Behavioral Finance

I started studying for the level III about a month ago.  It has been on and off.  I decided to skip Ethics and started with Behavioral Finance 1 month ago.  And I still have not finished the book yet.  This stuff is so boring and long.

No more slacking off now and I will finish this volume by the end of the week.  Time to hit the library and starbucks again.  I was hoping that I'd be working after passing level II but I'm doing the same routine as last year, staying at home person and studying few hours a day. 

As a level III CFA candidate with no work experience, it is extremely hard to find a position especially in the NW (at least this is what I say to myself).  So I have decided to move to NY by the end of Nomvember.  I found a place to live, study, and workout.  Hopefully with the astonomical number of AM firms in the east coast, I will be able to find a job over there. 

I would like to think of myself as a realist and I don't assume that I will be an equity analyst any time soon.  What I want is to find an internship (paid or nonpaid) that is relevant to equity research while studying level III.  After the internship I would like a full time job as an equity analyst.  The best scenario would be for me to get a position as a junior equity research or research assistant at an AM firm right now and start working and build up my work experience. 

Level III

I got level III curriculum today.  The books are thinner than other 2 levels and it feels good to be a level III candidate.  I know there are many charterholders, people with great jobs from great schools, but today, opening up the pacakge made my day.  I was proud of myself for passing level II and felt smart.  Good job ME!!!

I am planning on starting extremely early this year.  Just chug along studying 20 hours a week until January.  Starting from January, I will be a pig, just devouring all my free time, practice questions and level III books into study time.  I will eat them all and memorize them all.  Another reason why I want to start early is because I will find a job this year and work full time.  I highly doubt it will be anything remotely close to equity research but a position in an investment management firm....

Level III

On July 27th I registered for the Level III exam.  I am now a 2012 Level III CFA candidate.

Results

I PASSED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What a great morning!! wow I can't think straight.  I am too excited.  I was up all night yet I can go run a Marathon right now.

:)

What a day

Wow !  I had quite a few of those @$^%^, what the @#(@ is this??? moments.  Relieved that I am done but kind of down. 
I hope I passed the exam.

1 Day To GO

I have less than a day until the exam.  I am excited, scared, and nervous at the same time. 

I will go out today to buy some food luch tomorrow.  It is so much better to bring my own lunch and eat inside my car.  I can take my time and relax instead of waiting in line and hearing other candidates' opinions about the exam and etc... 

Good luck !!

Working the books

Well instead of taking the exam this weekend, I studied ethics, quant, and econ.  I was always confident about ethics and econ but I have been getting slaughtered on the mock exams.  I am scoring in the 50s for both sections.  Only after reviewing these sections did I realize I was only swimming in the pond when there is an ocean I need venture out to.  Specifically, the SD standards and ROS and knowing what is required and recommended. 

For the rest of the night, I will focus on FRA and Corporate Finance.  Tomorrow is Monday.  The week of the CFA Exam!!!! DUN DUN DUN!!!!

Scores

Here are my mock exam scores

Schweser Vol I:
1AM=62
2PM=60
2AM=72
2PM=70
3AM=57
3PM=75

Vol II
1AM=53
2PM=70

Schweser Live Mock:
Combined I got 70%

2010 CFAI MOCK
AM=68
PM=66

I better study harder.  Study as in read the readings where I am weak and try to memorize.  This isn't a game of understanding and recognizing, I must be able to recall what I have learned and use it in the exam.  These scores are stagnant and this worries me so much.  I will study all day and all night today and challenge 2011 CFAI mock on Sunday.  I will be happy if I score above 75%. My goal is 80% haha

OH SHOOT

Oh My

Just absolutely butchered the Schweser Vol II 1 AM.  I scored 53% on the AM and 70% on PM for a combined 62%.  This is quite uspsetting.  I thought I studied hard and reviewed multiple times but I guess it's not enough.  I better go over the readings where I am failing and will take the CFAI sample this time.  This is so depressing since my average scores on the Schweser website is about the same as other level II candidates.  Hovering around the average means I will probably fail the exam at this point.  I better go to bed early tonight and wake from the singing of the birds! wake up early, study early and study till late in the evening.    =)

9 Days to go

The Ethics stuff is really hard.  I studied and wrote new notes for the Ethics section.  I want to be ready for very detailed questions on the exam.  There are lot of things going in the Ethics section and it is a pretty big part of the exam.  I will focus hard on Ethics, Quant, and Econ today and take another mock exam.  Only 9 days until the exam date.

