CFA CFA Level 1 Final Week: Revise or Practise or Both?

Final Week: Revise or Practise or Both?

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    • RoyD
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        So it’s almost the final week before the Big One now and I was wondering as to what my game plan should be for the next week. I’ve taken one full CFAI mock exam where I scored an average of 75% (I knew many answers since they were repeated) and 4 full (6 hours) KS mocks where I’ve ranged between 72-85% with an average of 76%.
        I also made a plan where I’d finish 18 ‘Study Sessions’ (which covers the whole portion) according to KS notes over the final 6 days before the exam. That’s 3 Study Sessions a day. Of course fitting in any mock exam into this would be impossible.
        So should I just revise and hope for the best or should I still go ahead with a couple of more mocks? What’s your opinion guys?

      • FinancialExamAcademy
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          Hi RoyD,
          I agree with fabian. Go with your gut, but for what it is worth I would always spend the last week prior to the test doing mock exams and revising my incorrect answers in detail.
          Also if you haven’t already try and replicate the exam conditions as closely as you can. Literally sit the morning paper from 9AM to 12AM and the afternoon paper from 2PM to 5PM uninterrupted with a break in the middle somewhere where you are unlikely to get disturbed with no phone/computer/study aids. If you do this a couple of times it will really help with little subtleties like perfecting how you pace yourself, and it will reduce the shock to the system on Saturday..
          Best of luck!

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          @RoyD‌  Can’t believe that we’re 4 days away from the exam!

          I’m not going to take a mock in this short period because:
          1. I’m tired.
          2. In case I don’t score well, it’ll kill my confidence. 
          3. Scored about 85% in the last mock.

          What I am going to do is quickly brush through all the readings, revise formulae/concepts and solve a few EOC / QBank problems. 

          5th is my buffer day too. Just going to use that day to finish of anything that I couldn’t upto 4th and probably read some ethics case studies and most importantly,  just relax :smiley: 

          All the best!

        • RoyD
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            @NickQAnalyst‌ Well actually on the website they ask you to answer the topic specific tests first before answering the full length exam which I did. But the problem was that many of the questions from the topic specific tests were repeated in the full length exam so I was able to remember many answers my memory. Hence the high scores. Otherwise I feel my score would be somewhere around 70%. Anyways I’ve heard the CFAI mocks are a little tougher than the actual thing so I don’t want to stress too much especially not at this point when there’s very little time to improve by much and where the stress and anxiety levels are at its peak.
            Btw I decided to go with my 3 Study Session a day plan. It’s day 3 and of course I’m lagging behind xD Still trying to do my best though. I’ve left 5th December as a buffer for last minute stuff and maybe a KS mock to boost confidence. I swear if I mess up that final mock I’m going to have a hard time controlling my anxiety.

          • RoyD
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              Yeah I just can’t wait for this to be done with. The past 3 days have just sucked the life out of me. I’m literally revising 10 chapters a day now. I got 85 and 75 in my last two 3 hour mocks so somewhere deep inside I’m still not satisfied. Anyways if after all this I still don’t pass then at least I can say that I gave it my best.

              Hope we’re all in the top 40% category come 6th December. All the best!

            • NickQAnalyst
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                I feel you on that.  I took a 6-hr KS mock yesterday and scored an 86.  I don’t think I would be able to handle a poor score on another mock.  I’m going to follow @jessmat ‘s lead and just review everything without taking another full mock.

                I can’t wait for this to all be over!

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                I think it’s a judgement call – score-wise you seem to be doing OK. I assume you’re trending up with your KS scores? 

                Personally I like to run up to exam day with practice exams, or revising practice exams, as it gives me a quick overview of the entire syllabus (high level). I’m always afraid I’ll start forgetting other topics if I start doing in-depth revisions.

                I’d continue doing mocks and move to re-reading mocks towards the exam. But I honestly think either will work well, so go with what your gut says.

              • NickQAnalyst
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                  @RoyD 

                  I’m right there with you.  I’m scoring in the low 80s on the KS Practice Exams (done with 3.5 exams with the second half of the 3rd one commencing in about 5 minutes.. haha).

                  I will spend most of the week doing an “honest appraisal” of the topics that continually trip me up and dedicating troublesome formulas to memory, while still browsing over the topics that I feel that I know pretty well.  Like you, I’m nervous that I’ll forget certain things unless I keep them in reaching distance.

                  I haven’t taken the CFAI Mock yet, due to some technical difficulty with the website, but I’m glad to see that your CFAI Mock score wasn’t, like, 15 pts below KS exams.  That kind of discrepancy would make me freak out even more than usual…

                  Best of luck!

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