Exam Week

I have been taking mocks all week.  Took this week off from work to study for this exam.  I have been scoring anywhere between 60-65 in for the AM and 64-70 in the PM. 

For now, I am going over my mocks and reading the entire Ethics and GIPS.  Ethics and GIPS are ignored by many candidates but Ethics alone are 10% of the PM section. 

I am more confident about this exam than I was last year.  I will study hard tonight, tomorrow and Friday.  Good luck everyone!

Couple more weeks to go

Two weeks left.  I have been taking full mock exams once a week now and average around 65%.  AM section is still shady for me scoring anywhere from 60-70 and PM section is steady at around 65.  The biggest mistake I make in the AM section is that I do not read the question or story thoroughly and fail to write down what the question is asking. 

It takes me about 2 hours and 20 minutes to finish the morning exam and I just go ahead and correct it without taking the full 3 hours.  I am taking Schweser Vol 2 exam tomorrow and I will take all 3 hours of it.   I will read the stories particularly the IPS stories 2 or 3 times if I have time remaining and drill the story into my thick head. 

If I think about, the answers are right there in the story or in tables or in exhibits.  I just gotta focus and think what is the question asking? 

Once section I am having trouble is behavioral finance with so many similar definitions and biases.  Another section is R38 with swaps.  I will focus really hard tomorrow and will hit 70% tomorrow.  If I do get over 70% I will post about it tomorrow. 

FinQuiz

I took the first Finquiz exam from last year and got 66% and 56% for AM and PM, respectively.  Much better than last year's combined score of 54%.  Finquiz multiple choice are very detailed and has more meat on each problem.  For example, Schweser may have a statement with one or two points and ask if the statement is true.  Finquiz on other hand may have three to four points in one statement and asks if the statement is true.  You just gotta know lot more and in detail to score better.  I don't think I took the rest of the FinQuiz exams last year (i have 3) so this should be a good addition to my CFA mocks and Schweser mocks. 

My goal is to study one hour during lunch at work and study 4-5 hours at night.  Mon - Thurs and take Friday to go to the gym or watch a movie.  Then on the weekends, I will review my notes and do a mock exam.  I am shooting for 7 hours a day on the weekends.  I will contine to solve EORs and Sample Qs (again) while writing new notes down and memorizing them.  As mentioned above, weekend will be dedicated solely for mock exams and reviewing them. 

I will take the FinQuiz mock this weekend and am shooting for 70%! 

I finished vol 1 of Schweser practice exam last weekend.  My average for both am and pm is 69%.  For the first time, i scored in the 70s for both am and pm on my 3rd practice exam.  This is looking much better than last year and i need to take it to the next level.

This weekend, I will take last year's fin quiz.  I remember i bombed this thing and it was very tough.  My goal is to score in the mid 60s on this thing and there is no reason why i can't do it.  I feel like i know most of the material and know how to tackle the am section. 

I am getting slightly lazy so this is one of the reasons why I am planning on taking a tough exam.  It will wake me up from this false confidence i am having. 

End of reading qs

I have finished solving all the end of reading questions in the curriculum and now I am half way through solving sample questions.  some sample qs are very tough and never showed up on end of reading questions especially the sample ones in reading 18 on factor model variance and covariance.  if it's in the book then i assume it's a fair game.  I can solve most of the questions but my problem lies in solving ips.  To help me with ips section, both individual and institutional i am planning on solving ips questions in the practice exams.  I have more than 10 mock exams so i will use these to solve ips.  the ips questions in the curriculum (EOR and sample qs) are too simple and straight forward.  I have no trouble solving these.  the ips questions in the mocks are totally different animals requiring all kinds of calculations and thinking with different taxes and time period. 

my plan is to review my "super" condensed note twice a week and solve sample qs by end of next week then jump straight to mock exams and solving ips questions from old mocks.  with the old mocks i won't take the entire exam as nyssa instructor said, some of the sections and questions in the old mock may not be relevant anymore.  I need to master ips and the only way is to practice like a maniac. 

happy saturday morning:)

14 weeks to go

By now, I have memorized most of the notes and key formulas I used last year.  Of course, I failed the exam using these notes so I need to study more and add more to it.  I am focusing very hard on EOR questions and sample questions in the curriculum. 

I am finished with Vol 3 and Vol 4 and currently working on Vol 5.  Vol 5 is on alternative investments, the area I am weakest and ironically the area I work in at my job.  For this section, I will watch the NYSSA video and go over the key material with schweser textbook.  Then I will dive into the EOR and sample questions.  I really need to master the using of futures and options for managing portfolio risk or althering portfolio risk. 

After all level 3 is mostly about managing a portfolio.  Only after failing level 3 last year, did I realize that all this nonsense of behavioral finance, economics, corner portfolios, options, and VAR, etc are all used to manage a portfolio. 

As a PM, if you anticipate IRs or other factors will move to a certain direction, you must have an idea how it will affect your portfolio and where your portfolio needs to be to weahter the change.  You also need to know and understand that there are myriad number of ways to get there using different assets. 

Hello!  It's been so long.  I am now working full time for a bank and started studying for the level 3 again.  I will be watching NYSSA's archived videos this year using Scheweser and use my notes from previous year.  I want to start on the EOR questions while watching the videos. 

I bombed the IPS section last year, so I will focus on that section and will nail it in the practice exams. 

Good to see level 3 material once again :(