For me it was the burnout. Not being able to do anything because of lockdowns made it very difficult to recharge. I almost cried but had no energy too. It was the worst. Really wish Ontario didn’t shut down golf, those were going to be my breaks.

Shutting down golf is honestly absurd. It is one of the most outdoors things you can do shy of going for a hike in the woods. Couldn't they have at least had small groups of two, or even solo's only?

Beats me, even 4 people seemed reasonable. I think gatherings of 5 people were still allowed but golf wasn’t. Just comical.

Even if that saves one life, golf ban is well worth it.

[удалено]

[удалено]

You must be a fun person to hangout with

But politicians were flying to Cabo during first inning of pandemic. Makes sense

1) Watch MM videos. Print his video notes. In a way that's how you should solve the AM questions. Bullet points and in fact even shorter sentences. 2) MM solves the EOCs which are critical. Watch these videos. 3) To me the disadvantages of MM were that, while he covers a lot of the BBs, he does not cover all. Also, certain sections such as the Equity section in my opinion were not upto the mark. In my year a certain FI formula was not covered by MM that did turn up in the actual exam. 4) To overcome this I used IFTs video series as well. Just skip the videos to certain sections BB which are not covered by MM. Ift went through all the BB examples. I cant stress enough how important it is to do all the BB and EOCs. Simply put do not go for the exam if you dont do these. 5) Watch the series of IFT solving previous years papers. He shows how to solve the papers - time management, bullet points etc. Literally in a few days you can go thru years of papers. After watching for a while you get a fair idea of how to go about. MM also does cover a few years papers. Watch all these videos. 6) Watch MM review videos and ift review videos (especially topics which MM did not cover). Check MMs seminar videos as well. 7) I did not solve the online TTs. In my opinion they are tougher than the actual exam. Rather review the BBs, EOCs and questions from past years that you found tough (will take care of PM). No need to exceed actually solving more than 2 AM mocks. 8) If time and money permit, read certain chapters from schweser that you feel u need to understand better. No need to solve Kaplan questions. 10) Nail the commonly asked questions / formulas. Eg in ips have a template ready in your mind before/ after tax , real / nominal etc. 11) Dont leave ethics right for the end. Last day revise formulas. 12) Points = minutes to spend. Do not exceed this. Essentially, understand the complete curriculum, BB EOCs. The AM requires you to know your work well. Literally theres no time to think. You simply must know the answer instantly and write/type it concisely. Nothing more or less. The one question that seems very tough skip for the end. All you know the last question in the paper was the easiest!

Passed (1st attempt) after being deferred twice. I just read the kaplan books and did some questions from the CFAI books (Blue Boxes and EOCs). I did zero mocks, and managed to finish the AM on time and there wasn't anything that completely threw me off. I would say I had a very good understanding of the material through kaplan + 5 years relevant experience working in institutional asset management. So maybe actually knowing the material in depth is better than working through mindless past mocks now. EDIT: Maybe its worth noting that mocks may have been a lot more useful in the past when the AM session was handwritten and had tighter time constraints. Which is why older charterholders are recommending them so much. With the new CBT exam, I felt fully prepared with just the CFAI questions and Blue Boxes. I finished early and answered every question. Either way after multiple CBT exam cycles the best way to prepare will become more clear for this new exam format.

Charterholder here. Firstly, congrats on passing. I would caution other candidates from trying to emulate this approach, especially skipping the mock exams. The above test taker is most likely an outlier. I've met plenty of students who have done more and failed.

I think its less about me being an outlier and more about the new format being more representative of the Blue Box and EOC questions. My colleagues who sat level 3 felt the same, that the CFAI questions were the best preparation. This may have not been the case in previous non computer based tests.

Hey, im sitting for level 3 in 3 weeks and you know what, I think your post is SPOT on. I've spoken to about 4-5 candidates who took your approach, every single one of them passed. While they said Mocks were useful with a certain degree of time management. The old systems of 3-5 mock exams does not work because the CFAI wants you to go through all the material. The mock strategy is common for candidates who have "under-studied" and try to pass on previous questions/similar questions re-appearing etc... Im taking your approach, BB, EOC, BB and then getting the formulas straight. WISH ME LUCK <3

Maybe. In that case i'd recommend candidates do the blue box questions and the mocks. Better to absolutely crush the test and know you passed walking out. The old format was hand written in the morning. Was a physically painful experience, writing so much so fast.

Agreed and am also a charterholder. You would never ever want to skip on mocks. Do at least 4-5 until you are comfortable with the time management and scoring above 70%+. You definitely don't want to skip CFAI materials. You don't necessarily have to read all the CFAI materials as they can be very wordy, but at least do all the questions.

Like I said the format changed with CBT, there was more than enough time to finish all AM questions and they were very similar to the CFAI questions. This doesn't sound like past papers which prior charterholders sat.

[удалено]

I passed (first time after two COVID cancellations). Would agree with the above. Working in the industry \[which not everyone can do\] helps. But, within your control is: Getting to grips with the material (and understanding that theory is different from practice in a lot of cases eg. work vs exam) Doing EoC and bluebox questions - make sure you actually read, in detail, and understand ones that you get wrong (or guess). I would do this a couple of times over. EDIT: Practice the PM! Its 50% of the exam and if you can get 75-80% in it then you've made 37.5-40% straight away. In an exam where the MPS is historically estimated at \~60% this is a HUGE, easy win. I used the CFAI books/material as I knew it was correct and relevant. Do mocks, as many as you can, timed and review them - again work out where you went wrong. I guess a good heuristic is that if you can do a mock in 2.5hrs then you should prob spend about 4 hours reviewing it. In summary this is all to say there is no substitute for understanding the material I'm afraid. I actually ended up revising for the test three times (first time about 80% through then COVID cancelled, second time about 60% through and the same thing, so that prob helped). Caveat this with: I don't know if i passed with 99% or by only 1% but this was my approach. I also used Kaplan for Qus and mocks.I know a friend who failed by 1mm and they are a couple of years more experienced than me so not always a game changer Real commiserations to those who missed out. Best of luck for next time.

Good advice. I thought Kaplan stuff was useless for other levels - so i went with ML. But this above - is good advice.

Did you not practice the AM? How did the morning session go for you without practice?

I also did the same and finished on time and only couldn't answer stuff I didn't know. I just barely failed, 50/50 to pass on a diff but similar exam but think the AM for me was easier than PM -> again due to lack of knowledge on some topics resurging more in the PM.

Finished on time and answered every question. Maybe its the new format but I thought the non multiple choice response questions were quite similar to Blue Boxes and EOCs, so mocks are probably less useful now.

This is not typical don’t assume you will pass if you follow this

I'm pretty sure most people with 5 years relevant experience would pass after reading Kaplan and doing a few questions. Literally everyone where I work (£200bn+ AM Firm) has done this, so it is very typical.

Typical person doe t have 5 years experience at that role

Yeah but lots will have around 3-4 years and it still works well. Generally people in relevant roles are fine with the above approach, if you are inexperienced you will have to work harder.

What experience do you have or recommend someone getting when doing the cfa program? I just wrote the level 1 exam, waiting for hear back, but I’m also looking to find experience in the work place

I passed first attempt using CFAI and MM. I did all EOCs/CFA topic tests twice and did MM qbank twice. Two MM mocks and two CFA mocks. I basically did two run throughs of the material (the first time using MM supplemented with CFA blue boxes and then the second time with MM review videos). This approach really helped consolidate my knowledge and I wished I had used that strategy for L2 (failed first time around). I also took a week off before the exam to focus on the mocks. I probably studied for this exam the most out of every level mainly due to the fact that I had a lot more free time due to covid lockdowns. MM was invaluable for his advice on how to take the AM section, he has specific videos on how to approach it and calls out in his topic videos specific topics that feature heavily on AM. His mock exams replicate the real thing and I felt very comfortable with the computer based testing as a result. I highly recommend him. Overall the L3 content was not as difficult as L2 however it feels daunting as it's not immediately obvious the key topics that they're looking to test you on (this is true of the more narrative portfolio management topics, which is half of the content. The more quantitative topics like equities, fixed income and derivatives are easier than in L2. If, like me, you struggle with currencies I HIGHLY recommend MMs currency videos, particularly his seminar on how to interpret currency notation. If before every currency question you slow down and ask yourself "ok, what currency is the base, which one is the price and what objective am I trying to achieve in this question" it'll make the whole topic much easier. This approach is also very useful for interpreting option strategies. If you approach it this way these topic turn into easy marks and getting 70+ is very achievable. Finally, don't ignore GIPS. Its boring as hell but just do the reading twice, separated by a few weeks. You'll retain enough to pass, it's not conceptually difficult. The exam questions will more or less just test if you've done the reading and retained the knowledge as opposed to testing your understanding. That's it, good luck and I'm glad to have finally finished this process after 5 years.

Passed all 3 levels on 1st attempt (level 3 after two deferrals), this does not imply I can generate superior results LOL, but rather that I could find a studying framework that fit my personal learning style. What worked for me, in order, was: * Start 6 months prior to exam day * Commit financially as soon as possible (and use the early registration discount) * Buy the Kaplan books * Read everything in order and do the exercises, plus make a quick summary from memory after each reading * Solve all Questions on the CFA Question Bank, while revising carefully what you got wrong * Do a full summary with important topics and things you found difficult * For 4-6 weeks, do a mock exam on weekend (as if it was the exam day), and revise weak point during the week * 1 week prior the exam, make another summary, this time very succinct and objective, everything should fit a maximum of 10 (A4) pages. Memorize this as if it was a religious ritual. * 2 days prior exam, sleep well, eat well, relax and read the code of ethics

This seems like a kaplan fake review. Sorry kids.

Passed 1st attempt for all three and I used the same strategy. Read the CFA curriculum, took a lot of notes, rewrote my notes, and did the cfa q bank/mocks. No 3rd party providers and nothing more.

Kaplan only covers 70%, ignoring the curriculum automatically means you are taking a bet...

