- This topic has 17 replies, 10 voices, and was last updated Sep-176:14 am by
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Up0
All those thinking of retaking LIII, when would you start studying again, what would you do differently, the same, etc.? What materials were useful, which did you feel were a waste of time? Quite an open thread!
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Up5
I would start doing practice exams as early as possible. And for the AM essay section, you should do some proper timed ones in exam conditions (including writing answers as you would in the exam). I did at least 9 practice exams last year and was still surprised at how I struggled when trying to write ‘properly’ in the exam.
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Up4
@artyeasel I remember there being 13 AM questions rather than 11…
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Up3
I also bombed the AM paper, but I suppose PM was just enough to save my skin. To be honest although I passed I’m not sure if I did any different in the AM, just followed the advice here in the forum and in the commandments. I remember drawing a complete blank at one question…
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Up3
Obviously I’m not saying CFAI is wrong, more my memory of the exam is fried…!
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Up3
This is probably my 7th yes 7th attempt at this level and still not able to be successful which I find very hard to believe. I agree Schweser has some gaps. Last year was my first attempt at using text only and I felt much better prepared. The exam didnt seem hard either. There were no WTF questions. So I am very stumped by my WTF results. It is very strange that so many intelligent people take these exams, and supposedly the creme de la creme arrive to L3 and still there are such low passing rates. On a consistent basis only about 3/10 or 4/10 people (assumed to be fairly smart and all read the same material and put in the time)…but on average only 4 out of 10 pass? A lot more transparency is needed in this exam. Its way too secretive. You dont see exactly where you went wrong…they say the details aren’t published to keep the level of exam quality at a rigorous standard (not word for word but thats pretty close). Ive come this far in sitting the 3 levels all these years. ..but I must say…its becoming utterly frustrating.
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Up3
@zwzard I know the bit you mean about “details aren’t published to keep the level of exam quality at a rigorous standard”, IMHO it’s literally the most horseshit thing that CFAI says, and they say a lot of utter drivel. Increased transparency would only drive their costs up and reveal some of their fallacies. End of. But then I’ve been banging the drum for years about how people need to be a little more critical of the institute, peel away a bit of the gloss/relentless marketing.
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Up2
@Jwa I started reading yesterday. I wouldn’t call it studying per se, since it’s just reading the textbook. I’m reading the sections that I know I rushed when I studied last year. I found the textbook to be useless for Individual IPS, but decent for Institutional IPS. I did a lengthy university course last year, but I didn’t find the methodology to be effective for Level 3. It worked for Level 2, but Level 3 is completely different. I found Schweser to be incomplete in many areas as well. This year I’m looking forward to Elan Guides’ 11 Hour Guide.
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Up2
@sankrutimehta yep we’ll be looking at more AM vs PM analyses this time around.
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Up2
Zwzard def. has a point. You dont see where u are going wrong. Still trying to figure out how i got below 50% in the P mgt retail and inst essay, was it analysis and explanation, calc. ? or babbling on and not getting to the point ? at a loss. stumped again.
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Up1
@Jwa I agree about the detailed reading of the text. After going through some of the Fixed Income content yesterday there were already some concepts that started to come together that I didn’t appreciate last year. I think going through it now, and knowing the breadth of the topics, will give me a more comprehensive understanding. I probably won’t be doing any practice questions or mocks well into April though. To do them now would be tiring.
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Up1
Just thinking out loud here, but was pondering this on the train this morning – the feedback you get from the institute on LIII performance is terrible; it really really does not help to just be told which sections you were weak on in the ‘essay’ part, i.e. was my style bad, was my calculations not clearly presented, and so on. At LI & LII I think it’s fine to just have the sections where you are weakest but it’s hopeless for LIII, i.e. one might understand all the concepts and basic calculation but being able to get it down in the format they prefer is totally different, and doing practice papers till you’re blue in the face deosn’t really help unless you have someone to mark them who vaguely knows how answers will be graded in the test. #rantover.
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Up1
@jwa if it helps, @christine covered some aspects of the grading process in a recent post. Also, time and resources permitting, we want to dive more into how the essay section is tackled effectively for our 2013 results analysis. A very small number of CFA candidates (about 6%) actually do better in the essay section than in the multiple choice section, so we may try and reach out to them for tips and see what comes back 😉
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Up1
If you are a late starter take a overview of topics and then plan, I have tried and compiled all important L3 concepts here – Have a look here http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ITNWSEQ let me know if you have any questions
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Up0
@comicbookguy straight out the blocks then! Well done. Agreed re Schweser gaps, I was completely stunned by the complexity of the first individual IPS in the exam (if you can remember it). I did a BPP course which was arranged by work, absolutely worse than useless, avoid at all costs (although I’ll probably end up back there to jump through the hoops). In the first instance, I think a detailed reading of the text books is probably a good first step.
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