Advice on retake

Question

Hello All would love some input if i should continue in my pursuit of the CFA. I took Level one in June of 2014 failed in band 8. I completely underestimated the test and did not prepare for it accordingly. I read the Schweser books once took one of the practice tests and focused the majority of my attention on the Q Bank. Did approximately 1400 questions on the qbank. That was the extend on my studying. Received my results and decided to re-take in December 2014, with a completely different attitude. I started studying for the December 2014 in August and re-read all of the Schweser books. Additionally I answered all of the CFA institutes end of reading questions, I did the end of chapter review questions in the Schweser books, took the remaining 5 practice exams from Schweser twice. I would mark the sections and questions I got wrong to go back and re-read the corresponding sections in the Schweser notes book before re-taking it. Additionally i took the practice test offered by the CFA institute and the problems they offer online. I received my results and failed in band 10. Should i go for it a third time? I feel pissed off about the results and really want to re-take it knowing that my efforts were not wasted but I am hesitant because i do not know what I can do improve from the previous go around.  
					
Q#	Topic	                    Max Pts	          70%
-	Alternative Investments            	8	*	   -	           -
-	Corporate Finance	                        20	-	   -	           *
-	Derivatives	                                12	-	    *        	-
-	Economics	                               24	-	   *	       -
-	Equity Investments	                        24	-	   -	     *
-	Ethical & Professional Standards     36	-	  *	     -
-	Financial Reporting & Analysis	       48	-	  *	     -
-	Fixed Income Investments	               28	-	  *	      -
-	Portfolio Management	             12	-	  -	    *
-	Quantitative Methods	             28	-	  *	    -

Stuj79 · Answer

I agree with the above, if the CFA is something you want then go for it again. You got over 70% in Corp Finance and equity, so you obviously are up to speed on those two. I would suggest spending more time on the remaining heavily weighted topics such as FRA, FI and QM to drag yourself over the minimum passing score.

Stuff does get harder in level two, which is something to bear in mind but I have heard stories of people failing level 1 and then going on to pass level two and three first time, so don’t let anyone tell you you can’t do it. Just try your best one more time and see how it goes.

simply_complex2 · Answer

band 8 isnt bad, if its something you really want, i would keep working at it. try focusing on topics that have a lot of weight, like financial reporting, ethics, fixed income, etc.