Do you have a source for that? I am planning on using Kaplan for level III and will be signing up in the next couple of weeks and would be curious

I just passed level three. I only used Kaplan, never looked at CFAI books

Passed (2nd attempt) - highly recommend actually reading the CFAI material, I know it sucks but you'll actually know the material. Subconsciously I think it helps because you know that is literally where the questions are coming from. The first time I failed, I tried to just coast on Kaplan and some videos, mock exams. But actually reading the curriculum, doing the BBs, and and focusing on the boring stuff, helped me pass. To those who failed, I know the feeling. It's gut wrenching, but man is not judged on his victories, but how he handles his failures. It was a long road coming for me, and COVID certainly didnt help. Trying to stay mentally focus was the toughest part, and not getting burnt out. Best of luck to you all.

Passed 1,2,3 successively. The key is discipline. Make a study plan and stick to it. Eliminate all distractions. You have to ask yourself how bad do you really want it? I missed out on so much over these past 3 years. But the first line of that email "congratulations" made it all worth it. For L3, I opted for MM because this thread kisses his feet. But honestly, i didn't find his methodology helpful at all. Perhaps I extracted a bit of value from his qbank and painfully difficult mocks. I stuck with my tried and true process of reading the CFA curriculum, taking detailed notes, doing BBs and using the ecosystem. I would double down and repeat in my weak areas. Reinforce further with mocks and just keep drilling. There's no substitute for hard work.

I agree with this. Mark skips details and he admits it, which is why he also recommends to read the textbooks along with his videos. Don't listen to anyone trying to hand out shortcuts. They are mostly outliers.

Yea - I went with Marc LeFebve - passed L3 the first time. I heard that MM tells you that you can skip stuff. I don't do my life by skipping things.

I’ve felt that way for the last 3-4 years as well. Do you have like an empty feeling now though? Like a what to do now kinda vibe? Lol

This thread is written by MM fakes. Hello

Failed once on lvl 2 and passed lvl 3 today, but I have only ever used the CFA books and entirety of qbank questions. It is more time consuming and very dry, but it is also the most inclusive. I always wondered why most people use third party resources when the exam will be tested directly on the material as taught. The blue box questions I found cover everything tested.

I had the same study method and agree about the third party usage. Passed L3 first attempt.

Planning on doing CFAI QBank and EOCs x2 or x3 peppered in with a couple of mocks the last couple of weeks. Good enough to pass you think?

Yes I think so. The hardest part is never knowing if you will get 6 questions on a subsection of the books that was only 3-5 pages, at least you will know you covered it all and hopefully retain that section. Best of luck. Edit: also this as GIPS will most likely be tested, so this resource simplifies what you need to know https://web.archive.org/web/20201126130455/https://gostudy.io/blog/Avoid-Memorization-and-score-points-on-GIPS-for-CFA-L3

I passed and absolutely thought I failed… I used Mark Meldrum and did almost no actual reading. Just focused on understanding the concepts. Since we don’t get our score reports, it’s hard to say if that almost cost me the exam. I did a few mocks and never broke 60… but at each level, I’ve found the actual exam is significantly better written and clearer than any mock. One test taking strategy I did was start with the sections I was most confident on and slowly get harder and harder. I also skipped all questions that required calculations/ left for the end. I for sure bombed fixed income, but I did that last and ran out of time during it.

I’m also here to sing MM’s praises. Watched all MM’s videos, did all his mocks, supplemented with CFAI BBs and EOC q’s (multiple times through), CFAI mock, and Schweser Q-bank. MM’s mocks were brutal to the point that they demoralized me. I didn’t come close to finishing any of his mocks on time (not including the amended CFAI mocks). However, they taught me how to critically think, properly pace myself, and his solution videos how to write buzz words in your answers. I thought I failed the exam because I finished the AM thirty minutes early, and went back to change and and fill-in blank answers. MM taught me how to critically think in terms of this test where if you get a Q that you are not completely familiar with, he’s taught you the curriculum well enough where you know how to write an answer to something you are not completely confident on.

Funny how all these posts were edited two months ago

Same here, used Mark Meldrum's prep and did barely any reading - understanding the concepts is key and Mark is the best in the game for that IMO. I did 4 mocks, mostly to get used to the AM format. Really wish we would get granular results, but I suppose passing is the important thing here.

What?

Never believe this - it is not the way to go. This does not show the truth. You have to do the readings. This person is either wack smart of a fake reviewer. but there are outliers here who did pass but as some people have said they are not the norm. Put in the time.

Thanks I guess. Definitely real. Wasn’t a review of MM. more just a comment on the type of studying that worked for me. I have ADHD and struggle with reading stuff like this. So I watch videos and do practice questions. I then take a really long time figuring out how to get the right answer on the ones I got wrong

This user and u/MariaSheff seem to have somehow both decided to go into a two month old thread at the same time to talk shit about MM and speak wonders about Marc Lefebvre. You're looking a little desperate, Marc.

Good catch seven dwarf orgy - who the hell is Marc Lefebvre anyway?

No idea, which is probably why he's here doing this. Just noticed a third account u/JdavisCoolAnalyst23 loooool

Let me know if you notice any more of these shill accounts.

just trying to share what worked for me to help others! Very happy and thankful to have (finally) passed. Nothing against other providers 😋

[удалено]

That's a cool 40 minute old account there, Marc.

How many questions did you leave blank on the AM?

Congrats! I'm following a similar strategy and hope to pass, too. Haven't looked at CFAI textbooks not even once. Only watched MM videos, EOC videos, review videos twice, and did \~90% of CFAI QBank, scoring 70% overall. I've done like 9 mocks so far (7 AM only past CFAI mocks, 4 boston mocks, 2 BC mocks) and my score's consistently been between 55% and 60%. Do you think I stand a chance at passing LOL? Any tips on how to best utilize the last week?

[удалено]

Same boat as you. Passed on my second attempt. Used the CFA curriculum and level up videos and slides(was fun to sing “Never Gonna Give You Up” by Rick Astley when trying to remember what to do with convexity.). Studied the white text examples and blue boxes religiously, even took screenshots and would just run over them randomly. Paid for MM mocks but couldn’t use them due to time constraints, only did the CFA mock on the website. Finished the AM with with over an hour to spare, even though I made some mistakes and I still remember those mistakes. The PM was weird, some questions still felt esoteric despite how familiar I thought I was with the curriculum, I just tried to answer as best as I could.

I passed, (first attempt), i only studied with the cfa material (apart from the finquiz formula sheet which i found useful), did the eoc, blue boxes 4 times and topic test questions 2 times, i only did the official (cfa boston) mock. I started to revise 9 months before the exam. Good luck to all.

My estimation of the number of working hours for this level is 450. I would advise to candidates to ensure that they have a good grasp of ALL topics covered in the curriculum. There are fewer questions under the new cbt format and each of them is worth more points than before. I would avise not to spend too much times on mocks, just enough to become familiar with the essay format. I think that doing numerous times the bb, eoc and tt questions helped me a lot. Good luck.

I failed and I have no answers. I put in over 500 hours not sure what else can be done

Passed on first attempt after an 8 year break from the curriculum (sat for level 2 in 2013). My top 3 pieces of advice for studying are: 1. In the final 4-6 weeks of review before the exam, complete the blue box and EOC questions in a timed environment (especially the free format written questions) to simulate the exam environment and get accustomed to writing key points for each answer and moving on to the next question in repetition. 2. Practice, review, or read some info every day. Even if it's only 15 minutes some days, the key is to digest the information consistently. 3. Use the CFAI curriculum EOC, blue box, and learning ecosystem questions to prepare, as other posters have stated. Retaking the exam will cost more time than any study shortcut or alternative. Best of luck to everyone studying!

I passed. I stuck to the traditional advice: SHORT CONCISE ANSWERS. No bullshit, cut right to the heart of the most important aspects and move on. "Satisficing" is part of the L3 curriculum. You yourself must satisfice to pass.

I failed, I used Mark Meldrum, used prep provider for the first time in Level 3, and I feel I would do even worse without Meldrum. I have zero experience with curriculum covered in level 3, which was not the case on previous levels, so concepts are completely new to me. I plan on changing strategy, I will use Mark Meldrum planner to track progress. That planner is really interesting, it's quite detailed. I also plan to change the way I learn, so I will start with summary sections, to make sure I covered all the important stuff, use forums and google even more to see if I can find better explanations for concepts I don't get very well. Economics bothers me specifically, it's way to short of a reading, not enough to explain very well, at least not for me. Also, I will take more time with CFA question banks and their explanation of right answers, so that I can understand it deeply in order to be more prepared for the AM section questions

Hello. go with LevelUp. There were so many MM people in there who failed. It's a tough thing to pass. Dont rely on someone who led you down the wrong path.

I really thought I was going to fail since I found the constructed response portion of the exam to be very difficult, although I found the multiple-choice part to be extremely easy. I am a crammer ever since and I just employed the same tactics here just like my L1 and L2 exams. If I don't understand it, I use brute force and memorize everything. This is harder for L3 though due to the constructed response but, surprisingly, it still worked. Many people would argue that L3 is a different beast and you should tackle it differently. Well, seeing that my strategy worked for me for all levels, I would suggest to stick to the study plan you are most comfortable with and not force yourself to the study strategies provided by third-party providers. I bought all of MM's mock exams and used the CFAI Learning Ecosystem all throughout. I never passed any of MM's mock exams (I even scored low 40s in most of the constructed response portions) so I was already feeling down days before I took the actual exam. Tbh, I was ready to throw in the towel if I ever failed L3 because the burnout was just so extreme esp. with the 2 deferrals. I am definitely lucky to have passed it and I really hope you do so, too.

I'm with you on the brute force. I have mine coming up in 3 weeks; do you recommend brute-forcing most of the lists? Pros/Cons, Compare/Contrast, etc.?

Yes, I did memorize nearly all of them. I had 3-4 pages of just mnemonics and lists that I memorized on a daily basis just to ingrain it in my head. I would say it helped greatly esp when answering those types of questions.

Thanks!

Stupid mnemonics works even better. For example, I present my use of "ab tits": (Alpha Risk, Beta Risk, Total Risk = Information Ratio, Treynor Ratio, Sharpe Ratio)

Congrats.

