CFA CFA General Right way to practice and approach Item set questions in exams

Right way to practice and approach Item set questions in exams

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      Dear all, I am expecting to sit for level II June 2014, but I have got few challenges. I am not the good reader, I mean I can not read fast and grab all necessary information. Most of the time I use “skipping” style and I don’t think it will work for item set questions. What kind of practice should I do to increase my concentration and reading ability and which approach should I use in tackling Item set questions? Kindly advice me on this.

    • Avatar of vincenttvincentt
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        • CFA Level 3
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        Hi @Mr_Excel , like you i’m a slow reader too. My approach is to skim through the questions quickly before you read the vignette. You would pretty much know what information is important as you’re reading through, underline or circle the important information. Of course, you would expect yourself to take longer at first but you’ll get quicker as you go along.

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        @vincentt yeah I think mocks are the way to go. I’ve always been someone who liked to try to master the material and maybe too proud to hit the mocks early with poor scores but they should definitely take top priority.

      • Avatar of FranzFranz
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          • CFA Level 3
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          I allocated 2 weeks for mock exams and basically just did 1 mock exam a day. I felt like I learned the most during this 2 weeks; by the end of the first week, I was very comfortable with the calculation questions.. To be honest, I think the mocks are the ones that got me through level 2..

          About the skipping style, I can skip questions as long as it’s in 1 vignette.. but, once I’m done with that vignette, I would have answered all 6 questions (guessing or otherwise).. Then, move on to the next vignette, and don’t look back..

          Best of luck next year!!

        • Avatar of Zee TanZee Tan
          Keymaster
            • CFA Charterholder
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            1 mock a day is an insane pace @Franz. Did you have time to go through the answer explanations too?

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            Makes me wonder where @marc is. @marc?

          • Avatar of vincenttvincentt
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              • CFA Level 3
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              I’ve been getting mixed feedback about EOC questions, in L1 i didn’t even use the textbook, so can’t say much on the EOC questions. In L2, I did do some of the EOC questions and I find that it’s similar to schweser’s EOC (in a way it’s to test your understanding of the concept, not quite like the mock or the actual) but it’s definitely way tougher than schweser’s.


              @stt00007
              I had only 4 months as well, so didn’t manage to do much EOC but focus entirely on just mocks.

            • Avatar of FranzFranz
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                • CFA Level 3
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                @zee, yea I actually had a lot of time for 1mock/day because I took the last 2 weeks off… I even had time enjoying the sun (it’s rare here in Canada, haha)..

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                @Mr_Excel – here are some discussions in the forum that have touched on this before, hope you find it useful:

                Hope this helps

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                Thanks @Sophie I went through discussions, I like the discussion of Deep vs. Light reading let me dive in to get more insight. 🙂

              • Avatar of MarcMarc
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                  You’ve reached the voice mail of @marc. I’m not available to take your call right now, but please leave a message and I’ll get back to you as soon as I finish enjoying my summer. (beep)

                • Avatar of Zee TanZee Tan
                  Keymaster
                    • CFA Charterholder
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                    You’ve reached the voice mail of @marc. I’m not available to take your call right now, but please leave a message and I’ll get back to you as soon as I finish enjoying my summer. (beep)

                    The profile pic seems quite apt then…

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                    It isn’t that rare in Canada @Franz

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                    @Mr_Excel, I have poor powers of concentration and always find myself thinking of the next question rather than focusing on the one I am currently answering.

                    Like @vincentt I find it useful to read the question stem and then read the passage. Once I have collected all the necessary information for the first question I will draw a line under the text at that point and proceed to answering the question. I will then move on to the next question stem, however when looking for the information I will begin reading from where I drew the line.

                    I must sign off with a warning, this strategy was ineffective for me in L2 June passed as it has to be coupled with extensive practice. There really is no substitute for practicing EOC questions, blue box examples and Mocks…all the things my preparation lacked 🙁

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                    @vincentt @sophie @stt00007 @Franz @Zee thanks guys for your quick reply, I will give you feedback as I proceed when I will be starting exam preparation. This gives me confidence a lot, I really appreciate. ^:)^

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