CFA CFA Level 3 Accumulating tips for L3 essay questions

Accumulating tips for L3 essay questions

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    • Avatar of itsalwayslupusitsalwayslupus
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        • CFA Level 3
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        A day or so before the exam, run through the entire syllabus focusing on memorizing definitions. Essays usually have a few definition-style questions and if you happen to memorize it before the exam you’ll get a few easy points.

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        • Sometimes the actual area to fill in your answers aren’t clear, so make sure you are writing your answers on the answer sheet rather than on the questions, because those won’t be graded. There can be separate answer forms, for example, if you need to fill in answers in a table, there will be a blank table provided for you marked ‘answer sheet’ or something similar.
        • Make sure you kill it in the PM session, because the essay can go either way.
        • I’m not sure about handwriting, mine was pretty bad, although my result wasn’t that great either I don’t think I was penalized.
        • Graders just look for key words in the answers, I think.
      • Avatar of hairyfairyhairyfairy
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          artyeasel said:
          • Sometimes the actual area to fill in your answers aren’t clear, so make sure you are writing your answers on the answer sheet rather than on the questions, because those won’t be graded. There can be separate answer forms, for example, if you need to fill in answers in a table, there will be a blank table provided for you marked ‘answer sheet’ or something similar.

          Definitely this. I think I lost out on a whole section because I filled in a table in the QUESTION rather than on the answer sheet.

          Also fill out your answers as you go rather than waiting for the end to fill out everything all at once. writing takes up a lot more time than you think!

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          L3 is more conceptual and less memorizey. Depending on what you’re good at you may find it easier. Good luck!

        • Avatar of justingjusting
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            • CFA Charterholder
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            – Make sure you try out the CFA institute issued past exams and model answers.
            – note as much of your calculations down as possible
            – spend time in proportion to the number of points allocated to the question. Don’t spend 30 minutes on a question worth only two points. I think the actual exam even states the number of minutes you should be allocating to this – treat this as your max, with reading time included.

          • Avatar of excelmonkeyexcelmonkey
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              • CFA Level 2
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              Thanks guys, this is useful! Attempted one practice exam last weekend but had huge problems trying to grade it because it’s open to opinion.

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              @excelmonkey just curious, why are you on L3 practice exams so early in the game?

            • Avatar of excelmonkeyexcelmonkey
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                • CFA Level 2
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                artyeasel said:
                @excelmonkey just curious, why are you on L3 practice exams so early in the game?

                I took quite a few tries to get L2, so jumping ahead of the game here for L3. Work may also mean that I may not have as much time as needed for January and february to study.

                Thanks for all the tips so far everyone!

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