Practice Exams Sources - CFA Level 1

This topic has 9 replies, 3 voices, and was last updated Apr-20 by jasdev.

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- fp92
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  03 Apr 2020 at 6:22 am
  
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  Hi all, sorry if this has been asked before. What is your strategy regarding practice exams variety?
  
  I get that we should aim to do 6-7 papers, but which sources do you get extras from aside from CFAI’s mock? I currently only have Kaplan’s but should I diversify?
  
  Thanks in advance!
- jasdev
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  03 Apr 2020 at 6:35 am
  
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  I took a Quartic exam administered live by my local CFA Society, two Wiley Elan mock exams I bought and printed out, and the official mock. I thought the Wiley Elan mocks for Level I were brutally hard.
  Still, good prep!
- fp92
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  03 Apr 2020 at 6:04 pm
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  Thanks for the recommendations jasdev. Seems like I should diversify sources for practice exams.
  
  A few questions:
  1. Quartic? Haven’t heard of them before. Any good? How was your experience taking a live practice exam? Do you get to discuss where you went wrong etc once you get your scores?
  2. OK will check out Wiley too. Do you remember the range of scores you did for those, since they were tough?
- jasdev
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  03 Apr 2020 at 10:46 pm
  
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  I guess Quartic is UK only. The live exam was useful only in the sense that I allowed myself to pretend it was the real deal and so practice getting into the mindset and flow of the exam, including behaving just as I thought I would have to in the real exam.
  They just gave us an answer sheet and sent us on home, no help beyond that.
  I was in the low to mid 40% range, absolutely dreadful. I can’t believe I passed, to be honest. Schweser Q Bank may have saved my skin.
- fp92
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  04 Apr 2020 at 4:01 am
  
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  Thanks jasdev, useful to know that. Might look into administering my own timed exam or attend one as well.
  
  Anyone else tried other providers’ papers such as AnalystNotes, Bloomberg, Fitch, BPP, Adaptprep, BSAS, Finquiz? Any good? Just wondering which ones I should get for a variety aside from Kaplan and Wiley.
- kalalah
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  04 Apr 2020 at 3:19 pm
  
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  jasdev said:
  
  I was in the low to mid 40% range, absolutely dreadful. I can’t believe I passed, to be honest. Schweser Q Bank may have saved my skin.
  
  Interesting that you mention that Wiley was hard but qbank saved your skin. Was the hard exam useful in increasing your actual performance?
  
  I used to think hard = good, but maybe that is not the case.
- jasdev
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  04 Apr 2020 at 4:02 pm
  
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  Wiley’s practice exams (plus the official CFAI mock) scared me to death; the QBank was a furious two weeks of frantic drilling, and learning, and repeating. That fortnight was hell. Starting now can only be a good thing by comparison!
- kalalah
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  04 Apr 2020 at 4:07 pm
  
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  Sounds like Wiley helped by scaring you into action, so helpful anyhow!
  
  @fp92 I’ve tried AnalystNotes and Bloomberg in the past. Both are good for more practice, but honestly Kaplan + wiley +CFAI would be more than enough practice until the exam, unless you’re going for variety.
- fp92
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  05 Apr 2020 at 6:07 am
  
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  Thanks so much for your input jasdev and kalalah! Good to have a sense of quality of other providers as well, just in case I need them. Now back to holy-mother-of-god-i-have-so-much-to-study-still mode… :s
- jasdev
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  05 Apr 2020 at 8:55 am
  
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  @fp92 That’s every year, don’t sweat it 😛
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