CFA CFA Level 2 Schweser Practice Exams

Schweser Practice Exams

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      @vincentt how are you progressing along with the Schweser practice exams?
      I know you are also doing them. Have you started exam 4 yet? Is book 2 really harder than book 1?
      I’m thinking I might squeeze in some hardcore revision before I start book 2.

      Your thoughts?

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      @sophie Thanks! Scored better in Schweser Mock 2 PM but I think that is because they were my stronger areas. I still haven’t gone through quant (my weakest area) for the second time. Not sure if I should concede it and concentrate on other topics. And still have to memorise formulas. Totally freaking out!

      Schweser style of presenting information is very different to CFA. For example they present binomial model information very differently 😮

    • Avatar of vincenttvincentt
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        I’m just finishing exam 3 afternoon paper as we speak, 1 last item set to go and i’m ready to review it.

        Have you done the first 3? How was it?

        If all goes according to plan i’ll be starting exam 4 on monday. I thought I’ll get some practices with schweser before I do the CFAI ones.

      • Avatar of vincenttvincentt
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          same here. though my scores (averaging both AM & PM papers) are improving over these 3 practice exams, i still have some papers (e.g. doing poorly on AM but okay on PM) not doing too well.

          In level 1, there are 240 questions and questions are scattered all over, so as long as you cover the whole syllabus reasonably well you’ll be ok.

          However, in level 2 since it’s based on item sets, i find sometimes you might need a bit of ‘luck’ to do well. For instance, if the mock has more item sets on your stronger readings (more specific), you’ll score better in that paper.

          Have you manage to complete all the EOC questions in the underlying text?

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          @vicentt you are on a roll! Are you doing one mock per day?

        • Avatar of vincenttvincentt
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            @alta12 I wish I was quicker, I only manage half a paper or quarter of a full mock (5 item sets) a day including review.

            I’m only able to do a complete paper on a weekend. What about you?

          • Avatar of vincenttvincentt
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              @diya i have to admit i wasn’t as prepared as i was in level 1 when i started the first mock, but that made me learn and refresh the formulas i knew awhile ago but have forgotten.

              The first mock i’ve only managed to score 52%, the second and third around 65%. Though I know i’ve improved a lot over the past 1.5 weeks but mock 4 is seriously demoralising. I’m tempted to look at some EOC of my weak areas, still undecided. I’m leaving cfai 2012 and 2013 for next week so by then i should have improved further i hope.

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              LOL @vincentt – on the right trend though! It will never be statistically significant unless you do more than 30 papers! So don’t worry, lets look at simple trend as a best gauge.

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              @sophie when do you suggest the cramming style? 2 weeks out or 1 week out? 😮

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              @diya going through the summaries? I thought of doing some CFAI’s EOC (on my weaker areas) after the 4th or 5th schweser’s mock, are they easier or tougher compared to schweser’s?

              So after reading this comment I decided to re-read Elan’s 11th hour guide again and I was flabbergast. I just got through Ethics and Economics today but there are so many economic concepts that I haven’t hit even with doing so many practice exams.

              Do you remember ever doing a question asking what happens under the Mundell-Fleming Model when the exchange rate is fixed? Or how to calculate long-term equilibrium for exchange rates or the Taylor Rule or the Dornbusch Overshooting Model.

              I feel that there are so many holes in my economic understanding….and I swear Schweser is focusing on some topics more than others.

              I recall you saying you were having troubles with Ethics. Anything in particular? I think I might be able to help.

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              @vincentt all you have to remember for Q51 is that the floating side is always reset to par on payment date. Since this swap in an annual swap and only pays out once a year if there is exactly 3 years left that means the floating side was just reset and the value of the floating side is $0. (For this question it doesn’t matter how Jacob hedge the risk because the question specify that you just need to value the floating side)

              For Q49 think of it this way he wants to hedge the equity expose so he wants to pay it “forward” (as in pass it along to someone else) to remove the risk. From that you can determine he is the S&P500 Index payer and he receives the fixed rate (option b). This neutralizes the structured bond. We know he wants to receive fixed because the structured product is a fixed rate at 4.5% a vital piece of information they bury in the first paragraph.