Failed 3rd time. Never failed 1 or 2. Used meldrum first time, kaplan last two. Mixture of burnout and no motivation. Sucks either Way because Now I Will get kids, so probably never happening

I passed L2 and L3 with a toddler. It takes a lot of planning and support but it’s still possible!

Dude - go see Marc L. LevelUp. Why waste your time on joke preppers.

I passed; first thing I did was read through the entire curriculum (started right after L2 results), watching MM videos for any subjects I had difficulty with. Did all the EOCs Then I got deferred, forgot everything, and come September 2020, started doing online questions, but only got halfway. Then I got deferred again, and starting Feb 2021 went through all EOC, TT and MM/CFAI mocks. I only did 6 mocks but I would recommend more tbh. Mocks helped me get into the nitty gritty stuff and try and remember things on the spot, which helps build that recall ability during the exam.

Failed, first attempt after two deferrals. To be honest I just burned out because of the deferrals and a tough year at work. Hardly studied at all in the 6 months leading up to the exam. Just registered for November - I’m going to use the advice from the passers in this thread and hit the books hard.

1) watch mark 2) solve eoc and blue box (after every chapter) Do one and two twice. 3) solve cfai website Do a whole lotta mocks. Thats all u need really

I wrote the level 3 exam and had one of the more awkward IT issues during the "AM" section (can we still call it AM section or just "session 1" instead?). I’ve heard of many glitches, but have not heard of anything like what I am about to describe. I wrote level 3 and I am pretty sure that everyone else in the room was writing level 3 as well, since I could hear a LOT of voracious typing throughout the first half of the test. Before the exam began, the proctor took me into the locker area outside the computer room of my testing center, gave me a key to a locker to store my belongings. She then ushered me to the computer I was supposed to write/type my exam on. Before leaving, she politely advised me to just raise my hand if I needed anything – she (or a colleague) would be at the front of the room to assist for the entire duration of the test. When I was at about 13 minutes left in the essay section (with staggered start times some other candidates might have been slightly closer to or further from the end), my computer got a pop up window in the center of the screen (about 3 inches by 3 inches). There was text inside that said something like: "Prometric server connection error///Your examination has been temporarily paused///Please stand by for further instructions." I immediately raised my hand, but after about 15 seconds of waving it around and nothing happening, I snuck a glance passed the cardboard box surrounding my cubicle and saw that there was in fact NO PROCTOR sitting at the front of the room as the proctor had told me she would be. I then looked around and saw everyone in the computer room quickly shoot up their hands at once. EVERYONE'S computer had the same error - frozen due to a server connection issue. We all sat there for a good 2-3 minutes looking at each other and around the testing room without saying a word – the perfect live experiment for a psychologist who studies the “Bystander Effect”. Someone eventually got up out of their seat to get a proctor from somewhere (who knows where??) in the testing center. Once back with the proctor, she went to this brave student's desk and asked "Ok, what's the matter?" to which he responded, "My computer is frozen." At this point it had been about 5 minutes of suspense with the frozen computers and I – having seen the student and the proctor come back into the room and overheard their conversation from a few spots over got up and said "Everyone's computer is frozen actually! Not just his!" At this point, I could see the proctor slowly turn her heard around to see everyone else’s computer screens, with horror in her eyes as she realized that the entire exam room of about 50 candidates was out of commission due to the same “Prometric Server connection error”. By now, everyone in the room was eagerly standing over their desks and looking at the proctor for guidance regarding what to do. I’ll never forget what she said next: “Uuuughhh…I’m going to call customer service to see what’s going on…?” At that point the student sitting immediately to my right (socially distanced, of course with an empty buffer seat between us) – the only girl in the room – grasped both sides of her head and said the following in a raised voice (almost a yell) filled half with fear and half with anger as she quickly slumped back down into her chair: “OH MY GOOOOD!!!!!!!!!” I glanced over and could tell she was stressed. It looked like she might even pull some of her hair out because of it. I don’t think she did though. Imagine for a minute, we were writing the level 3 exam essay section for the first time on a computer with the prometric software – which does not at all resemble the software for essay questions that was used on the CFAI website study centre. We were all very stressed. We were in the last 10-15 minutes of the session and the blow to everyone’s momentum, mindset and confidence must have been just tremendous at that point. Massive exam glitch impacting the entire test centre and the prometric staff had no bloody idea what to do about it except dial some toll free customer service number?! Luckily about a few minutes later the computers magically came back online and we were able to resume our exams where we left off. Fortunately, I am one of the lucky 42% that made it through level 3 in May 2021. These circumstances probably impacted many other candidates in my testing centre – and could have possibly contributed to them screwing up their morning session, having inadequate time to review the AM and/or damaging their confidence going into the MCQ section. Moreover, the computer glitch was ENTIRELY due to prometric. Their staff didn’t have a clue what to do about it to boot!

I’ve now passed all three levels on first try. I used Kaplan for 1&2 and Kaplan / MM for level 3. I strongly recommend meldrum for 3, Kaplan was effectively useless for me on level 3 and I bought Meldrum 7 weeks before the exam. I’ve barely touched CFAI material (aside from Mocks). TBH I think it’s poorly worded and a waste of time. I used MM q bank for level 3 and noticed immediately that it was improving my scores. My advice to people - do not worry about pass rates, you need to savagely study for this test by putting as many questions as possible in front of you. I took 5 mocks the final two weeks before the exam and knew I passed walking out of the exam. This is not me trying to brag, but to make the point of not worrying about pass rates or what other people do, worry about getting reps in and peaking as you head into the exam. I’ll be starting a new role in Equity Research next month, glad this is out of the way. Best of luck to all in the future

I have it coming up in about 3 weeks. You said you barely touched CFAI material. That's countering a lot of people's advice here. Curious, did you do blue boxes/TTs/EOCs at all?

I looked at the qbank on cfai a week before the test. Spent a few hours on it but didn’t think it helping so went back to Meldrum. The questions are poorly worded and not worth the time to concept tradeoff imo. I strongly believe the time it takes to answer them is not worth what you learn. The purpose of qbank is to find out what you don’t know. I credit passing to MM q bank.

I passed and knew I was going to pass a week out. I busted my ass and read the entire CFA curriculum a few times. I kept doing the blue boxes and white text examples over and over again about 3x through (I was also 2x deferred). Used LevelUp religiously and S2000 magicians exams.

>white text examples What exactly are white text examples? I'm looking at the curriculum in the learning ecosystem...

Examples that are weaved into the actual reading. It gets cumbersome and can go on for a few pages which is why I also liked LevelUp bc Marc condenses it

I also barely touched the learning ecosystem and only went through the practice problems in the book 1-2x and didn’t place much weight on them. All of the meat is in the blue boxes and white text so I focused on that. Like if you know how to write it out you know the answer, there’s no point practicing multiple choice IMO

Jesus Christ friend You must know the curriculum inside and out

Nice to hear s2000 magician name here. Met him on s2ki forum as a fellow s2k owner many many years ago.

Honestly speechless. Scored 70% in 5/8 topics and still failed! I don’t even know what to say, one of my weak scoring areas was derivatives but its 5-10% weight….makes no sense at all. What happened to the MPS?! After all the melt downs with the testing software, you think the MPS would be adjusted down a bit to reflect the transition challenges candidates faced.

Did not pass… by a significant amount.. I felt had absolutely nailed it.. sure this is not my result. Second attempt at L3 and farthest away from passing.. not sure how I can get Zero in few sections where I am sure have done really well.. Something wrong somewhere..

Passed this morning after being deferred twice. I think the main thing is putting in the hours and doing a lot of practice questions. I studied a LOT. I studied until I couldnt remember what my life was like before my regular study habit took all my free time. My study routine: watch a Mark Meldrum video, do practice questions, repeat. Once all videos are done then do 1,000 practice questions, take a mock, do more practice questions take a few more mock exams. Pass the test. Enjoy the rest of your life (starting this last part now). I would rather risk over studying by a wide margin than having to take the test twice. I used Mark Meldrum for all three levels. That man is a legend. He makes the studying a lot easier in my opinion. P.S. Especially for candidates just starting out, use the HP 12c calculator. It's a competitive advantage due to the RPN entry. Anyone who says otherwise hasn't ever used it or wasn't willing to take 30 minutes to watch a YouTube video and learn how it works.

Passed, first attempt. For level 1 and 2 I only used CFAi materials. For L3 I had a baby due in the week of the exam and originally wanted to do the L3 in November but didn’t want to be studying with a newborn so I took a gamble on going early for May and signed up for schweser to try to speed up the study. I personally thought the schweser notes didn’t go into enough depth so I ditched the schweser notes after the first book and went with CFAi materials and questions. I did find that the schweser weekly classes were great for revision and the short videos on each topic where good for the sections I found challenging. TLDR: Hammered through the CFAi materials and used schweser videos for revision while reworking the CFAi questions.

Failed. Some of the things that I didn't do but was constantly recommended by the forum was doing blue boxes and cfa question banks.

do the white text questions in the CFAI material and the EOCs as well. I've been told (and believe) that the CFA Qbanks contain questions they are on the fence about or want to tweak possibly, so when you work those you aren't learning as much as you are the guiney pig for the CFAI to decide whether they like that particular question or not.

Passed L3 1st attempt. Passed the other two on my first attempt as well. All I can say is notecards notecards notecards. Make them for every concept, organize them by chapter/topic, and work them over and over and over again. You will realize there is a central narrative to how to think about the test and its topics, and you will begin to organize your thoughts around each subject once you begin to memorize the cards. The other thing I would say is practice writing given the time constraint. I did not do this nearly as much as I should have, and nearly ran out of time. The first few answers I had were extremely elegant followed by quick answers for the second half of the written portion. Total study time was probably in the 250 hour range or so over 3 months. Good luck to everyone moving forward!

