYYYY CFA, WHYYY….
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Up1
I also found L3 easier (passed L3 now). L2 I found the hardest. Most people I’ve talked to feel this way, but some do find L3 harder. I think it depends on what are your strengths.
@jasdev is also right about the marking – I wouldn’t assign too much of a value to your self-graded scores, just do them for practice.
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