              Eh…I hope this makes sense

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              A payer swap is always from the fixed perspective…so he pays fixed and receives floating and therefore gains when the interest rate increases.

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              Have you done exam 5 afternoon session?

              I don’t understand how they got the interest coverage ratio for question 81.

              257/51 how is EBIT 257 I thought it would be 194+(68/2)=228.

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              I’ve done progressively better with each exam. I scored a dismal 55% on exam 1 (not that exam 1 was hard but I took a week off from studying and dedicated to job hunting. I was letting the “curve of forgetting” to set in to see how much I could retain without constant reminder). I improved substantially between exams. I found exam three the easiest.

              But I am really good with some topics and can’t seem to get a hang of some so my understanding of topics are really uneven and that is driving me crazy.

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              Oh don’t worry @vincentt, those are probably worse in Level 3 essay questions, cos if you’ve no clue it’s blank and you don’t have 1/3 chance of getting it right! you’ll remember more in the next 2 weeks…


              @alta12
              – Level 2 is the toughest due to sheer amount of material, so you are all going through the same pain. Just keep practising, check (+ understand) why you went wrong, revise those sections, repeat. By definition your score should improve over time if you don’t repeat the same mistakes!

              Schweser is quite calculation focused, is that what’s troubling you?

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              @vincentt I’m scared of FRA adjustments US GAAP vs IFRS there are so many that they can pull from 🙁

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              has anyone tried CFAI’s sample exams? I kind of remember them saying that their sample exams should be used before the mock? Are they easier?


              @Alta12
              I feel you there, but I think after a working through enough problems you kind of get a feel for it.

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              @vincentt which mock/provider are you referring to that is harder?

            • Avatar of vincenttvincentt
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                @diya yeah they make u work harder for something simple and sometimes i don’t even know what they are asking for.

                I’m only half way through, doing another 5 today to complete the morning. What are you working on at the moment?

              • Avatar of vincenttvincentt
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                  @diya going through the summaries? I thought of doing some CFAI’s EOC (on my weaker areas) after the 4th or 5th schweser’s mock, are they easier or tougher compared to schweser’s?

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                  Well I suppose it depends what cramming means @alta12.

                  Cramming last minute is never what I advocate really, my previous post on cramming was targeted for those who (for whatever reason) messed up and are behind schedule. It was a damage control piece, but there are things we can learn from (hopefully you managed your time well so far) in terms of topic weights and prioritisation.

                  That said, if cramming to absorb formulae last minute, that works, and you probably only do it the last week or so…

                  Otherwise, I’m hoping you are well on the last month game plan of doing practice paper, checking, beefing up the weak areas, repeat.

                • Avatar of vincenttvincentt
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                    @alta12 i didn’t bother to use the secret sauce. I’ve got my own ‘notes’, which i first write it on a post-it and stick it on the wall next to me (grouped by topics then readings), then when it’s finalised i’ll move it into a notepad. The benefit of that is i could move it around or chuck it away if that info is carved into my head.

                    @diya oh yes, i find the ethic Q in mock 4 a lot tougher and it requires you to think deeply on a few things. E.g. to accept a gift of emeralds which is the country’s main export. That makes it sound like a souvenir (plus it’s uncut) since that’s what the country produces rather than an expensive gift.

                    I personally find mock 4 particularly hard to understand (i’m referring to the way they question), certain questions which i didn’t get right mainly because I don’t even know what they want. Did you have similar issues?

                  • Avatar of vincenttvincentt
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                      @diya Q51!! That’s one confusing question. Just to confirm, Jacobs is actually the receiver of the floating-rate equity (S&P) and he pays a fixed rate (LIBOR based) ?

                      I only understand the concept of ‘resetting to par’ when it comes to floating rate, I still haven’t got a clue on who’s paying/receiving what.