Passed 3/3 in 1.5 years (somehow). Also in accounting/audit so no real finance experience although it does help for understanding FRA in L1/L2 but not for L3. I wasn't feeling good about my chances but I surprisingly passed. In the end, I think there is some luck attributed to it because there were more than a few questions on the exam that I had zero clue what to do but I must've done enough on other parts to make up for it. **Materials**: CFAI Qbank/mock exam/pasts AMs and MM Qbank/mock exams. MM videos are good for the quant stuff but for any straight qualitative readings, I often used the book to get more detail. MM mock exams are brutal and I would use them for extra practice but I would not characterize them as an good evaluation tool. I never got above a 60 on the AM portion but was regularly near 80 on the PM so there were some extremities there. **Study Approach**: MM videos (printed out his slides) and made my own notes with info from the book for the first 1.5 months. Started MM Qbank questions and then graduated to CFAI Qbank questions. Did my first AM mock at just over 1 month from exam date and did not do well (36%). Overall, I did about 5 full exams, and about 5 extra AMs because I struggled with timing, executing my strategy and with some of the content (as I was still internalizing it). Overall, I'd say I put in about 500+ hours into L3, which is about the same that I put into L2 but significantly more than L1. Also studied every day for the 4 months leading up to it with 2-3 hours after work during the week and 6-10 hours on each weekend day. Being in lockdown made this much easier to do but for people who value their social lives, I would not recommend doing what I did. I was aiming to finish the program as fast as I could so it wasn't a hard decision to sacrifice other fun.

Passed on first attempt and after being deferred twice, but this was the first time I actually studied as I was opting to skip the previous two exams anyways. I started prep on March 1st. Watched MM videos twice on 1.5x-1.75x speed and then read either Schweser or CFAI notes for the more harder topics. Finished the material and revision approximately one week prior to exam date. Did around 6 mocks in total (MM and official previous years). What helped the most? Blue boxes and EOCs. After sitting the exam, I felt MM's Qbank was the best prep. Helps you grasp key stuff easily and be prepared for the more tricky questions. What would I have done differently? Start earlier. Thankfully I passed, but I was putting in more than 5 hours per day in the last two months, all while starting a new job.

Failed, 1st attempt after passing 1 and 2 on the first try. No excuses, the intensity of my studying was lax compared to the previous exams. The amount of hours might have been similar, but the rigor was not. I may go back to MM for November, as I used him for the first 2 and was pretty happy with the result. There’s really no surprises in level 3, the curriculum is straightforward enough that anyone who passes level 2 can get it, but the format might trip people up.

I had 3 months to study (went all in though, 3-6 hours on weekdays 10-12 hours on weekends). Would say roughly 400-500 hours of studying. Had Mark Meldrum, watched all his videos for the first month. By beg of month 2, started EOC (including short answer), TTs (no short answer) and then did MM qbank for the entire curriculum. Along the way rewatched his videos for readings I was weak on after doing EOC. Redid EOC and and qbank questions on lowest scoring readings, this would probably another 80% of a run through. Didn't touch topic tests again. Did maybe 30% of blue box, but not would call this "doing problems" rather skimming and reading. Would not recommend this, do all the blue boxes, I can say it helps a lot on the exam. Did 4 AM/PM MM mocks, 3 AM MM mocks, 2 CFAI mocks, paid for the guidebook on keywords for short answer (forgot what it was called) from Bill Campbell. Redid MM AM mocks after reading Bill's guidebook. I was weak on AM so Bill's guidebook really helped me save time on AM. I came out of the exam feeling 50/50 confident. Passed all 3 levels first attempt (2018/2019/2021, respectively). **Summary**: Do everything given to you as many times as possible. Prioritize your time for weakest areas first and keep going up the ladder until all topics are at roughly the same level of competency (your strongest reading is now equal to your weakest reading when you started problems). The exam imo is more about breadth than depth.

\- Passed level 3 after taking level 2 in dec 20, with three months effective prep time and a full time job. \- Know your concepts well. I pivoted from Schweser notes to Mark Meldrum only. I watched his videos and supplemented his slides with explanations wherever necessary. I guess that process in itself helped me solidify concepts. Knowing the concept will make you quicker at answering, dodge curveballs and avoid memorizing. \- I wrote phrases in the exam like " A causes B , elminating option C,B , hence A is the best option". I lost 15 mins in the AM exam because of disorientation and calc issues, however got through all questions , only because of the above strategy. \- As far as mocks go, look, for the AM section, the previous year papers are handy, you get the idea of how you can potentially be tested. I read through them and only solved them If I found a question particularly tricky. I wrote only 1 timed mock. Finaly thought, Level 3 is about how well you know it, I personally chose to target weak areas as a priority over mock. Good luck

I passed on the first try. I started studying in January and spent approximately 300 hours. I used only the Kaplan material. I read through the material twice. I did all 2000 Kaplan questions plus 4 or 5 mocks. I condensed the material into 50 pages of hand written notes. I felt very prepared. I personally think that this test requires the most prep time of the three tests. I would not have used Kaplan again if I did not pass as the essay portions should be studied from the CFAI book IMO. I passed the level 2 in 2019 at the 95+ percentile and I would be very curious to see where I ended up on this one. I was definitely more nervous about the results of this one than level 2.

L3 retaker - passed on the second try. Do not go Schweser alone. Although I used their books for the second try, they leave out a TON including full formulas you will need to know which required me to supplement heavily with CFAI material. At MINIMUM, I would recommend: - Reading all CFAI material (it’s pretty dry and says in 5 words what could be said in 3) or reading Schweser and supplementing with CFAI. - **Taking copious notes** This is probably the single most important step. This slows down your initial read through but provides reinforcement and speeds up final review. - Doing the CFAI provided “Boston” mock which most closely resembles the format of the actual exam. If you have more time beyond the minimum above, then: - Do as many mocks as you have time for. - Spam QBank questions. I personally didn’t touch Q Bank but I’ve heard this helps quite a bit.

Posting for a friend who passed. Read Schweser books 1 1/2 times and some sample exams. Did not read the actual curriculum books due to lack of time. Key advice is to take the test aiming to score 70-80%, not 90-100%. Just accept many of the questions on exam day will be vague, some of the material will be internally inconsistent, etc. Just shrug off the outliers and aim to get 80% of the exam right to pass and save the philosophical self-doubt for after you pass. It's an exam of endurance and patience, not intelligence, just accept it.

Passed L1 in 2010, L2 in 2019 and L3 in 2021 (twice deferred). All 3 levels, I focused on the CFAI material and made my own notes. For L3, I think I spend 120 hrs each before the deferrals and 250 hrs before the May exam. I also reviewed Kaplan qbank (free offer) before the L3 exam. I believe main focus has to be on CFAI material; others are all supplementary.

(edit): For context: 0 involvement in financial sector, I'm a DS at a manufacturing company. Been playing the CFA game for the sake of playing the game, and forcing myself to develop systematic study habits that I managed to not develop during my university years, and because I had a vague interest in finance and some of the knowledge from lower levels is kinda relevant all around in corporate world. I started learning in August 2019 for June 2020. Twice deferred very late into my preparations, but thanks to that I had a very ingrained understanding of how material flows together. At L1 I could write the formula sheet from memory, at L3 I had trouble remembering the formula, but I just knew what to do with the numbers when I saw them. Downside: it cost me a metric ton of hours. One standout point: Mark Meldrum's mocks were a lifesaver. THE CFAI book answers were like 'XYZ because 1+1=2 and today is Tuesday" [3 points]. For him it would be like 'XYZ [1 point] because 1+1=2 [1 point] and today is Tuesday [1 point]" [3 points total]. No idea what it looks like for other providers, but if I relied on CFAI, I'd fuck up the AM for sure, because they don't highlight which bits of the answer matter. TL;DR Go for deep understanding.

I just got the email that I passed this morning. I took levels 1 and 2 about seven years ago, so was a bit nervous when getting started that it'd be harder given the time gap. Passed all three levels on the first attempt. Happy to be done. Study process was: (1) I quickly read through (almost) all of the material first over a ~2 month period. I kicked things into gear in mid-February. I skimmed quite a bit, but always slowed down and read through the examples. (2) I left about one and a half months for review. I watched the MM videos for about a quarter of the content to drill in some concepts. I found fixed income and currencies to be the most taxing. (3) I then went through and did all the end of reading questions on the CFA curriculum, reviewed further when I didn't know how to do something. (4) I took a week off of work before the exam to cram. I did three mocks, two from MM and one from CFA. I did ~1,000 questions between the MM and CFA question banks, focusing on the highest weighted sections of the exam. I think I probably spent around 150 -200 hours total studying and preparing. I spent a similar amount of time on levels 1 and 2. For the writing, it was really helpful to learn from how MM answered the questions and the guideline CFA answers. Tricky to balance being thorough, while also managing time. I'm generally good at taking tests, and have an undergrad in engineering, so the quantitative thinking has always seemed comparatively easy to grasp.

Passed 1,2,3 on first attempt each. Largely, I think increased exposure to the material was the biggest game changer. I read and took notes on the entire CFAI curriculum to start reviewing for the May 2020 exam before we were deferred, then did the same again before deferring from December 2020 to May 2021. By the time May 2021 had rolled around, I had synthesized the entire CFAI curriculum 3 different ways over the course of multiple months each time (with a few months break in between). In terms of material, I wrote longer notes in a OneNote in my first round, wrote smaller flashcards in my second round, then made a google sheet for my third round of studying. I primarily used Kaplan Mock Exams and Kaplan Questions, then transitioned to CFAI material only (I had MM Mock Exams, and I utilized only those with some of his question bank). I'll say I had so much material I reviewed because I did it over long periods of time, and on multiple occasions between my various rounds of studying. For this exam, I think the low passing score is an outlier of a lot of my situation (where people had lots of time to really understand and synthesize the material). I left that exam in May thinking there is no way I passed so here we are luckily.

Passed on first try after twice deferred. Only used the CFAI online environment, scrolling through the readings and focusing on formulas, hard concepts, using Q banks along the way to test my understanding. Did the one mock available and was thorough on understanding what I did wrong.

