Grading Essay Questions

I’m also having this issue. I don’t really know what’s the right level of strictness to settle on, and depending on that it seems like I could score really highly, or next to 0. 🙁

There was an article written a while ago that addressed exactly this, https://www.300hours.com/how-to-accurately-self-grade-your-cfa-level-iii-essay-questions/#.W4zjiZNKi88

@zee Can I get my Level 3 passed badge  🙂

One thing I haven’t seen tried is posting your “essays” to essay writing services https://top20writingservices.com/best-essay-writing-services/ – may garner some useful feedback. (Though I expect the novelty to wear off quickly – do it fast!)

You also might try to find a buddy (via Hook Up) – exchange your essays and mock-grade them.

Thanks @zee! Finally 🙂 

@zee , can you give me L3 badge also please 🙂

Agreed with all of that. I’d just add that in your first few practice exams, it can be really helpful to do a problem, then review the answer, without worrying about the 3 hour time limit etc.

I guess the challenge is to be strict with yourself and tell yourself yeah, your scores ARE that shit.

Grading is tough. I second @Alta12‌’s advice that spending too much time grading doesn’t make much sense. Even if your answer doesn’t match the model answer doesn’t mean that it doesn’t work. And model answers are almost certain to be extremely long (much longer than what they expect in the exam).

Read the model answers to learn from them, and remember that in the actual exam all they’re looking for are the relevant keywords. A direct, single sentence often suffices.

The NYSSA (NY Society of Security Analysts) have a pretty solid 10 minute video up on youtube about earning points in the essay section. Link:

I attended the class by Nathan Ronen (NYSSA) and he graded 19 questions or so. It was an eye opener for me as I was lenient with my own work and he was fair. In one question he gave me 0 as I was answering what I wanted to rather than reading the damn question. Either find a professional to grade or buy beers to friends (CFA) who are willing to check your work. Schweser has a reasonable point system but again there is plenty of subjectivity.

@anderson0330 My advice would be don’t get too hung up on tallying your score in the AM paper. Make sure you read your answer vs the model answer and learn to answer in ‘CFA language’ i.e keywords to maximise points. Getting bogged down on tallying your score for AM paper waste your precious time when you could spend it on doing another mock exam. Practice is really key. You should know what your weak areas are from comparing your answer vs model answer for the AM paper and tallying up your score in the PM. Remember that a majority of the candidates do worse in the AM session, you will most likely have to hammer it home in the PM session!

@Alta12‌ given!

I thought Schweser is pretty clear on how to allocate points on the essay ques.  Just ere on the side of incorrect to guard against such emotional biases like overconfidence and self attribution 😉