                    • Avatar of vincenttvincentt
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                        oh and Q23, is periodic pension cost actually pension expense ? Why can’t schweser just use the term pension expense, because when i saw the word “periodic pension cost” i keep thinking of “total periodic pension cost” and obviously the answer i got was nothing in the list.

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                        @Alta12 I am only familiar with the formula EVA=NOPAT-$WACC and I think you meant to type EVA=EBIT(1-t)-$WACC.

                        I only saw the formula you mentioned in the Elan guide but I can’t seem to find it in the CFAI material.

                        The NOPAT is adjusted for various items which you can find listed on page 372 in volume 4.

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                        @bceagles why do you not want to use CFAI material? While I mainly used Schweser to pass the first level exam I did supplement my revision process using CFAI questions and going through their examples.

                      • Avatar of vincenttvincentt
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                          @diya i’ve been told that some of schweser’s questions can be some what ‘tricky’ which is not the main aim of CFAI, but it’s probably good to train our alertness on the exam.

                          Like this question you mentioned above, i find it to be rather misleading as the question specifically mentioned the investor has got $1million USD to invest, so i was a little confused on why would there be answers that allow you to borrow swiss franc when you clearly already have $1million USD.

                        • Avatar of vincenttvincentt
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                            @diya but i’m not too sure if it’s applicable for a possible chance of calling the bond. As for this example you can pretty much see that the bond price doesn’t exceed $101 so it’s safe to use this calculation. However, if by any chance say the bond price exceeds $101 in year 1, by directly discounting it to time 0 might not work (or will not work).

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                            @vincentt oh I went through the old exams item set by item set. I made sure not to touch FRA and fixed income but there are still lots of itemsets that you can work with =D
                            There means there are more items sets I can work with and pretty much more questions for me to practice with. It just lets me cover more ground.


                            @vincentt
                            thanks for all your help. You are awesome <3

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                            @diya @ vincentt are you guys having to guess answers as you go? I’m finding that sometimes I know how to get to the answer but I forgot the steps 🙁

                            Have you guys done the Elan ones?

                          • Avatar of vincenttvincentt
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                              @sophie i’m just worried that an item set with half of the questions covering some very niche sections.

                              E.g. asking about the different types of hedge fund’s strategies or types of pre and post acquisition defences, etc.

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                              @vincentt no I am not going through the summaries. I find that I “know” the breath of the topic it is the depth that is troubling me. I just do questions or blue box examples or memorize formulas.

                            • Avatar of vincenttvincentt
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                                @diya same here, based on my level 1 experience, schweser tends to hit the small concepts whereas the real exam are more towards the understanding of the concept. Not too sure how level 2 is gonna be like.

                                I’ve issues with economics (i don’t really like it), some concepts of fixed income, also I’m a little worried on a couple of last readings of some topics (e.g. SS7 on accounts, last reading of economics, etc) where i think it’s not the ‘big picture’ of those topics and i tend to focus less on those. Having done 3 full mocks, I don’t think there are many questions on those topics, not sure if it’s worth focusing on them via say EOC questions.

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                                @vincentt @diya I’m struggling with quant and portfolio management. I may have to resort to memorising soon. I’m doing one mock every two days and revision in between. It takes me a long time to debrief on the mocks. I may have to speed up next week but I want to make sure I understand the questions I get wrong and for the questions I get right that the reasoning was correct.

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                                @diya not good in my opinion, the overall score is close to 70% but if you break it down the “standard deviation” is too high. For example for my the 3rd mock i’ve managed slightly over 65% but only managed a 58.3% for the AM paper.
                                Needless to mention the 4th mock is worse. :s


                                @vincentt
                                I was having the same problem after the first few session but I was able to narrow the range of my score by drumming in the heavier weight concepts into my head. Ethics (10%), FRA (20%) and Equity (25%) account for 55% of the exam. If you do well consistently on these it props up your mark and keep adding topics and your mark will naturally increase.

                              • Avatar of vincenttvincentt
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                                  @diya I thought equity is around 20% instead of 25% ? You’ll probably need to add corporate finance and/or fixed income to the list.