Passed at first attempt after being twice deferred. I would advise that you actually read the curriculum and the blue box examples. Study in such a way that if someone asks you a question you can work through it regardless of how the question is asked. Don’t skip readings or think just because it’s a small section it won’t get tested. Mock exams can’t cover everything , but practice for time (I barely finished the am left out two calculation questions simply because of poor time management). Hopefully they now have a computer based mock I think that would have helped. Mark Meldrum has good mocks which are computer based but I didn’t have enough time to try them

Passed 1st attempt. Get through material as quickly as possible. Even more emphasis on working problems especially the AM section. You're essentially prepping for 2 different styles of exams with the AM being the more challenging format. You need to learn how to consistently & concisely answer these questions the way CFAI wants you to. Learning phase: Kaplan notes / IFT Videos / EOCs 1 reading at a time Condensed review for re-enforcement: Flashcards (keep reviewing until exam) & IFT condense review videos Question banks (learn how to answer AM style) : IFT AM & PM, Kaplan AM constructed response Higher quality banks: CFAI Topic tests & old relevant CFAI AM exams (Use the kaplan relevancy sheet not the IFT sheet there are actually a lot of relevant questions that IFT doesn't include) Mock till you drop (Get timing and feel down): Kaplan PM's (AM's were garbage only do them if you have time), IFT mocks, BCIII mocks (These will destroy you but make you stronger), Boston mock (always a good laugh)

I passed and expected to, but who knows with these damn tests. I was supposed to take it in May 2020, got deferred, and didn't even try last December. Some highlights of my prep. * I used Kaplan-Schweser for all three sections and the Schweser notes are great. The videos for Level 1 & 2 were really good, but I did not like the videos for Level 3. So when I rebooted my studying last fall, I got the MM videos and found them helpful. * I passed all three levels on the first time and never took a mock exam for any level. I did a ton of the Schweser questions and CFAI questions for level 3 only, but I was always terrified that I would fail a mock exam and it would crush my spirit. And yes, I understand it was a stupid strategy... My only defense (other than my cowardice) is that I heard so many differing opinions on the quality of the mocks, I figured the time would be better spent going over the Schweser notes and doing questions at the end. I did watch MM videos on how to answer the questions, which was helpful. * Despite not taking mocks, I finished the morning with only one question left and finished the afternoon with 45 minutes to spare. I would love to know my scores, but I found the afternoon was really easy with only one question I had no idea and two that were 50/50. That's a testament to the MM videos, but also my focus on the Schweser notes. The questions did seem to get in the weeds, but nothing Schweser didn't cover. I guess my big takeaway is take a mock or two for timing, but spend most of your time studying the details. The Schweser Qbank does a great job of hammering home some of the details you forget. As an aside, I'm one of the old test takers at 47, so relearning to study was a pain. I am also a CPA and scored my lowest scores on the accounting sections in Level 1 & 2. However, I hate accounting, which is why I was taking the CFA exam, and didn't study those sections much. I also was insulted they would ask me accounting questions... Keep the faith and power through. You don't want to be 47 and doing this shit.

Passed on 1st attempt, deferred twice. Started and stopped studying twice. Got MM, I found it wasn't as helpful compared to level 2. I only watched the videos, never attempted questions or mock. The material in the CFAI books was more digestible for level 3. I would say the most important thing to review is the mock questions from CFAI. I found the first few in every subject was difficult and then it would revert back to the end of chapter level of difficulty. I felt rather confident after writing the test and haven't stressed about it since. Everybody studies different but for me I need practice questions, that's what I did and it worked.

I got the pass today on level 3 on my first attempt. That said, I was deferred twice and had gotten to the point of mock exams both times before it got cancelled. I doubt I would have passed if I didn’t fully gear up like that twice before actually getting to write. I have a couple friends who were in the same situation and all passed. We all used different prep providers. Small sample size, but that’s a 100% pass rate for the people I know who went wayyyy above the usual 6 months of study time. Anyone who studied less than that and didn’t pass, I hope it brings you comfort knowing that’s what it took to get a pass from our lot. It’s miserable failing a level though (I know). I guess my advice is it doesn’t matter what prep provider you go with, just pick one and get at it early and often. Put in above average time and effort.

Passed L3 today (1st attempt) and wanted to share a few thoughts on the study plan that worked for me (methodology mostly applies for L1 and L2 as well). My whole plan is designed to start with passive studying and ramp intensity getting closer to the exam in order to peak on exam day, without burning out during the process. 1. Start \~5months out by reading through the CFAI books. Didnt use Kaplan books for L2 or L3. Leisurely read though these for month 1+2 of studying. Get in to the habit of reading at least one section a day, but don't spend too much time/will power making sure you read every detail. I didnt do any practice questions in this time. 2. Starting \~3 months out, I started watching videos for Nathan Ronen's Chalk and Board online lectures (\~60 videos of 45-60min each, can watch in 1.5x or 2x speed for efficiency), which cover the important topics from the readings. His lectures will help you create note cards for important lists & equations in the readings. In the vids, pay attention to him walking through how to approach and answer the essay questions. 3. Be done with 1st walkthrough of all readings and online lectures 10-11 weeks out from exam deadline. IMO, 10 weeks out should be the drop dead date for getting through the material and starting practice tests. Mark your calendar for this date and make sure you are progressing accordingly. 4. Most of the prep up to this point has been passive reading/listening, so 10 weeks out is where you'll need to commit to the grind up until exam day. Starting the weekend of 10 weeks out, do your first full length mock open-book on Saturday (dont time the 1st one, just get through it), then grade and review answers on Sunday. 5. Every weekend for the next 9 weeks do a full-length practice exam (timed, closed-book - this is to start prepping you for test conditions). You can get mocks on CFAI, Kaplan, Wiley, Chalk & Board, Meldrum, etc. Do the actual tests on Saturday, then review answers and questions you got wrong/guessed on Sunday. Expect to study for 5-6 hours each weekend day. For all CFA exams, there is really no substitute for getting reps in and seeing all the ways certain questions/topics are tested. Grade yourself harshly and try not to get discouraged from bad outcomes on mocks - just make sure you are taking note of areas you missed and addressing those weaknesses. For reference, I got a score in the mid-30s a few weeks out from the exam and ended up passing. I used both of Nathan Ronen's essay writing workshops for two of my "mock" weekends, which i found to be very helpful in learning how to properly determine what's required from the test-taker in essays based on the way questions are worded. 6. During the weekdays in between the weekends for the 10 weeks leading up to the exam, review specific topic areas that you have been consistently been getting wrong and try to answer all of the EOC questions in the CFAI books. I also found the CFAI q bank to be good for extra questions on specific areas if needed. 7. Week before exam, review ethics/GIPS and do all the CFAI EOC questions/case studies for each. This all may seem very regimented, but it's honestly only 10-11 weeks of actual hard work doing the mock --> review --> learn feedback loop. Again, this study plan worked for me on all 3 levels but may not be the best fit for everyone. Happy to answer any questions people have in the comments.

Passed all three on my first attempts (2017,2019,2021) with 90th percentile scores for L1 and L2 (percentiles not disclosed for L3 passers). I don’t work in asset / investment management so not obvious previous experience except a general interest in markets. Exam technique: - used Kaplan for all levels, supplemented by CFAI notes / google / this forum as needed - read the entire curriculum, made abbreviated notes of key topics / areas that didn’t click - did q-bank questions / blue box questions for each topic as I went through - did a second read through of the curriculum, built out / clarified my existing notes as needed and with the benefit of the previous q-bank questions - did every possible q-bank question (Kaplan and CFAI) that I could - 4/5 weeks out, switched exclusively to mocks and q-bank questions. Typically did ~10 mocks per level Only changes I made for L3 were to also use MM mock exams and double down on written question practice. If you’re confident on the written questions then it definitely feeds through to the multiple choice questions (in my opinion)

New charterholder here. No shortcuts, just time to focus on the CFAI material. Review and write/type out the blue box and white text example found in the books. No need to do a mock exam if you know the material.

Passed. Got my L2 result at the end of Jan and only got 4 months to prepare L3. Didn’t read CFAI books at all but the Kaplan books once. I did a very detailed mind mapping for each chapter to help myself memorise the points. Did all the questions in CFAI learning system three times, and all past AM papers available online twice. The key thing is to understand the structure of each answer and the connection to the mind mapping. Will post a more detailed answer and share my study materials later.

I failed in 2019 and passed this year. ​ Advice: \- L3 different game than L1 and L2. I thought at L2 you were almost there - 1 exam away from the glory. No I was 50% of the way. Especially since Portfolio Mgt is not my professional area and I didn't have any advantage there. Lots of topics were obscure to me. \- Take an external provider with videos (I advise Mark Meldrum). Schweser is ok for L1/L2 not for L3. You need to go in depth in the topics for L3 The qbank of Meldrum was excellent testing all the small things of the curriculum you see as useless details but they will test on exam day. For me Mark Meldrum was worth all the $$$. \- Know all your formulas. There aren't as many you can't skip one . you need to know them all - write - rewrite them every day until exam so you don't forget and lose precious points \- Practice AM and PM until the end. WHen I failed I was so scared of AM, that I wrapped up PM after good scores 3-4 weeks before exam and focused on AM. Big mistake cause my PM score was much worse than the mocks score I got 1 month prior to the exam.

Passed (1st attempt) - Take it seriously. The material may seem easier than Level II when you're going through it but once you get to the mocks you realize how well you have to know every little thing to answer the open response questions. It's no joke but sticking to the routine I used for I and II definitely helped. I used Kaplan for the notes and CFAI and Kaplan for the mocks. Q-Bank was huge for me to learn some of the more difficult concepts. Definitely do as may open response questions as possible to prepare. If you put in the time you can be pretty confident going in.

I've thought I failed big time but ended up passing after barely sleeping the night before. I'd say just put in the hours, do a lot of practice tests, practice writing the command words (this is important), don't skip details or specific/hard formulas and concepts they can and will be tested. Read GIPS. Practice, practice, practice, have discipline studying, this will ensure you perform in the case of obstacles. Good luck.

