CFA CFA General An interesting question – should I actually bother helping anyone else taking the same Level as me?

An interesting question – should I actually bother helping anyone else taking the same Level as me?

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      Here’s an interesting question, but please don’t take it the wrong way as all I want to do is start a holistic debate over the underlying principle, rather than this being my actual view (as many of you know from my posts, I love helping people!).

      The CFAI set an MPS each year, which as far as I am aware is made up dependent on the underlying scores of the candidates in such that if more candidates do badly, the MPS will be lower, and if more candidates do better then the MPS will be higher.
      So if I decide to help several other candidates all taking the same level as me by posting useful information, and this help allows the candidates to do better on the exam, then as a result the MPS should go up. Assuming that my own result will stay the same whether I give anyone help or not (ignoring the fact that in exchange I can get help from other peoples posts, as I could get this anyway even by not providing help myself) then surely helping other people puts me at a disadvantage?

      Given the total number of candidates, and the chances of me being bang on the MPS threshold, I agree the chance of this having an effect is miniscule, but so is the chance of my pencila nd sharpener breaking (and I still take 10 pencils into the exam) as well as my calculator dying (and I also take two calculators in!).

      Just my thought for the day!

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      @MattJuniper – to that I’d say Givers have a higher chance of success in life 🙂 Plus you feel awesome too, just like the spirit we are seeing here at the 300 Hours community.

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      @diya how’s this? It’s crazy huge! :))

    • Avatar of SnippySnippy
      Participant
        • CFA Level 2
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        Of course. Why wouldn’t we help? We teach ourselves while giving plus it feels good. Like Sophie, said:

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        @Sophie the picture isn’t working D:

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        Weird, it still isn’t working for me @Sophie. I tried on firefox (I usually use chrome) and all it shows is “image”…

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        @mattjuniper – I take that as… ?

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        Strange @diya – seems to work for me?

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        I take that as a yes then @Mattjuniper? :))

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        Thought so @Mattjuniper! Our first KotM epic badge hunter too 😀

        I guess it’s all about thinking big, long term, and you know heck – you only live once, you don’t have time to count such small things in life. That’s naive of me perhaps, but I’m happier that way hopefully 😉

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        Furthermore I doubt you are able to affect a sufficient number of takers to have a statistically significant effect (no offence)

        You clearly underestimate my potential 😉 😀

      • Avatar of Zee TanZee Tan
        Keymaster
          • CFA Charterholder
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          @MattJuniper From reading the MPS setting methodology, it would seem that what they aim for is to have the same difficulty to pass each year, rather than have the same % of candidates pass. The perceived difficulty of the exam based on cumulative results do play a role in the decision process, but are only a part of it. Furthemore I doubt you are able to affect a sufficient number of takers to have a statistically significant effect (no offence). So help everyone you can! 🙂


          @Marek
          is right. If we follow the exact methods as CFAI states, relativity has no influence on the setting of the MPS. It USED to matter though – the MPS used to be 70% of a sample of the highest passing group, or some similar methodology.

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          @sophie that’s a good article, I’m definitely a giver 😀

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          @MattJuniper From reading the MPS setting methodology, it would seem that what they aim for is to have the same difficulty to pass each year, rather than have the same % of candidates pass. The perceived difficulty of the exam based on cumulative results do play a role in the decision process, but are only a part of it. Furthemore I doubt you are able to affect a sufficient number of takers to have a statistically significant effect (no offence). So help everyone you can! 🙂

        • Avatar of SnippySnippy
          Participant
            • CFA Level 2
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            Wow @MattJuniper, that’s an interesting perspective. I never really thought about it that way, not that it’s a bad thing. Realistic, you can say. I guess you can rely on Karma for the rest of the bit! 😛

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            @MattJuniper..I had read a similar poll elsewhere and I am glad to quote that most people said that they would help either ways..:D

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            Haha @sophie, love it!

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