@arbitrageur
Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
@christine you know we only put in all those hours for that elusive Level 3 badge :p
Similar feelings to most people here except maybe @mitch895. AM was a challenge to get through in time, and had a few curveballs, but did not seem unfair. PM I finished an hour early and found mostly straightforward.
P.S. I made sure to drink enough immediately afterwards that I could not recall any specific questions anymore! Seemed like the most ethical thing to do. 😉
Here are my two cents as a fellow LIII candidate:
You are unlikely to learn anything new right now (and it’s important to admit that to yourself!). With that being said, I personally plan on taking an AM session tomorrow primarily to work on my timing strategy for constructed response. If you’re confident that time won’t be an issue for you then I’d skip any more practice exams. You want your brain to be as well-rested as possible.Go over past mock exams and see how you could have improved your answers. Focus on questions you should have gotten right. Did you repeatedly make any careless mistakes? Is there one concept you keep getting backwards?
Don’t spend too much time with Qbank except for GIPS and Ethics since Q-bank questions are much easier than the actual exam. I do think Ethics and GIPS is best practiced by doing the questions though. I’d also consider re-reading your GIPS notes shortly before the exam. If you made flash-cards now would also be a good time to drill them, but again focus on the ones you’re reasonably sure will be tested.
To clarify what I mean by “self-contained” — a question within a vignette that can be answered without re-reading the entire case. If it’s a complex question and it required remembering all the little details I just read (e.g. a relative value tax question in an IPS case) then I aim to do it as quickly as possible, but don’t skip ahead.
Stuj79 said:@mitch895I think for the exam I will consider any portfolio with a passive and actively managed element to be a core-satellite irrespective of the amount allocated to each.
I would say if the passive fund is the largest then it’s a core-satellite portfolio. In your example question did any of the active managers have a higher weight than the passive one?
geobrian said:Can we bring in the allowed items inside of a large ziploc bag, or is that not allowed?Proctors won’t allow any bags, I would keep everything in the ziploc and then take it out when you’re walking into the exam hall. You can keep any of the approved items in your jacket pockets too. Just take it all out and set it on the table prior to getting started. You don’t want to be reaching into any pockets during the exam.
Flash Cards have been a huge help for me in passing both Levels I and II. I’m studying for Level III now (so can’t comment on efficacy) but certain areas like Behavioral Finance definitely lend themselves well to flash cards, as do most of the plug & chug formulas (although there are less of them in III).
In general research has shown that just the act of writing something down helps memorization, so flash cards have some value even if you don’t wind up using them too often.
When making the flash cards I try to put a doodle or mnemonic on the front that serves as a “hint”. For example, I drew an ice cream cone on the Fundamental Law of Active Management card as the formula is IR = IC*BR^0.5 = IceCream*BaskinRobbins^0.5.
Here’s the 2016 version of the how to pass Level III: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiHJI1kjHiI
I just started studying about a month ago from the Schweser notes, and I have to say that Level III seems like a whole different kind of vile beast to slay. I also cried into my pillow for a few hours when I saw that pensions are making a comeback via ALM (although at least I won’t have to reconcile PBO between IFRS and GAAP ever again).
Monetary assets/liabilities are those whose value is known ex-ante (you can also think of them as more “liquid” assets if that helps). That includes anything held at “fair value”, cash, payables, receivables, and all debt (ST and LT). Conversely, we don’t quite know what we can sell our land, inventory, and intangibles for – so they are non-monetary.
Operating assets are not defined as well in the curriculum I believe, but they are by definition assets not related to the core business operations.
The CFAI actually has guidelines on how MPS is established. You can find the info on the bottom of this page: http://www.cfainstitute.org/programs/cfaprogram/exams/Pages/cfa_exam_results.aspx
I’ve heard 65% from Schweser profs as well. That seems about right to me, but @RoyD is right that it changes for each exam based on the factors you can read about above. I wouldn’t put too much effort into figuring the mechanics out though. I feel like most candidates freak out about the MPS because they’re scoring right around 70% on the mocks, which means being in the fail zone is very possible. The reality though is that even if you knew the MPS ex-ante it wouldn’t actually help you pass. Just focus on crushing it and not worrying about anything but the vignette at hand during the exam.
Good luck everyone, and may the MPS be ever in your favor.
So far as I know there’s only one useful app for Level II – Allen’s CFA Review.
Pros:
- Relatively cheap ($35 to unlock the full qbank through June)
- Has all the topics covered
- Can create custom quizzes with just the topics you want to do
- Has rankings so you can see how you stack up against the several hundred other users
- Customer support responds within a day
Cons:
- Some questions are not fully updated for 2015 (e.g. some of the language is dated, and some are on LOS no longer tested to my knowledge)
- Since their Qbank lets you have up to 5 answer choices per question doing quizzes with 3 (as per the actual exam) sometimes makes the right answer very clear or, alternatively, more confusing.
- The point of an iPhone app to me is to cover the more qualitative and conceptual questions (because I’m not going to bust out my BAII and a notepad while waiting in line for coffee) and there’s no way to pick out just those (although you can skip questions without penalty during a quiz)
If anyone knows of any other good apps (for iOS or Android) I’d be curious to know as well. A current flashcard app especially would be great. Sadly most of the best-made apps are for Level I only from what I’ve seen.