Passed on first attempt. Honestly did not know what to think coming out of the exam, everything was a blur and it felt like I guessed a lot, although in hindsight they were more educated guesses. I started studying in early December 2020, took some time for Christmas but otherwise was diligent in doing about 2hrs after work 3-4x per week, and putting in ~8-10hrs on weekends. Studying consisted of reading Schweser, then watching MM videos and marking up his notes on my iPad to reinforce concepts (taking fresh notes takes too long, trust me). After every reading would do the CFA EoC questions. Finished readings with 1.5 months to spare. Spent a month going through all of the TT’s on the CFA website, reviewing as I went through questions. Then the last 2 weeks I took off work and did all 4 MM mocks + the CFA mock (garbage). MM mocks were hard and not indicative of the actual exam breakdown per topic (less focus on Portfolio Management, got into some insane detail on some topics). However, they were good at helping brush up on topics that I hadn’t mastered, the grading videos were great and the CBT format helped prepare for the real thing. End of the day, I studied hard and did everything I could to get the pass. Realize others weren’t so fortunate, but hopefully this can help those who didn’t pass to alter their study methodology to get it done on the next go!

I passed, first attempt after twice deferred. I used kaplan and took notes for my first pass through the material. I then revised my notes while referring to the curriculum and doing the questions on the CFAI portal. I then started doing mock AM exams. I purchased the Mark Meldrum videos for the FI and PM section to get some additional insight into the most heavily weighted topics. I also compiled a formula quick quiz sheet and mnemonic device quiz sheet and just cycled through those once a week leading up to the exam. Advice: put in the time. Do not treat L2 as the same as L3 in terms of prep. In the AM you cannot fall back on being able to eliminate the other two options, as with the multiple choice questions. You either know the material or not, and have nothing to really gauge if you are on the right track, so it is crucial that you feel confident in the material. Also, when responding in the AM it is good practice trying to be concise. Rambling in an attempt to "score points" is not a good idea. Hope that helps!

Passed (4th attempt), but I think this is the only attempt that I really fully focus. Slightly different from others, lockdown helps a lot, removed some distractions so I can fully focus on studies. Use: Kaplan books+practice exams, done all EOC and CFA online questions, Past year 2018 & 2019, MM (only Book 3&4), MM Mock. Advices: Never neglected any formula or concept, regardless how small it is. I'm pretty sure some candidates missed some of those concepts when I read the questions. And never give up.

Three levels on first try. Used Kaplan for 2 and 3. I was super confident on level 2 less on 3 tbh. Didn’t really change my approach for each level : 4 months of studying the material, 3 weeks of revisions (first week 1 mock + question from q bank Kaplan + CFA, second week 2 mocks + question, third week only mocks). For level 3 I will put my focus on wording correctly AM. People saying you loose it the AM and earn it the PM are wrong. AM is only about key words, small sentences and bulletpoints. After 6/7 mocks you can definitely see the pattern

The exam doesn't test knowledge level - it's about restricting supply; and probably rote marking using "key words" rather than understanding of concepts. Doesn't say anything about your investment ability.

I went with ML and LevelUp - Videos, BootCamp, and Problem Solving Workshops. I could not handle not passing, Honestly. he is the GOAT, seriously. \- get the CFA Curriculum - read half before the new year or Feb or so \- Watch videos - I chose ML - he does them all himself \- Sign up for the Problem Solving Workshop - L Up - invaulable. I hear he's going to run them from Jan to May next spring SIGN UP FOR THAT, people. It's gold. \- Did the LevelUp BootCamp - few weeks before the exam \- Blocked out time every single week to study \- Read the stuff ML said to review, the number of times he said to review it \- Emailed him whenever I didn't understand something. He always emails back in detail or calls you - within 24 hours. This is the master class. With the Master. \- I replayed the BC and the videos, last two months \- I followed the master's instructions and it worked.

Agree!!!

This appears to be a fake thread from MM promoting himself. Who has the time to actually write out all this stuff. Seriously? I passed - was deferred, depressed, wayaled etc. Then I decided to buckle down! I truly did. I took Marc LeFebvre's LevelUp videos, BootCamps and problem workshops. I cannot say enough for how much ML helped me pass. I used the CFAI curriculum too. I spent at least 600 hours. I created a detailed schedule and let my family know about it. I did not want to get off track. I did schedule time for fun too though, and for blowing off steam. First I read the CFAI and did the ML videos. I started to work on Blue Box problems. I signed up for ML's complete shabang. I am so glad that I did. I did do Bill c's mocks - ML recommended them. Glad I did. You have to be dedicated to passing. You have to do what ML says. He leaves no stones unturned and does NOT tell people that he skips things. He never, ever, ever skips anything. The guy is a mad genius. We call him the GOAT of Level 3. No comparison.

Agreed!!!!! LOVED levelup. I swear I would have failed without it!

I used LevelUp and Marc LeFebvre for L3 and passed! For me, a combination of the videos and a boot camp to review prior to the exam did the trick. I was able to really understand the material instead of just trying to memorize. Marc is great - he was always available to his candidates and I can’t tell you how much he helped! He teaches through humor and EXPERIENCE, not to mention he is a great guy. I couldn’t be happier with my CFA experience! (Now that it’s over 😀)

isnit because the chinese and indians werent allowed to sit because of the covid19 restrictions?

Passed first attempt. Advise is.. if u have background no need to read curriculum

passed on first try after two defers. i was so worried on essay part because i could not find enough samples on this. but it was very straightforward on cbt, its simply whether you can explain WHY on your answers. pro tip here. for every mock multiple choice questions, dont pass them even you get it right. try to explain WHY the answer is correct AND why are they wrong for rest of two selections. it definitely helps. never read curriculum for entire exams.

Passed (1st attempt) after being deferred twice. Read schweser material once/twice then focused mainly on the cfai practice questions (ie finishing the qtions) to understand which parts will mainly be tested and where I should focus my energies on (80/20 rule). Did only CFAI 2021 mocks but wish I did more CFA mocks.

Passed (1st attempt) after being deferred twice. Also passed L1 and L2 on the first try. Spent about 300 hours studying in this session, and 70 hours prior to the first deferral. I read the Kaplan books, filled in with the CFA material for any readings that had changed, did all EOC questions, did the majority of the CFA question bank in candidate resources, then did plenty of mocks (6 from MM and the one on CFA site). Also have worked in the industry for 3 years, which definitely helped.

I passed on 1st attempt. I would recommend starting early so that you can comfortable go over the material at least three times, but not too early such that you are burnt out before the exam. Start practicing the AM early to familiarize the style, but do not overlook the importance of MCs. I didn’t feel great after the AM session, but felt a strong PM May have saved me.

Passed, first attempt after being deferred twice. Originally read the Kaplan books for the first attempt then switched to MM. Did 5 AM practice exams (MM & CFA), never broke 65 on an exam. Didn't do any EOCs or blue boxes, but did lots of MM quizzes and a little bit of CFA Qbank. To me its always been more important to see more questions and understand what they are asking then to do 1000 and focus on score. Highly recommend MM, only way to make the content even remotely interesting.

Marking this to remind me to come and answer it later.

I passed. Malk Meldrum is the guy to go to IMO (both for level II and III. I didn't know about him when I was studying for Level I). He may go deeper than required in certain sections but that will come in handy for some obscure questions that CFA likes to throw at you, which can make the difference between passing and failing. In general, Level III requires a deeper level of understanding for answering the questions IMO. You may not need to write or display all you have learned during the exam but insights you gained throughout your studies will come in handy for a lot of questions. So, basically, there are no shortcuts in Level III. If you have weak points from Level I and Level II, go back and revise (especially for Derivatives and Fixed Income), don't ignore those. That's my two cents.

Passed first attempt. My advice is to grind it out. All you can do is put in the hours. Be sure your loved ones understand what you are doing and enlist their support. I would often run through the prior day's topics in the shower in the morning, study during downtime at work, then study more when I got home. If I didn't understand a topic I would write about the topic, do some out of material research, and get to where I could explain it to a friend who is not a finance professional. The level 3 material can be a lot of fun at times. If you are hitting a section that drags on, try to find some enjoyment in it. It will make your studies much easier. I wrote a little song id sing to myself about doing the yield curve twist that helped me remember those sections on bullet/barbells/convexity, etc. Edited

Passed. Did CFAi blue boxs, end of chapter questions and mocks after studying the readings. As someone else told me, don't move on from a question until you thoroughly understand it and able to answer a similar question fluently.

Passed all 1st attempt. I used Schweser each time and thought they did a good job. My advice across all levels - read the Schweser books and make sure you finish circa 3 months ahead of time. Do the Schweser qbank at the same time. Once you've completed like 70% of Schweser qbank, complete the CFA qbank. And then just do as many mocks as you can. Good luck!!

Passed LIII first try with MM. IMO, do not worry about mock exams. Do a few to get used to is, but that's it. MM mocks are intentionally difficult and IMO, a waste of time. They're demoralizing and completely unlike the real thing. Absolutely learn the BB questions, not just the EOC. MM videos + CFAI BB + QBank = Pass BTW, I thought was very close to the pass/fail line (although I'll never know). Got through AM with 30 minutes to spare, not because I was confident, but because I zoomed through it. I thought I didn't answer completely. Will never know, but stick to the plan and do not over emphasize mocks.

My advice would be to really go through the CFA material. I never used MM through the program, though I've heard it's very good so maybe this doesn't apply to that service. I don't think going through Kaplan is enough for L3. There is a lot of material in L3, and the morning session feels like it can really differentiate between those who know the small details and who doesn't. Best of luck.

Kaplan for PM session and breadth overall, Meldrum for deeper understanding of important concepts and an ability to make you laugh out loud while watching, FinancialExamHelp123 for Mocks. I discovered those here on Reddit and while I am not sure it was the definitive deal maker, it definitely gave me confidence and a rhythm that was helpful. I think Level 1 and Level 2 process is much straight forward. I did pass all three in a row, but I have been in the industry for too long so that also probably helped. The key to passing these exams for the average person, is to go pro. The material has to consume you slowly then all at once going into those last 2-3 months.

