@arbitrageur
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Up5
Just finished reading FRA (book 3) of Schweser Notes. I’ve been trying to get through about 1 chapter (or half a chapter for the particularly tedious accounting ones) every workday and then do a section and 3 hours of qbank on the weekends. I’ve found it imperative to test everything you’ve studied to date often as it is very easy to forget concepts/formulas, even if the material was easy to grasp when I read it.
I’m doing the online class from Schweser too and being one month ahead of the class has been great for the same reason – it is always a review session.Up5Great analysis, thanks! It’s definitely all about the IPS. Looks like other topics have a fair degree of volatility…
Up5I passed too. Feels so good to be done.
Up5After scouring the other CFA forum I found that CFAI will send the diploma 6-8 weeks after your charter is awarded.
Up4Just saw on the main work experience page under my account it says:
“You will need to enter an end date for all positions including your current work experience. You will be able to update the end date as needed.”I guess that makes sense, but you’d think they’d have made it possible to say “current”.
Up4I have heard from Schweser professors that 65% is MPS, but you should be targeting 70% on the practice exams.
Up4The CFAI actually has guidelines on how MPS is established. You can find the info on the bottom of this page: http://www.cfainstitute.org/programs/cfaprogram/exams/Pages/cfa_exam_results.aspx
I’ve heard 65% from Schweser profs as well. That seems about right to me, but @RoyD is right that it changes for each exam based on the factors you can read about above. I wouldn’t put too much effort into figuring the mechanics out though. I feel like most candidates freak out about the MPS because they’re scoring right around 70% on the mocks, which means being in the fail zone is very possible. The reality though is that even if you knew the MPS ex-ante it wouldn’t actually help you pass. Just focus on crushing it and not worrying about anything but the vignette at hand during the exam.
Good luck everyone, and may the MPS be ever in your favor.
Up4Monetary assets/liabilities are those whose value is known ex-ante (you can also think of them as more “liquid” assets if that helps). That includes anything held at “fair value”, cash, payables, receivables, and all debt (ST and LT). Conversely, we don’t quite know what we can sell our land, inventory, and intangibles for – so they are non-monetary.
Operating assets are not defined as well in the curriculum I believe, but they are by definition assets not related to the core business operations.
Up4To clarify what I mean by “self-contained” — a question within a vignette that can be answered without re-reading the entire case. If it’s a complex question and it required remembering all the little details I just read (e.g. a relative value tax question in an IPS case) then I aim to do it as quickly as possible, but don’t skip ahead.
Up4This was a very good and concise video. I especially like the comment about how when you’ve reached the maximum time allowed for a CR question and aren’t done yet you have a very important decision: answer the question or pass the exam.
Up3I’m a PM at a systematic macro hedge fund.
Incidentally, I was never planning on taking the CFA since it has such a heavy emphasis on corp fin/FSA which I almost never use when investing at the sovereign level, but I’ve been told by top brass that I need either a CFA or MBA to join their ranks (and they weren’t going to foot the $175k eMBA bill), so here I am.Up3I’ve actually got good feedback to give on the service so far – they’ve been responding to my emails within a day.
Up3When interviewing it’s really important to gauge the person you’re talking to quickly and adjust your demeanor to theirs. You shouldn’t ever act contrary to your true personality, but if you’re talking to a laid back MD don’t treat him like a Drill Sergeant. The key is making your best guess as to the interviewer’s personality quickly, so you don’t appear to change your tone mid-interview, and having a reasonably consistent manner throughout all your interviews (no fat tails).
Also – I have worked at both large and small firms, including a large U.S. IB, and have found that culture often has nothing to do with a firm’s size. In fact, that large IB was more like a raging frathouse than anywhere else I’ve worked.
Finally – you’re absolutely right to not despair and take every rejection as a learning experience. We’re still in a bad job market (especially if you’re applying for VP-level positions) so the competition is stiff. Best of luck!
Up3I don’t play games too much anymore, so the Xbox One’s ability to become a predictive voice-controlled universal remote is a huge plus for me (in fact, it’s well worth the price of admission ). I think the PS4 will wind up being the better gaming console though (just like it did with PS3 vs. 360).
Up2Tried a few questions. They are not bad, although the answer explanations are not of Schweser quality. Another major annoyance is the iPad and iPhone accounts don’t sync. Still, not bad for $35 considering how overpriced all CFA study materials are.
Up2So far as I know there’s only one useful app for Level II – Allen’s CFA Review.
Pros:
- Relatively cheap ($35 to unlock the full qbank through June)
- Has all the topics covered
- Can create custom quizzes with just the topics you want to do
- Has rankings so you can see how you stack up against the several hundred other users
- Customer support responds within a day
Cons:
- Some questions are not fully updated for 2015 (e.g. some of the language is dated, and some are on LOS no longer tested to my knowledge)
- Since their Qbank lets you have up to 5 answer choices per question doing quizzes with 3 (as per the actual exam) sometimes makes the right answer very clear or, alternatively, more confusing.
- The point of an iPhone app to me is to cover the more qualitative and conceptual questions (because I’m not going to bust out my BAII and a notepad while waiting in line for coffee) and there’s no way to pick out just those (although you can skip questions without penalty during a quiz)
If anyone knows of any other good apps (for iOS or Android) I’d be curious to know as well. A current flashcard app especially would be great. Sadly most of the best-made apps are for Level I only from what I’ve seen.
Up2Passed Level II with >70% on everything except Alts, Econ, and Quant. Pretty funny given that those were my strength areas, and a little embarrassing given that I’m a quant macro fund PM.
Up2Stuj79 said:@mitch895I think for the exam I will consider any portfolio with a passive and actively managed element to be a core-satellite irrespective of the amount allocated to each.
I would say if the passive fund is the largest then it’s a core-satellite portfolio. In your example question did any of the active managers have a higher weight than the passive one?
Up2Here are my two cents as a fellow LIII candidate:
You are unlikely to learn anything new right now (and it’s important to admit that to yourself!). With that being said, I personally plan on taking an AM session tomorrow primarily to work on my timing strategy for constructed response. If you’re confident that time won’t be an issue for you then I’d skip any more practice exams. You want your brain to be as well-rested as possible.Go over past mock exams and see how you could have improved your answers. Focus on questions you should have gotten right. Did you repeatedly make any careless mistakes? Is there one concept you keep getting backwards?
Don’t spend too much time with Qbank except for GIPS and Ethics since Q-bank questions are much easier than the actual exam. I do think Ethics and GIPS is best practiced by doing the questions though. I’d also consider re-reading your GIPS notes shortly before the exam. If you made flash-cards now would also be a good time to drill them, but again focus on the ones you’re reasonably sure will be tested.
