It's all about the MOCK!

jessmat

Hello everyone!

The December 2014 attempt, is not too far! Most of you must either be revising or starting with mock tests. Me? I am a tortoise! As per my schedule, I should begin with mocks by 26th November, which means, if I solve a mock test every alternate day, I will have time for just about 5 mock tests.

1. In such a scenario, which type of mock tests should I go for? All 5 mock tests issued by the CFAI, or a combination of say 3 by  CFAI and 2 by third party? Or any other proportion?

2. There are a lot of third party providers. Mock tests by which third party have you guys found to be the most effective? It's all so confusing!!

Would love to get some advice on the above mentioned issues! 

Thanks,
Jessica

vincentt

Hi Jess, in my opinion I don't think 2 weeks would be sufficient for mocks, my advice would be to start your mock ASAP and revise/learn from questions you got wrong or have no clue at all and questions you did correctly but didn't know why.

As I find myself spending more time than expected in reviewing questions. Some questions could be something you knew but didn't get the right answer due to silly mistakes (quicker review) and some might be down to misconception which may take longer time to review.

I've only used CFAI and Schwesers. It doesn't matter whichever you choose as the main objective of these mocks is to test your understanding of each reading and topics.

Hope that helps.

mattyc

@jessmat agree with @vincentt that its a dangerous game to wait that long before doing mocks. The practice exams arent just for exam day simulation, its more to identify the areas that you were weak on and need extra time to study. Giving yourself 2 weeks is cutting it close. That said I was waaaay behind for L2 and took my first mock 16 days before the exam date. I was able to get 4 done and review problem topics in that time. Very stressful two weeks and even though it worked out I dont think you should chance it. But it can be done. I've also only used Schweser and CFAI. CFAI is always harder so I would advise doing that one in the middle. Doing it first will freak you out and doing it last will leave with no confidence for the real test, which will freak you out haha.

WesMantooth

Agree with the above comments. If I were in your position I would do a couple Schweser's ASAP to get started even if you aren't "ready" to take a mock. I always saved the CFAI mocks until I felt ok on a couple of the Schwesers. IMO you want to save the CFAI tests until you can complete a full test and score decently (but that was because I only had 2 CFAI to work with, sounds like you have more)
The first couple times I tried to write a mock for L1 and L2, I couldn't even get through them and would end up skipping over AT LEAST a quarter of the material. I still found it valuable because like @mattyc said, the first few are more about identifying problem areas to allow time to review and refresh those topics.

christine

Can't agree more. From memory, at the start I needed at least half a week per full mock exam (taking it, grading, understanding where I went wrong, etc)

jessmat

@vincentt‌ Thank you so much for the tips! I'm probably going to start with the mock today itself. However,  for the first two mocks,  I'm going to spread it out a bit i.e. I'm going to write one session per day, and use the rest of the time during the day to correct and review the mock and then revise other topics!

@mattyc Now you're freaking me out! Haha, just kidding. I'm going to start "mocking" today itself,  as I have mentioned to Vincent above. I love your idea of going for the Schweser Mocks first, building confidence and then taking the CFAI mock tests!  More so, because losing confidence at this stage of preparation, is well an invitation to more trouble!  Thank you soo much, Matty!

@WesMantooth Thanks a lot for the suggestions! I'm going to start with the Schweser mocks, probably today itself. It makes a lot of sense to save CFAI mocks for later. I guess I can use Schweser,  to spot problem areas, tackle those and tie up the loose ends and then face the CFAI mocks head on and hopefully do well!

@christine Thank you soo much! Looks like I'm going to have to start mocking, from just about NOW. I had targeted 6 mocks, as suggested in one of the blog posts on this forum. Gradually it came down to 5 and if I don't start asap, I don't think I'll be able to meet that target!

Thanks a bunch, once again, you guys! I'm clear about what I have to do now.

Jessica

Bruce

See Boston CFA Society for excellent 3rd party mock exam: http://www.bsas.org/wcm/_Programs_and_Events/BSAS_Practice_Exam.aspx