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                                  @vincentt I must shamefully admit that I am not done yet. It took longer and my score took a hit but my avg is about a 65%. For the first six item sets. How are you faring?

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                                  @vincentt I didn’t. Actually now that I have finished the morning session for mock #4 and tallied my score. It is my best score yet -.-

                                  After spending about half an hour comparing mock #4 with all the other mocks I noticed that Schweser shifted gear and went more “theoretical”. There are less computational questions are more questions to see if you “understand” what is going on.

                                  Like question 51 where it asks what is the value of a 3-year swap to the floating-rate payer after one year. You can solve it two seconds flat but with all the info given it seems unapproachable and confusing.

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                                  @vincentt @diya i bombed mock 4 morning session. Have not even done the afternoon session. I agree with @vincentt the questions are hard. I didn’t know what Schweser was asking for half the time. Painful!

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                                  I didnt use the CFAI materials for L1 at all and felt that I had a solid grasp of all of the concepts using only Schweser but now at the last minute I think that approach may have been a mistake for L2. Guess I will at least supplement using the CFAI books for FRA and Equity. I just find the CFAI materials to be unnecessarily dense, dry, and verbose. I will take the CFAI mock this weekend and see where I am. Good luck to you.

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                                  Yes, just use sections you need more explanations at if you have time. I must own up that I didn’t use CFAI materials at all that time, only doing the EOC questions.

                                  Good luck @bceagles!

                                • Avatar of vincenttvincentt
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                                    @diya i didn’t get that question at first since i was so used to the other types of arbitrage (buy undervalued forward or sell overvalued forward).

                                    This question is specifically talking about taking arbitrage profit via interest rates differences in 2 different countries.
                                    In short that means borrow @ cheaper rate (SF in this case) and invest @ higher rate (USD).

                                    In my opinion, you should ignore the explanation on p197 as it’s confusing, even though that’s how you could quickly get the ‘actual rate’ you are going to gain.

                                    So, by looking at the 3-month rates for both countries (SF: 12% -> 3%) and (USD: 18% -> 4.5%), you can quickly tell SF is cheaper than USD.

                                    Step 1:
                                    The question indicated that he is keen to borrow $1 million USD or an equivalent value of $1,176,471 SF (use the spot rate) depending on whichever is cheaper.

                                    Step 2:
                                    Borrow SF of $1,176,471 @ 3% — amount to return would be –> $1,211,765 SF

                                    Step 3:
                                    Convert the amount you have borrowed in SF to USD (@ current spot rate $0.85) and invest in US $1,000,000 @ 4.5% — amount after 3 months would be –> $1,045,000 USD .

                                    Step 4:
                                    Buy the 3-month forward rate @ $0.80/SF

                                    Step 5:
                                    Book yourself a holiday for 3 months.

                                    At maturity, collect your $1,045,000 USD and pay the loan amount of $1,211,765 SF using the forward rate you have secured which is $0.80/SF.

                                    So that means you owe the SF bank $1,211,765 SF which is equivalent to $969,412 USD ($1,211,765 SF * $0.80/SF) using the 3-month forward rate you purchased.

                                    $1,045,000 USD – $969,412 USD = $75,588 USD.

                                    Since the answer is in USD we convert SF to USD.

                                    Hope that make sense! 🙂

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                                      @diya i have not done exam 5 (still considering) only did 2 questions the one from AM paper that you mentioned and this haha. Given that there are quite a bit of differences in terms of changes i’m not sure if i should work on the previous year’s http://www.elansguides.com/docs/Los-changes-2012-2013.pdf

                                      So i’m practicing on the CFAI’s 2013 mock.

                                      As for question 81, since they wanted proportionate consolidation method for interest coverage ratio:

                                      EBIT / interest expense

                                      I’ll do the workings on a spread sheet as it’s easier to explain than pure text.

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                                      @vincentt I have a theory that I developed this morning.

                                      When I did my level one exam I had only done the first two practice exams from the Schweser book and I found the CFAI exam easy compared to what I had seen with Schweser and had done book one not book two (I went back and checked)!