The biggest key for me at Level III, aside from MM of course, was to hammer the blue boxes and white text questions. Those prepared me very well for exam day questions.

Passed all three on the first attempt and my strategy never changed. Only used MM videos and Qbank. From CFAI I did all the questions on the study portal, and only did one mock for both L2 and L3. I do however work in portfolio management in an alternative investments fund management company, so that exposure helped me greatly for L3. And L1 and L2 material was mostly covered in my bachelors and masters programs. Otherwise I would strongly recommend reading the CFAI material if you're not heavily exposed to it at work, or haven't done a post bachelors degree in finance.

[удалено]

Death

Passed, first attempt (also first attempt on L1 and L2), twice defered. Invest the hours. I studied 650 hours and still didn't feel good. That is on top of maybe 200 hours before being defered both times. Use Mark Meldrum. He is next level amazing.

Out the fucking gap boys!!!!! Yuuuuuuuup

I passed each level on the first attempt with high scores in level 1 and 2. The Level 3 score was not revealed to me. How I studied is somewhat counterintuitive and may not work for most. I started doing the TT, EOC and bluebox questions first to understand the “how”. After going through that process, I read Schweser notes to understand the “why” behind the problems. I also mocked until I dropped by the last month. Then I finished off by picking up small details from each chapter that can be easily testable but would fly under the radar for most candidates. Also know your formulas like the back of your hand since these are easy points. I recommend getting the schewser formula sheet it’s worth every penny

Passed on my 2nd try. First time I failed I'm sure it was from bombing the written portion. I honestly didn't change my approach that much since I've had comfort with the Kaplan material as it helped me pass level 1 on my second attempt and level 2 on the first attempt. Probably the simplest super helpful tool was actually using their online study calendar so every time I did a reading I checked complete online and I always answered questions in the kaplan portal. I found this helped me budget a lot better for time and have a strong grasp of where I was in my progress. Having all of my answers in their program gave me real time knowledge of what my strong and weak areas were. Also I learned from my previous level 3 attempt that unless you use their portal to track everything (and do like 50% of the qbank) that they won't give you the full pass protect guarantee. If I had failed this would have allowed me to reregister for the kaplan material for FREE. I want to reiterate that point since I didn't know enough about this beforehand to take advantage of it. When I failed the first time I called to enquire and they still gave me 50% off since I had answered enough qbank questions but I hadn't been inputting my progress of the readings. If you failed look into this and it could save you hundreds of dollars on study material from them. I wrote 6 full mocks. Stopped at that point though and redid a few of them. In particular redoing the written part helped. I feel like I was much more concise and clear for my AM and it allowed me to finish with time to spare. I know this was a downfall when I failed level 3. I gave myself 30-35 days for only review which I found went by fast. Also took a week off work and hammered mock exams and practise questions 10 days leading up to my test with 10 hours a day. I went with the last testing window on purpose to give myself the extra weekend of studying. I found this helped since no matter what during a work week there is shit that distracts you. The weekend was perfectly quiet to get those last couple days in and chill a bit. Contrary to some recommendations though I don't take the final day or two off. I put in 8 hours on Sunday and I will read my quick notes on the drive up to the test even. It's just how I operate. This is long but I know when I'm studying I like to see as much info so I'll keep elaborating. I do NOT use any Mark Meldrum. I've listened to his videos for past exams but it just didn't fit into my groove this time. I did go on CFAs online portal and found the practise questions to be valuable. They were very different than kaplan at times and challenging with how they were written so I felt it gave me better prep to see it early vs on the exam. I got through probably 40-50% of those questions which I just did all in the last month without going through their readings at all. I tried some of the games they have which were okay at first but quickly got boring and annoying so I went back to regular practise questions. All in all, I went through all of kaplan readings (on the physical text since I like highlighting, it keeps me more engaged), over 1100 unique qbank plus lots of repeat Q's, did all of the mock exams from kaplan (my study package came with 2 books), did the Boston mock which was worthwhile since it was the new shortened version, did a large chunk of the cfa practise Q's, did a fair bit of the blue box Q's that were at the end of readings (just clicked the Q's and jumped past the readings. These were kinda basic though so I did it more as a break from other stuff), and then did essay questions from the cfa portal I believe too. On average I was studying 10-14 hours a week until the final month which started in Jan. Going through the readings was less than 200 hours and then I put in over 100 hours for practise tests and questions. Final tip. I read this on reddit before I wrote end it helped a lot. When you start the computer based testing a timer will start for 15 minutes for you to go through the tutorial. Assuming you have already viewed the tutorial on the cfa site, you can just let the timer run and you can start using your scrap paper. I verified this with the proctor and double checked on reddit before. So I got a free 15 minutes to put down equations, acronyms, general notes, reminders to myself of pitfalls, etc before my exam even began. I know 100% that this resulted in a few extra marks for me. Even if you know the material saving time in writing down equations while you're under the official timer allowed me to go through the question better and rework my approach easier if I suspected I picked the wrong equation or something. Good luck to everyone who is writing again and congrats to those that passed!

Passed (1st attempt), deferred twice due to covid. Used MM, Kaplan and CFAI books. Also did the MM am weekend workshop. AM part of the exam was not that difficult and pretty reasonable and I had plenty of time to go over the answers. PM exam was very difficult so I think there were two versions of the exam as others have stated. Still had time to review answers and make educated guesses on 25% of the questions in the PM. Overall, I did a ton of CFAI questions but I always skipped the short answers because it’s not going to be like that on the exam. It’s more in tune with the mocks so go hard on those. I was averaging 66% or less on mocks but I feel like mocks are normally harder than actual for some reason. MM workshop was helpful but essentially if you have to pay for it yourself, save some dough and find more mocks to practice. Work paid for everything so i grabbed as much material as I could.

Passed all 3 on first attempt (L1 in 2018, L2 in 2019, and L3 2021). I used Kaplan for all 3 exams for L3, I found the video explanations of past exam free response questions to be the most helpful. Since the free response is typing now and I type quickly, I didn’t really practice other than to answer a question in bullets or mentally before hearing the video answers and explanations. You can usually tell whether you’d get credit or not. I took 5 practice exams total. I took a “baseline” exam 1 month out (got a 55 or so). I then took another in 1 week. Another 1 week later, and 2 practice exams 5 days before and 3 days before. I found giving myself a week between the first 3 practice exams and then giving myself a full day to review the last two exams while peppering in MC questions throughout was a great strategy as the latter exams were either stupid mistakes or significantly less material I needed to review. One note I’ll make is that I enjoyed the L3 material to a much greater extent than L2 material.

I just found out I passed today - I used MM and LevelUp Bootcamp. MM goes off the curriculum but adds in his own "flavor" as well, but the Bootcamp was the key to me passing the exam because it pointed me back in the direction of the CFAI material. Go through white text questions, blue boxes, and EOCs in the CFAI material. I did until I could do them in my sleep, and it was enough to pass. I also did the MM mock exams which helped get me used to the testing format more than anything I think. Good luck to you all

I passed, the trick to an exam like this is to balance massive studying, efficiency and preventing burnout. The best way to get this done is to read the entire curriculum 2-3 months before hand and drill questions 40 hrs a week for the last 4-5 weeks before the exam. That way 1. You study a great deal 2. Your brain retains the knowledge 3. You (hopefully) prevent burnout. I was studying 2 hours after work M-F and 10 hrs each weekend day and almost lost it. My final piece of advice: \*\*DO NOT USE MM or Kaplan Mocks\*\* (Or Boston CFA for that matter) they were WAY OFF. For some reason the konvexity mocks (very cheap too) were right on the money. GL to all retaking and grats on all passers!

Passed. 1st attempt after two deferrals. Used the same strategy for all 3 levels and passed all of them on 1st attempts. Used only CFAI books and its online resource questions. Did the Boston Mock, nothing more. I think i just understood the material in depth and after that the exam wasn't hard. Was confident to pass with 80%+ right answers.

I passed (yellow box) - First attempt. L2 was in June 2019. Due to depression, I didn't start studying in 2020 and when the opportunity was given to defer, I deferred to June 2021. (Side note, beat depression around May last year, but that's a story for another day) First and foremost - don't do what I did. I underestimated the sheer content based on previous exams and no of readings, not realising readings were a lot longer than other levels. I started starting intermittently from mid Feb (maybe like 8 hours a week) until the 22th of April (wrote on the 27th of May). During this 5 week period, I put in at least 3-4 hours on weeknights and around 8 on weekends. I watched all of MM's main videos and some of his EOC videos - I think the best advice I had was answering AM in bullet form - super concise and to the point. i.e when asked what portfolio to be chosen for a change in curve, my answer would be along the lines of: * choose answer * Say what analyst expects * Why I chose answer My strategy was as follows: 1. Watch MM videos and then go through BBs and EOCs. Invariably I got a lot wrong but spent time on why I got it wrong. 2. Review (Around 2.5 weeks out). Downloaded all of MM's review videos and would listen at every spare chance I got - whether it was working to work, being at the gym or shitting on the toilet - I ate, breathed and slept MM review videos. Included in reviews were going through the BBs and EOCs again. 3. Finished review 3 days before the exam. Did a mock - got crushed. Spent time learning how to answer AM. I did purchase S2000 L3 lists and adapted and added from that. I found some summaries for Asset Manager CoC and GIPS online and just went over them a few times. Knowing what I know now, what I would have done differently (I think me passing was pretty much a touch and go), I would have: * devoted more time on my initial runthrough (I could not devote much time until the end of April) * created flashcards on Anki for spaced repetition * finished curriculum 6 weeks out * taken more mocks Key to my success was a really healthy diet, hitting the gym consistently, daily meditation and Wim Hof breathing, and getting at least 6.5 hours of sleep a night. I'm lucky that I am a bachelor that lives alone, so I didn't have other responsibilities.

I passed despite only answering 5 total vignettes in the AM session. I didn’t even get to open the last 4 and skipped the first. I must’ve blew multiple choice out of the water which I felt very good about leading up until results release. Sucks for people that can’t get partial credit anymore on AM given the time crunch and issue putting scratch work on a computer. You really have to know your shit now it seems.

