sethneha

[sethneha]

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Thanks @Zee and @Bear

[sethneha]

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@Diya and @Sophie thanks a lot for the prompt reply!

yeah, i was more looking forward to vignettes format so will wait for the update 🙂
otherwise, will definitely give the mock a try! 🙂

i have seen can handle the individual questions quite efficiently but of course we can’t discount the exam format, this last month would focus more on vignettes and would give them the priority.

[sethneha]

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@sethneha
It is entirely your decision whether to continue to pursue the charter, nobody can tell you what is right or wrong to do in your circumstance but how would you feel if you gave up just as your about to make the breakthrough?

@stt00007 thanks for the post.

yes, i want to make the breakthrough especially when i know i am this close. i flopped the exam but was proud of myself for getting >70% in FSA, Equity, PM and esp corporate finance (as i felt i goofed this one). this was the solace point for me.

but i still want to better the Ethics and is more of ego thing now that how could this one damm exam beat me and how could i let it beat myself. i want to take the hell out of the exam and give it back on its face!

i just don’t know if i have patience to wait for another year. if they were starting with Level II second attempt in this 2013 December then by all means i would happily register without thinking about it. one whole year is tad too much now…

[sethneha]

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@SpyAli, thanks for sharing the experience. it’s great!

i want to know how did you nail Ethics ? that’s my weak point that i flunked twice in level 2 🙁 both time <50%. one nemesis that now i am scared to even think of giving the exam again just cause of ethics..

[sethneha]

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Hi,

is the 5 A Day Prep is only for CFA Level 1 candidates ?

when i click on this page http://5adaycfa.com/#products , under High Quality, Full Color Printed Cards heading it says – Covers all sessions and readings from the most up-to-date 2014 December CFA L1 Curriculum and under other two heading it doesn’t specify which CFA Level.

I am confused. please guide me to the CFA Level 2 flash cards by 5 A Day Prep.

Thank you.

Regards,
Neha Seth

[sethneha]

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@christine Thanks a lot for the advice.

Sorry for late reply.. i digged myself in practice exams last 3-4 days and found out what topics need attention. I remember almost all subjects, fine tuning is needed. though i have completely forgot Alternative Investments and Economics :-S will have to hit these books again

Will put in all the pointers you have mentioned. Thank you again 🙂

[sethneha]

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@Alex_Dolson‌ yes i did this way only. and it worked!

@MockTurtle‌ yes, the options in the item set ends up in different order so to punch the answers back, you just need to coordinate with the ones you marked in paper and with options given. the questions remain same at least for Level 2 mocks.

[sethneha]

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@Dubinka yes, for 2014 they gave the same mock as 2013. in understand that. but i would say just do the mock again. Fresh. it worked for me. it really doesn’t matter if the mock content was same given u don’t remember the questions or answers.

and trust me the Mock Exam Seminar they had put up for Mock 1 of 2014 is AMAZING!! they haven’t put for Eco, Portfolio Mgmt and Quant. but rest 7 subjects are bang on revision. That is some intensive review. i am eagerly waiting for Mock 2 seminar too. It takes a lot to come up with an intensively exhaustive seminar like that. Peter has done all 7 subjects videos and he has covered everything in great detail. He didn’t only cover the case studies in context but all important and relevant points regarding that chapter in question. Hats Off to them for that and i simply enjoyed my review session.

Also, i compared my answers to the same mock what i had marked last year (as i retain my mocks and marked on the paper itself) and to what i answered now. To my surprise, i got the same questions wrong this time what i had got wrong last year! and what i needed was someone to explain me what and where is that i go wrong and fill the gap in between those and that’s where the Mock exam seminar did its work more.

Just give a try. may be you too can learn from it.

@Sophie,thanks for clearing that.

[sethneha]

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i took Level 2. it was fine. how much fine that results would tell..

i don’t want to get into how it was – compared to AM/PM or how many i guessed or not. cause i am tired of speculating and expecting and CFAI throws me off on the result day. it really doesn’t matter till it says that “Congratulations! you have passed Level 2!” till i see that for myself, it’s irrelevant how it did go. until i pass, whether it’s band 10 or band 5, it’s all same.
though, honestly, i have been counting my number of rights in every section since saturday night, pleading just this time, things change and it’s a Pass for once and all….!