                                      So I think exam 1 book 1 is made to be slightly harder than the actual exam and difficulty progress from there to make you “overstudy” and ensure you have a large enough margin or error and also to cover the gaps that have missed or forgotten.

                                      I say this to myself so I don’t get discouraged at the last week and mess up.

                                      So cheer up! I’m sure you’ll be fine ^.^

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                                        @diya haha! yes i’ve just done both morning and afternoon papers. How many mocks are you targeting to complete? 6 schwesers and 1 cfai?

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                                        @vincentt I didn’t really have a target # of mocks to finish just a target % of what I’d like to achieve. I wouldn’t have done so many, it I didn’t have you as motivation, lol.
                                        I just finished afternoon session for mock 5 and I won’t be able to start cfai mock till tonight. I’ll touch bases with you tomorrow.

                                        I am finding that the book 2 practice exams are systematically covering all the major topics.

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                                        @Alta12 no I haven’t used the Elan ones but I’ve heard they are “more” representative of the exam.

                                        I try not to guess because that gives me a better idea of how much I know and exactly which topics I don’t understand.

                                        How are you faring with Elan?

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                                        Uneven coverage is much better than you think. Then you know you have to study for 1-2 topics specifically. It’s worse to be average on all topics!

                                        Sounds like awesome progress @diya, @vincentt and @alta12!

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                                        @vincentt I was planning on doing my revision but instead I was very unproductive so I started the book 2. I’ll finish the first quarter and touch bases with you again and compare notes. I only finished the first item set (ethics) and it was REALLY detailed.

                                        Which by the way for question 3 I don’t understand why Gillis buying a long position in Binaria’s currency is wrong. She has no idea that the proposed reform includes and wouldn’t the fact a reform is coming be public knowledge? I don’t understand why that is an instance of front running…

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                                          It will never be statistically significant….


                                          @sophie
                                          All I can think of when I read the above line -> Fail to reject null ! 😛

                                          Btw, from your glorious experience of the exams, does the exam generally targets bigger concept or small ones? (not sure if my question make any sense to you).

                                        • Avatar of vincenttvincentt
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                                            @diya how did you find mock 4 am paper overall?

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                                              @alta12 from what i understand NOPAT is almost like EBIT(1 – t) but it’s not exactly the same, but for the sake of simplicity you could use EBIT(1-t). The actual NOPAT has some adjustment before calculating NOPAT.

                                              E.g.
                                              – Capitalize and amortize R&D charges (rather than expense them), add them back to earnings to calculate NOPAT.
                                              – Add back charges on strategic investments that will generate returns in the future.
                                              – Capitalize (but do not amortize) goodwill, add amortization expense back to earnings to get NOPAT…..
                                              ….

                                              ..
                                              .

                                              You may find the list in schweser book 3 p197 (which i think you rather not know it @-) , just use NOPAT if given otherwise EBIT(1-t) )

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                                              Does anyone know how comparable the Schweser practice exams are to the real thing in terms of difficulty? I have taken 4 full-length exams and have been scoring between 65% – 73%. I have reviewed the SchweserNotes 2-3 times cover to cover doing all questions along the way. Today I cracked open a CFAI text for the first time and decided that I am not even going to attempt to go through those books. Anyone else only using Schweser?

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                                              @vincentt for exam 4 morning session I was going through the answers again and on page 197 at the very bottom it says 1.045 doesn’t equal 1.03(0.80/0.85).

                                              (This is for question 11).

                                              Can’t we figure out that swiss is the currency we borrow from since it has a lower real interest 12%-2%=10% as opposed to the US that has 18%-6%=12%?

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                                              @vincentt thanks so very much! I should have mentioned that I did end up getting the right answer but it took forever to calculate it.

                                              I used the above calculations I gave to figure out the funding currency instead of the weird equation schweser used.

                                              For book two the questions are so tedious!

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                                              Hi Everyone. I am new to the blog. I need know are the Schweser practice exams easier than the CFAI institute mock exam. I am averaging mid 70’s in Schweser, but in the institute mock I got about 71 or so

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                                              @peru969 like @Sophie said doing both is great. Since the CFA has such great depth. With the remaining days don’t forget to review.

