@jessmat
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Slightly less than an hour to go!
Also, I received the rare little good luck charm badge from 300 hours! That did make me feel lucky and slightly relaxed.
I’m taking that as a sign that good things are about to hit the inbox in sometime…
Absolutely cannot wait any longer!
*fingers crossed*
Jessica 🙂
Hey everyone!
I am just trying to keep myself as busy as possible, so that I don’t keep on obsessing about the results till they finally hit the inbox! But I guess what we all need to do is, be calm, be positive and be prepared to face whatever is written in that email. I am sure that we’ll reap the fruits of our efforts!
All the best to everyone! May the force be with us! (following @simply_complex2‌’s lead)
Jessica 🙂I don’t remember anything about the exam. Not one question! All I remember is the fatigue! That’s about it. The exam day seems like it happened months ago, even though it’s just been a few days!
There was a wall clock in my classroom and our proctors would give a countdown by writing it on the board. I had carried a wrist watch, just to be safe. I generally run out of time on every single exam that I take. However, for this particular exam, I was able to mark answers to all questions! Didn’t get time for a recheck in the afternoon session though!
You guys could spend the weeks until the results revising the level 1 material. It’s a win-win because:
If you clear level 1 in January, you can confidently start with level 2 right away, as you will have already brushed up on level 1 concepts!
If you don’t clear level 1, you will have revised a significant amount of portion. You could finish the rest by February end or mid March. That way you’ll have approx two and a half months for revision and mocks, which is a very comfortable position to be in!
@DigitalWizard @edmundbp83‌ I am not experienced. I appeared for the December 2014 attempt as well and I am looking at 50/50 chances. So I gave it a thought, and decided to revise level 1 concepts!
Hope this helps,
Jessica 🙂
The morning session was manageable. I found the afternoon session slightly more difficult. Also, I hadn’t anticipated how tired I would be during the afternoon session! I actually put my head down at around 3.30 and took a nap till about 3.45. As a result, I finished the paper at 4.59, to be precise. Completed the morning session by 11.45.
There was one unlucky guy at the exam center. He had carried his passport and exam ticket, however his passport fell somewhere and then could not be found. He wasn’t allowed to give the exam! Apparently, he was laughing about this, after he realized that he would not be attempting the exam! Bad luck, but good attitude I guess!
Other than that, pleasant experience. 🙂
@RoyD‌ Can’t believe that we’re 4 days away from the exam!
I’m not going to take a mock in this short period because:
1. I’m tired.
2. In case I don’t score well, it’ll kill my confidence.
3. Scored about 85% in the last mock.What I am going to do is quickly brush through all the readings, revise formulae/concepts and solve a few EOC / QBank problems.
5th is my buffer day too. Just going to use that day to finish of anything that I couldn’t upto 4th and probably read some ethics case studies and most importantly, just relax :smiley:
All the best!
You’ve been scoring 85%? You don’t need any motivation! You should motivate us instead!
Also, we have 6 days left… plenty of time to complete the CFAI Mock. Split it over two days, if you can’t bring yourself to write it at one go. But please do at least 2 mocks as per the timeline – 9 to 12, break, 2 to 5.
Honestly, since you’re already hitting the 85s, you’ve covered everything. So just keep on revising and ensure that you find a way to distract yourself every time you feel that you’re freaking out or that you’re losing confidence.
You’re going to be fine, seriously!
Hope this helps,
Jessica
@Phil8289‌
Hi Phil! According to me, 61% in your first mock is a great score and definitely not far from the safe seventies.
You have gone through all the readings, you still have 10days and your first mock scores are decent. That’s not a bad place to be in.
All you need to do in the coming 10 days is:
Focus, revise and do practice problems!
Give a mock, identify weak areas on the basis of the mock, spend some time on the identified weak areas, do a quick run through of the strong areas and then give another mock. Repeat this process.
Spend some time on Ethics.Stay calm, stay focused and don’t lose your confidence. You are in a good place and with a little more practice, you’ll be on your way to the safe seventies!
Also, intense CFA prep may help to take your mind of the hard time that you are having at home/at work. So it’s a win win, I say!