[sethneha]

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hi @Sh90,

first of all which material are you using to study – CFAI books or via a Study provider’s material ?

1. If it’s through provider’s material then it’s already in a concise form covering all relevant topics and explanations. i wont take guarantee for Scheswer Notes as i always found both for Level 1 and Level 2 that some topics are missing in their notes but they cover those topics in their mocks and also in CFAI mocks. so you may have to match them with LOS being tested.

For Level 1, i completely used only CFAI books, that time i didn’t know any other provider apart from schweser, i did take their books but hardly ever used them until CFAI books stopped making sense to me.
from my experience of using CFAI books, i can say it worked for me without making notes.
i did make for Economics and Fixed Income, those have been my nemesis from day 1, i had made long huge notes covering chapters in and out with all diagrams cause i couldn’t understand them from huge CFA books and i needed in simple points. for rest topics, i highlighted main points, marked, wrote forumulas and practiced in the CFA books itself.
and before exam, went through the summary at the end of chapter and those highlighted points.

2. Making notes depends on person to person – how you study, are you comfortable to read from books or want it on your own handwriting ? or want summarized version of everything at end to go through not leaving a topic out.

initially for me understanding Derivatives theory in Level 1 was a pain, i just couldn’t get through those paragraphs, so i wrote all of that theory on MS word in bullet point wise and then got through it! i made through Level 1 in first attempt solely by reading and re-reading the CFA books multiple times and only doing EOCs, getting >70% in almost every section. i solved the CFAI mock just a day before the exam.

i used same thing for Level 2 attempt and failed big time. only after my first stint with Level 2 i realized, that it was different ball of game and needed different strategy to study and pass, and what practice questions and mocks meant.

3. i would say, don’t spend too much time on making notes, understand the topic fully in and out. if you do want to make notes, then just cover the gist of that topic and the important formulas related to it.

i was tempted to make notes for every topic and sub topic in Level 2. i literally stopped myself cause i knew it’s not worth at the end of month when i am juggling with mocks, reviewing that i am so freaked out to even look at these notes!

If you do want summarized notes covering all topics with formulas, then get hold of Eleventh Hour Guide by Elan Guides. rest focus on covering topics and head to EOCs and do mocks.

i hope this helps.

[sethneha]

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Oh! thanks for the tip @Sophie, was actually finding how to subscribe to the thread ! 😛

@Diya thanks for the update, will look out for the post! 🙂

[sethneha]

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@sethneha Sorry to hear about your results. I might not be able to relate to what you might be going through, but I noticed a few areas which you can work on.

1. You can skip the CFAI books if you want. Use it as a reference. I usually used it for the Ethics EOC questions while I was giving L2. For other topics, I used CFAI only if I had enough time.

2. You’ve seem to have used 3 service providers. I would suggest that you stick to one of them (One that you find most effective). I’ve always preferred Kaplan Schweser, but whatever works for you.

The reason I say this is when you add CFAI to the mix, you’re essentially using 4 sources of study materials. It can be confusing at times to study from different sources, speaking from personal experience.

@AjFinance, thanks for the post and detailed pointers.

1. this time i used CFAI books only for Ethics and as reference just to look up few topics for tid bit clarity on concepts. for first time i was overwhelmed by the size of CFAI books and ultra small font of the book that i didn’t dare to touch it apart from the EOC and examples from the book. for Level 1, i entirely studied only and only from CFAI books. they were like Bible for me for Level 1.

2. I only used Elan as my study provider. Kaplan books i always had but never used it, since level 1, i always felt Kaplan Schweser was a waste as it tend to miss few topics or never gave good explanation. it was just a showcase for me. I used Kaplan Schweser Mocks and 7 city for just add on mock papers.

and yes i agree too many providers tend to be confusing that’s why I solely studied from Elan Study Notes and Lectures this time and totally relied on that. I added these resources while filling the Level II analysis as they asked to write all that you used so even one time use i just wrote there. and Elan is good, it cleared lot of concepts for me with its lectures. i was waiting to sign it up for Level III…

3. As for mocks and formula, yes i would consider this and use it next time.

only thing is if i’ll register again, i had plans to give my charter after earning it to take up a specific activity as full time. that’s why more questions on should i wait to earn my charter or at least clear the exams or not.