Can't Study

Took two day off..
At this rate I will fail for sure.  I have been studying only few hours a day and those few hours were pretty bad hours.  I am just not motivated to study.  After all this studying only to do an unpaid intern for 6-9 months.  sighhhhhhhhh I guess it's really competitve to do well in this field.  Even if I put in all I have it's a big if whether I will find a job or not but at this rate it's gg.

Sample Exam

Took the sample exam tonight.  My goal was to finish the exam in 1 hour.  I managed to finish it in about 1 hour but I scored 67%.  It says the time I put in to studying was not effective and that I should go study harder.  lol.. Thank you.  I will do that.

2nd Schweser Mock

Took the Schweser 2AM and 2PM.  I got 73 and 71.  Huge improvement from the first Schweser exam but it was discouraging to see the average test scores at Schweser website.  About 300 people took the test and posted on the website and the average of those scores were 72. 

Today I spent the whole day looking at interest rate swaps with currency exchange and arbitrage profits with futures and forwards.  I now know how they are calculated.  I just need to memorize them by tonight then see if I can solve them tomorrow morning. 

The test day is coming and I need to push it harder. 

Interest rate swaps

Solving interest rate swaps are really tough with currency rates.  Without the currency rates, I can solve them no problem.  But with the currency rates, I'm not sure whether to use the bid or ask for payer swaption or receiver swaption. 

FRA

The last couple days I focued on FRA.  The more I read, the more I feel like I don't know much.  There is just so much to FRA.  I thought I had the current rate method and the temporal method in the bag but after today....... no way.  oh boy all this stuff just got me into another panic mode. 

I will be taking another AM and PM mock on monday.  I am going for 75 this time.  It will be a huge jump but I know it's doable.  I can do it.  Push hard these last few weeks and let's finish strong!!

MOOOck

I took second mock exams yesterday.  I got in the high 60s.  I have made couple dumb mistakes where I knew the answer but wrote the wrong answer down.  Another good thing going for me is that I am finishing these mocks in about 2 hours 15 minutes.  I will spend 10 minutes bubbling in the answers leaving some time to check and review my answers. 
I need to really work hard on equity FRA and derivatives.  I am in a slight panic mode now.  I have studied a lot and yet I am not scoring above 70.  I will review this mock, re-study the readings that is giving me hard time and take some Qbank exams.

take mocks
study the readings I missed on the mock
write em down
study again
take mocks

In between I will solve some sample problems in the book.  Then I will do the EOC questions for the last time starting May 1st while doing mocks and/or Qbank.

CFAI samples

I went over the missed questions from the mock exams I took.  I have also been doing CFAI sample questions for quant, econ, and FRA.  Tomorrow I will take CFAI mock exam.  I really hope I can get a 70%.  I know it's a big jump from a 60% but I know I can do it.  70% here I come!!

The problem that bothers me is the triangular arbitrage with bid-ask spreads.  This thing is crazy complicated.  I can solve triangular arbitrage with just one price (without bid-ask). 

Schweser Mock

OH NO!! I took the Kaplan mock 1 AM and PM today.  It was an epic fail.  I scored 60% for both exams.  All this time I have been doing the CFAI EOC questions.  I went through it 4 times.  But from now on I will focus on Kaplan mocks and CFAI mocks.  I need to learn the problems I missed and reread those sections.  This was quite disappointing =(

FRA

So this is my second time going through the CFAI questions.  But I decided to stop solving EOC questions only and re-read FRA and answer them one chapter at a time.  Kind of in a panic mode right now.  I am still having trouble solving these EOC questions.  I will study them thoroughly and solve once question one chapter at a time.  Hopefully I can finish my second round of EOC by Mar 18th.  I am planning on doubling my study time now.  I must pass this test in June.

Reading 63-68

I have really hard time solving EOC questions on these readings.  I don't know most of the problems.  Shoot!! I read the material and solved the questions looking at the answers to teach myself.  Readings 63-68, although not big part of the level II curriculum, I must re-read and study all over again.  Took me about 20 minutes to solve 1 swap or interest rate derivative problems.  I hope the Schweser lecture videos will help me with these readings.  Final book of the final chapters.  I can see the finish line to round 1 but I am getting lawn mowed right now.

Reading 56

I have been solving EOC questions and just finished questions for reading 56 last night.  The interest rate binomial tree was a bit confusing at first but the video lecture from Schweser helped me understand.  The professor teaching the class is kind of goofy always cracking jokes. 

I'm getting about 50% on these questions so I am learning the material through questions rather than solving them.  Just writing down the concepts and answers explaining how and why I got the answer.  I will memorize these concepts as well as my notes I have made.  Then after all this, I will try to solve all of the EOC questions without looking at my notes or the answer sheet.  I am hoping to get through the EOC by end of next week and spend the next week making another notes out of notes notes.