Hope this helps,
All the best,Jessica
PS : I got a low 47% in my first mock. The score jumped to a 76% in the second mock. So yes, you can do it!
@tingwuwang thank you for this query! I had the same one in mind!
I’d also like to know which date should be the last day on which we give a mock? How many days away from the exam?
@mikey any suggestions on the above ?
Hey! First of all, no need to apologize. I am sure there are many test takers who suffer panic attacks. Take me, for example. The only time when I am not in a panic mode is when I’m asleep, perhaps!
Secondly, as everyone here has already told you, you’re doing great! There’s absolutely no need to worry. There are people like me, who haven’t even started with the mock tests yet; and here you are scoring in the range of 77 -83! (Which I’ve heard is really really good!)
Thirdly, Stupid is so stupid that only stupid can fix stupid. So if you’re mind starts telling you that you’re stupid, well you’re the only one who can fix that by telling it to STFU and focusing on the topic that you’re studying.
Last, but not the least – Whenever I feel like I’m running out of time or I’m not doing well or I am feeling negative or I get the “should have started earlier” thoughts, I stop what I am doing, take a deep breath and say to myself “I am doing fine. I am going to make the most of what I have and I am not going to give up. All is well and it’s about to get better.”
Hope this helps,
Jessica 🙂PS – You have absolutely nothing to worry about. You’ve done a lot. Now it’s your time to focus and reap the results of the efforts you’ve put in, in the past one year! You’re going to do really well.
@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 🙂
@kingmaker‌
We’re just half way through November. You still have a good six and a half months for level 3, which is about two and a half months more than what you studied for level 1 and 2!
I know a few people who’ve cleared level 3 with just 3 months of prep! You’ve got so much more time than that.
So here’s what you can do:
1. Calm down and look back at your achievements! You’ve conquered about 2/3rds of the beast! You’ll definitely be able to conquer the rest! You’ve come too far, to let it go now!
2. If it’s too difficult to get into a routine, start small; ease into the studying. How about you start with just an hour on a weekday and say a total of eight hours on the weekend? Then after a few days, once you’re used to this, you can add to the hours. By the beginning of December, you’ll hopefully be able to start putting in more time.
3. Make a plan. I always find that having a plan, makes me feel more in control, even though I end up modifying it almost every other day.
4. Please don’t be a plan modifier like me, and actually stick to the plan!
5. Whenever you see the motivation level drop, think of what CFA means to you. Why did you take it up? Why do you want to finish it? How will you feel after being a candidate who passed all three CFA exams? (I can answer that – nothing leas than incredibly awesome!!).
6. Whenever you feel stressed, go for a jog if possible. Else, just take a deep breath, smile and tell yourself ” I am fine. I have a plan, I am going to stick to it and I will definitely pass the June 2015 attempt.”
7.No, I haven’t tried those questions. I’m actually going to appear for level 1 in December 2014. So I actually have no idea about how difficult the rest of the levels are. But, I really hope this helps…
Jessica 🙂
@jimywho1‌
It would be better to carry the regular ones! The ear muffs that you have mentioned, sound way to fancy to be allowed on the exam! 😉 :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:
You could use them at home while studying though! I guess they’ll help improve focus quite a bit!
But if you really wanna use these while writing the exam then, like @MM12 suggested, try emailing the CFAI and see what they respond! Hope the let you use them!
Jessica 🙂
@simply_complex2‌ In short, yes you are allowed to study; so do carry your book!
The first session gets over at 12 and the second one begins at 2. As per the hall ticket, you have to report back to the exam centre at 1, for the second session.
Thus, you get about an hour for lunch and possibly half an hour after. In this short period, I believe that the most one could revise is some key formulae and some key concepts.
Keeping that in view, it wouldn’t hurt to carry one book and try to revise as much as possible while having lunch. Remember to relax for a bit, you have to be fresh for the afternoon session as well!
I’m not sure whether I’ll use the break to revise. I’ll probably just eat a good healthy lunch and relax before going for the next 3 hour session. To be safe, in case I change my mind and actually decide to use that time for revision, I am going to carry my notebook in which I’ve written the most important formulae/concepts.
Hope this helps,
Jessica 🙂
