CFA Practice Probs (Again)

Question

Just to revisit the subject (as I looked through the last thread relating to this and it seemed to be more based upon the difference in difficulty between CFAI / Schweser / Kaplan / Etc, so to ask a different question;-Why do the practice probs in the CFAI material ask you to actually give a written answer? The CFA L1 test is based upon multiple choice and won't have questions like this. So my thought process here is;-1. They're making sure you understand the full concept behind the material, and...2. They know what common screw-ups people make in formula usage, and I personally think there might just be a host of 'wrong' answers in the CFA exam which will be designed to look right if a simple, common error in calculation is made?I also thought it was a bit mean straight off of the bat when one of the questions had A / B / C / D answers and in the solutions it stated that B was right because the question specifically asked about XYZ, but A / C / D were also right based on the entire principles of the CFA Charter. Makes you know that you have to look out for certain and specific words and not rush the actual exam as you can be caught out based on an answer that is right according to the principles, but wrong based on a specificity in the question. Read every word and don't rush in case you miss just one word that changes the exact dynamic of the question asked.

hairyfairy · Answer

Maverick said:
  
  Why do the practice probs in the CFAI material ask you to actually give a written answer? The CFA L1 test is based upon multiple choice and won't have questions like this. So my thought process here is;-1. They're making sure you understand the full concept behind the material, and...2. They know what common screw-ups people make in formula usage, and I personally think there might just be a host of 'wrong' answers in the CFA exam which will be designed to look right if a simple, common error in calculation is made?

Why written? My thought is that yeah, they are concept checkers, so not necessarily built to emulate the exam but rather serve as a tool to help you drive home your knowledge.Your point 2 is definitely definitely true. There is a whole science to wrong answers that CFA Institute is best-in-class at. There is an article here that was written about it: 6 Tips to Effective Educated Guessing In the CFA Exams (& Tips to Avoid)
  Maverick said:I also thought it was a bit mean straight off of the bat when one of the questions had A / B / C / D answers and in the solutions it stated that B was right because the question specifically asked about XYZ, but A / C / D were also right based on the entire principles of the CFA Charter. Makes you know that you have to look out for certain and specific words and not rush the actual exam as you can be caught out based on an answer that is right according to the principles, but wrong based on a specificity in the question. Read every word and don't rush in case you miss just one word that changes the exact dynamic of the question asked.

This applies throughout the whole CFA paper lol. I still get tripped up massively even after 2 exams.