[sethneha]

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@AjFinance

requirements is one thing. but what i referred to was i had wanted to give up my career and join in an volunteering activity on full time basis. i was just waiting to go after completing exams just to finish what i started but now that’s getting delayed and more delayed…

[sethneha]

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@Maroon5: yeah you are right, these are the explanations:

Que 1. Answer: A

Since the company is profitable and expects to retain all its earnings, equity and hence total
capital will increase over the 6-year period. In the line with the constant debt-capital ratio, debt levels will rise

Que 2. Answer: A

ROIC = NOPLAT / Invested capital

Working capital is expected to grow in line with earnings, which implies that ROIC will remain
stable. However, net PP&E is expected to decline because depreciation is expected to exceed capital expenditures. Therefore, total invested capital will grow at a slower rate than earnings, implying an improving ROIC.

[sethneha]

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@boneill25 as far as i know, CFAI doesn’t release the actual MPS. what you read, was estimated by 300hours themselves post results. CFAI only releases the pass percentage. am i right @Sophie ?

So. the Level II MPS for 2012 was 58-63% and for 2013 was 65-67%. and as you can see it’s not consistent over the years. The official candidate pass rates released by the CFA Institute, was 42% in 2012 and 43% in 2013.

[sethneha]

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Thanks Ganesh (@gansub) for the heads up and sharing your prep strategy.

[sethneha]

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okay @dollface.  

for me videos works.

[sethneha]

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Second attempt at Level II:

– Your indicated grade: Fail – Band 7
– Materials used: CFA Institute Curriculum, CFA Institute Practice Questions & Exams, Kaplan Schweser, 7city, Elan Guides

– Your 40/60/80 score is: 65.9%
– Your minimum score is: 49.1%
– Your maximum score is: 80.1%

I don’t know if I have the patience and perseverance more to go through Level 2 for the third time !
Last time band was 5. This time i killed my ego for studying from CFAI books, as last time i got bogged down by immense vastness of endless explanations in the CFAI curriculum. that took so much time that i wasn’t left with time to practice as immediately after level 1 Dec 2011 jumped to Level 2.

but for June 2013 attempt, i didn’t repeat that, i used Elan Notes, put my ego aside to study from CFAI books. and i am somebody who doesn’t study from lecture videos, but used that too so that had all explanations of concepts again and again if i lose out on something. I don’t believe it Ethics again did me in, rest all was fine. i knew i messed up alternative and fixed income during the exam. with these two , it was exactly the situation “you-know-how-to-solve something-and- have-solved-before-but-now-not-able-to-recall-how-to-do-it” i couldn’t do anything more to help it that time 😐 All sections improved >70% but Ethics again <=50%. i just don't understand how could i blew it off again!!!? it's very disheartening to see people who started after me (that is this person gave level 1 in June 2012, when i wrote level 2 for the first time. that too he's without any finance background and in IT) he will be going for Level 3 next time and am still stuck at Level 2. though i met this another person who gave level 1 first time in Dec 2011 with me and probably gave 3rd or 4th attempt to level 1 in June 2013. Hats off to him for keep giving it again and again. probably had i not cleared Level 1 in one attempt, i would have given up long back... i am not registering right away again unlike last attempt. Last attempt i slept hardly 4 hours a night before the exam so knew that was another potential factor for blowing away the exam. this time i made sure i slept by 9 pm also.. as for verification, i clicked on: I didn't pass 🙁 I'm going to wait a while before thinking about registering... i am sorry for writing this much but am quite shattered.. 🙁

[sethneha]

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also, is the proportionate consolidation method tested in FRA in Level 2 (June 2014)?

according to the notes, we are using same method – equity method under IFRS and US GAAP for joint ventures. but the EOC questions had questions related to proportionate consolidation. i am kinda confused over this.

[sethneha]

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Zee said:

Bear said:

Any Idea how far off roughly band 9/10 is from the MPS ?

Hi @Bear – according to analyses that we’ve done in the past, the failing bands are about 1.5-2% apart, and it’s closer in the Band 9/10 range. You were likely about 2 item set questions or 6 essay points away from a just-pass.

Hi Zee,

I want to know does 6 essay points means a Full essay question or just the sub-parts ? or could have got just six more point right out of 180 and could have jumped from Band 9 to Pass ?

Apologies if it’s too stupid or naive question , just passed Level II exam so taking and learning all that I can to prepare for Level III. Still getting oriented to the new format and areas.

Thanks.

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