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                                              @vincentt I’m not sure if I am being more careful and methodical with my review with the second book but I am finding more mistakes in the solution (or just solutions I have no idea what they are trying to say).

                                              For exam 5 morning session the solution was question 43 is just confusing (not to mention wrong) but they give you the right answer interesting enough.

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                                                @diya are you referring to the solution? The answer seems right to me as i’ve got the exact figure.

                                                As for the solution, it is another way of calculating which looks more complicated but it is way quicker to get your answer.

                                                The concept is that instead of summing up both figures and average them out (for each year), you just discount each line all the way to node 0 (today).

                                                So say a bond with 2 years to maturity, you would take the last value which is ( $100 + coupon ) and divide or discount that by year 1’s interest rate then discount that again by today’s interest rate which will get you the 50% portion today’s value.

                                                Do the same for the down-node for the remaining 50% of today’s value.

                                                As for my preference, i would prefer to do it year by year in case there’s a call/put option or perhaps the following questions might need those values again, etc.

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                                                @vincentt are you already done the cfai mock?

                                                If so I was thinking of doing exam 6 first but I can just go straight to CFAI’s mock. Doesn’t really matter to me. lol

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                                                @Diya @Vincentt @Sophie I’m struggling with the Schweser ones. I don’t seem to have problems doing EOC and Elan Practice questions but the Schweser vignettes is troubling me. Will start Elan mock at the end of this week.

                                                I am so disheartened right now. Spent 6 months studying and struggling to remember it all.

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                                                  @diya just completed the first 5item sets of exam 1 in vol 2, its harder in my opinion.

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                                                    @alta12 schweser practice exam volume 2.

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                                                    @vincentt how much harder? Is it substantially bringing down your mark?
                                                    I think I am going to squeeze a bit more revision before I start the second book.

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                                                      @diya that ethics question completely abused my brain. The answers are so closed and the text purposely mislead you.

                                                      That’s because she’s one of the traders in her company and her company specialises in currency trading. So i guess trading on your personal account before your employer and client is wrong.

                                                      Not sure if you still recall one question in Vol 1 that says analyst A spent a couple of days at work researching on a stock and then purchased it in her personal account without telling her employer is wrong too.

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                                                      CFAI EOC questions? Not sure since I haven’t done them all. One thing that does annoy me is that not all of CFAI’s questions are multiple choice format. CFAI EOC questions are much more difficult than Schweser’s EOC questions. I like working through the blue box examples since the solutions are more detailed.

                                                      Which sections are you having difficulties with? Alt. Investment, portfolio management and corporate finance is making me cry.

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                                                      :)) “glorious” experience indeed @vincentt! Hmm.. it is really hard to say. Generally an item set will want to cover the broad/”bigger” concept, but within the sub questions, there are occasionally out of the blue concepts that makes you go whaaa?

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                                                      @vincentt I just gave you the midpoint for equity. And yes corporate finance and fixed income should be taking up the rear.

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                                                      @vincentt élan 11th hour is much better than Schweser Secret Sauce imo.

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                                                      @vincentt yes Elan is good but I’m not sure if it is worth it so late in the game.

                                                      Oh I know the MF model which for some reasons my professor called the fleming-mundell in my advance econ classes. I was just pointing out that Schweser repeats some concepts (like growth theory) and neglects some.

                                                      Oh I was referring to the post where you said that the ethics section abused you in mock #4

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                                                        thx for explaining @diya gonna review the last must dreaded item set – economics before calling it a day.

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                                                        @diya @vincentt could you please explain for Schweser Exam 3 Q22 why we couldn’t use EVA = EBIT (1-t) x $WACC and had to use the NOPAT provided. I thought both formulas should arrive at the same answer but it doesn’t.

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                                                        But NOPAT = EBIT (1-t). Confused. Yes it only appears in Elan notes.

                                                        I may just remove EVA = EBIT (1-t) – $WACC from my very congested brain.

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                                                        @peru969 – it’s hard to say which is ‘easier’ as it’s very personal and depends on what areas you’re good at. That said, Schweser is known to be quite calculation focused, whilst CFAI mock focuses a little more on the conceptual side of things. Doing both is a great balance

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                                                        @vincentt I also got the right answer that is why I only realized now that I couldn’t make heads or tails of the solution.

                                                        But since the solution is the faster way way I might see if I can work it out.

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                                                          thanks @diya i’ve only done exam 1 and half of exam 2 for schweser level 1. I felt the exam was easy as well. I think for level 2 there are more people at the border line compared to level 1. Oh well, good luck to both of us and hope for the best.

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                                                            @diya oh btw, do let me know when you are done with 2013 official mock, maybe we could discuss some of the questions in there.

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                                                              I am also planning to take bar exam this year for which I am looking for the best Mobile Bar Review Courses. I want to clear this exam in the very first attempt. I am very much positive about my preparation and I am sure I will be able to clear it this time only.

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                                                                @alta12 if I haven’t got a clue on the answer at all I would leave it blank so I know I shouldn’t get any marks for it.

                                                                Likewise, for questions that I’m not 100% sure but I still think it’s the right one I would put a marker on the question number.

                                                                Same goes for the answers, if i’m certain one of it is wrong I would put a cross on it, so when i’m reviewing it, I would know what I think I knew is indeed correct or even for things you are unsure I would underline it and put a question mark so I when I review it I could read up on that.

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                                                                @vincentt I am finding that even my weaker topics have improved dramatically while doing the first three mock exams. I might finish up with book 2 within a week and a half (depending on how I score) and start with the 2012 exam booklets. I find that there aren’t huge differences in the topics and the extra questions will help with my understanding.

                                                                I find that the EOC questions are very detailed. I also have some old sample/mock exams from CFAI. I did a 2012 sample exam and scored decently (>70%) so maybe we are worrying too much?

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                                                                @vincentt for the first mock I scored a 55%. and what that is a huge improvement between the first and second mock exam. Good job!

                                                                I’ve noticed that mock 4 also it taking me longer to get through. They really make you fight for the answer. Which is good (more review) but demoralizing and surely CFAI wouldn’t have such convoluted questions on the exam, would they? Actually forget about it being convoluted, I’m worried that if the questions are really that in-depth I might really have a time problem…

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                                                                  @diya not good in my opinion, the overall score is close to 70% but if you break it down the “standard deviation” is too high. For example for my the 3rd mock i’ve managed slightly over 65% but only managed a 58.3% for the AM paper.
                                                                  Needless to mention the 4th mock is worse. :s

                                                                  I’m not sure if that would be the way in the real exam (at least it’s not the case in level 1), just look at the last item set in mock 4, 3 questions are on the types of hedge fund strategies.


                                                                  @alta12
                                                                  same here, 1 morning/afternoon paper every 2 evenings, but schweser practice vol 2 is gonna take me longer.

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                                                                    @sophie based on my level 1 experience that seems to be the case so hopefully that stays the same 😀 About 2 more weeks to go can’t wait for ‘all these’ to end yet i’m worried that I’m still not prepared. The usual contradicting moments i guess. :-S

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                                                                      @diya haven’t got elan’s 11th hour is it good?

                                                                      I could easily memorise the MF Model in High/Low mobility Expansionary/Restricted monetary/fiscal policies, I just apply it where necessary without putting much though into that. Don’t remember the Taylor rule, but i know what’s Dornbusch and all the 5 different framework (can’t remember what it’s called) but basically covered/uncovered interest rate parity, absolute/relative PPP & fisher’s.

                                                                      Oh, if you are referring to that post i created about ethics, basically I haven’t started ethics at that time so i’m not sure what to look out for (e.g. what’s new, etc), though i’m still half way through ethics (been reading it on the train to work).

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                                                                        @diya no problem at all.

                                                                        cfai 2013 mock pm just knocked me off the ground! It’s hitting those gaps that wasn’t really covered in all 4 schweser mocks! Not good…

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