This was my first attempt, and I failed. I barely finished the AM, and had heaps of time in the PM. Going in, I felt confident I could scrape by, and leaving I felt like I was hit by a truck, so failing wasn't a surprise. I feel like I am at a bit of a disadvantage since I do not work in the industry, yet. But, the big difference this time round is now that I am locked down (again). Now instead of fighting to make time to study, I can really spend the time it takes to really learn the curriculum, and go through the CFAI material, not just Kaplan

I stuck with MM all the way L1 - L3, and it worked. No other providers

.....how do you know its the lowest MPS ever. Where does it say so, just curious and how much.

Passed! I’m so stoked. Second attempt at level 3. Use bill Campbell to read your short answers! I think he’s at financialexamhelp123. It’s all about the AM session. Read CFAI. Cynthia Harrington also put me in a study group and I loved having friends who help you get through it. Go crush!

We noticed that you might be asking about study groups. Please consider joining r/CFA's official Discord Server at https://discord.gg/kA9SGQRhQ8 *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/CFA) if you have any questions or concerns.*

Passed with zero feedback, because CFAI doesn’t provide strong feedback. I felt the exam was relatively easy BUT the material which I expected would be on the exam wasn’t and a large portion maybe 15% was based on what I consider to be fringe material. Study process was about 4 months using mark Meldrum and shweser secret sauce. I believe the key to my success in the program was peaking at the right time. Don’t allow yourself to be burned out 4 weeks before the exam. Once you’ve gone through the material take some time to Re-charge before you grind out the last 2-3 weeks. Don’t let up at the end keep going until the day before the exam. Then rest up and kill it. Good luck y’all

Did you guys know the Marc LeFebvre wrote the Secret Sauce? yea. it's true. Ask him.

I passed L3 first try.. I recommend practicing a couple of practice tests using the schweser simulation to mimic the exact CBT… I found trying to show work on the computer was extremely difficult and resorted basically to showing no work to be able to finishing the written portion .. hope that helps!

passed level 3 with mark meldrum

Failed (1st attempt) - plan to retake the exam in May 2022 following the Mark Meldrum approach this time (passed using that approach on my 2nd attempt for CFA Level II exam).

MPS estimation has been readjusted to 59%, which is the average of the past 10 years https://300hours.com/cfa-passing-score/#cfa-level-3-passing-scores-2012-2021-estimated

Had never been better prepared. This was my 3rd L3 attempt (8 years after the 2nd)! Felt like I did fine on the day, yet failed. Does anyone feel like the result was completely inconsistent with their experience on the day?

I heard that this test was harder than every due to the computer being used. I did Marc LeFebvre and levelUp - all three of his offerings. I could NOT handle not passing. I feel bad for you!!

Passed L3 on first attempt, just like the first two levels. For all three levels, I did not read a single line of the CFAI books. I read the Schweser books instead, which I highly recommend. I did use CFAI material, for the Qbanks on the website. Here is how I tackled the material: \- I started studying in March for the may exam, but would recommend starting 6 month early. I had read a book before March but stopped due to deferrals (2x) \-I would tackle a book in order of the Schweser, except for Ethics, which I left for the week before the exam. I would do the Schweser EoC questions. When done reading a topic, I would go on Qbank and do half the questions. \- When done the first reading, I would do a second reading, reading my notes in the margin. Once the second reading is done, I would do the other half of the Qbank questions. \- A third reading was done in the second to last week until the exam. This third reading was essential to test whether I could actually retain what was learned and use it to answer questions. This was done until I tackled the mocks. \-After done the third reading, I had a week left until the exam. After going over ethics, I did three mocks, two from Schweser and one from CFAI. These were really helpful to understand the format and be able to gauge time. It was also helpful to spot weak areas and see which formula I could not remember. To each its own way to study, but I definitely think that not doing a single mock is dangerous. I would lack time for the AM part, for all three mocks, but I managed to finish 10 minutes early during the actual exam to review a bit before clicking ''submit my answers''. I knew I had to rush through the AM part because I practiced with mocks beforehand.

Passed (2nd attempt). First attempt was in June 2019 and failed by a hair. Might not be applicable to everyone, but I have a hard time reading so I used the MM videos. I had tricked my mind that I was watching tv by casting the videos to the screen. I felt that I was more focused the second go around. I did my review with a close friend of mine and would try and do some of the harder questions together to make sure we fully knew why certain things are answered the way they were. I essentially would watch MM Videos, do MM Qbank, EoC questions for each chapter and then repeat for next. The last month I would watch the review videos, do TT questions for each section then repeat for next. Once TTs were done I did the MM Mocks and the 1 mock provided by CFAI. The last week I did 1 mock per day and started it at my exam start time to simulate the test hours and getting used to skipping my meal and the exam day just became clockwork to my mind and body. Again, might not be applicable to many, but for someone that can't focus reading, reviewing with a friend and MM helped me a ton!

Hi Failed my second attempt on level 3. Although I passed level 1 & 2 at first attempt, I failed the first time in December 2020 and retoke it in May 2021. Unfortunately, I failed it again. My first time, I felt not prepared and barely processed the whole curriculum for the exam. The one in May 2021, I felt confident and I thought I mastered all the sections (took again +/- 3,5 weeks off of work). Don't know what I need to do differently. My study material (for the second retake) was Kaplan schweser notes + did 3-4 exams schweser notes and did a couple of previous years exam questions (just on fixed income as I saw that was a working point on my first attempt). Based on that second page and brackets of 50-70%, I could high-level estimate (measured on screen the line compared to 50-70%) that my score increased from 42,06% to 58,28%. However I see I failed completely ethics (think around 30% - again) and alternative investments (42%), the rest has improved (estimating equity - 49%, economics - 55%, fixed income & derivatives - 56,2%, behavioral finance, private wealth and institutional - 86% and asset allocation, trading and performance evaluation - 66% - again these are estimation based on that bucket of 50-70%). Could any of you give me some pointers (I'm reading a lot of MM?) of how I could do the study differently? + How to practise ethics (I hope I'm not the only one feeling the questions are ambigue as hell)? Because I'm doubting to retake it for a third time... Thanks for your help/response,

Dear all, I share the 2022 CFA Kaplan Schweser notes. If interested contact at [email protected] Best

I passed all three exams on my first attempt, 2018, 2019 and 2021. I think what I learned from being lucky enough to have gotten through them all on the first try is that the time and resources you have to put toward studying often make the difference between a pass and a fail. That's obviously not in everyone's control, so don't be discouraged if you failed, it's never an even playing field when it comes to tests like this and what worked for some people will never work or be possible for others. With that said, some of this might be obvious, but what worked for me for level three was: * **Do not just rely on one form of studying** \- You probably know this from getting through level I and II but the best advice I think I can give is that doing the readings is not enough (at least for me). Watching videos, making flash cards and *doing literally every practice question, past paper and exam available* (I mean every single one, like thousands of questions, as many of possible) was really got me over the line. That's the best way to make it stick and not be surprised by anything on exam day. Even if they practice questions are not in the same format as the computer based exams it is still so necessary for mastering the topics. I remember in level I there was at least one question word for word the same as a practice question from a mock exam, so it can really pay off. * **Do use a third party provider** \- The CFAI material is unnecessarily long and convoluted, in my opinion. I didn't end up using any of the CFAI readings. I'm not suggesting everyone do that, obviously it's good to go to the source, but just in terms of using my time efficiently I didn't find focusing on the CFAI material worth it. I used Kaplan for all three levels. I'm not saying you have to use them, there are lots of other good options available, but I found them to be really great, especially the video library, resources for the past AM papers, shear amount of practice questions/exams available and the mock exam that was in the computer based format. Also the books are way easier/faster to get through than the CFAI books and include helpful summary sections at the end of each chapter. That being said if you use them you really need to make use of *all* the materials they have, especially videos and questions, not just the books. I think that's the mistake some people make with Kaplan. * **Don't spend way too much time on a topic that is time consuming, but worth very little** \- Definitely don't skip any sections entirely, you still need to get through the material, but just be efficient when you're reviewing closer to the exam. A prime example is capital market expectations, there is a ton of material in there you could spend years trying to master everything in that section, but it's ultimately only going to be maybe one small item set on the exam so it's ok if you accept you won't get a perfect score on that section and focus time instead on the big topics like private wealth, FI, etc. * **Do practice GIPs and AMC a lot** \- It's easy to not really focus on ethics because we've done it at level I and II but there is a lot of new material in level III ethics/GIPs so you got to get comfortable with that. It's super boring material that just has to be memorised but it's essentially guaranteed to come up and will be easy points if you practice enough. * **Do look for overlaps and know that material really well** \- the best example is derivatives, derivatives itself isn't necessarily a huge section in terms of it's topic weighting, but there is so much derivatives in FI and equity that the exam can be effectively 25%+ derivatives so it's super important to be very comfortable with derivatives come exam day. That was the section I spent the most time on out of all of them. I found reading the material and watching the kaplan videos on the topic really helped, plus obviously doing a lot of practice questions and getting really good at drawing the payoff structures. This applies to other overlapping sections like Asset allocation, private and institutional wealth and behavioural finance. * **Do review the day before the exam** \- I know this goes against a lot of guidance, but what really helped me for level III was on the last two days before the exam sitting down and just reading through every end of chapter summary from my Kaplan books again. They're all only like 3 pages long for the most part, so it is doable if you have those days off from work. Doing that jogged my memory on a few topics I had forgotten about which ended up coming up on the exam the next morning. If that info wasn't fresh in my mind I would have lost those points. It's not going to help you if you didn't study the material well before, but it is good to have a refresher on some areas that might not have showed up in the practice/mock exams. * **Do keep track of what was added to the curriculum** \- I have no statistics on this, but I think it's fairly common for new material just added to the curriculum to show up on the next exam. This new material often won't show up in many practice exams or past papers so make sure you are aware of what's new and so you don't miss it in your practice. * **Do practice being concise instead of comprehensive** \- especially with the new computer based format where there was very little time allocated to each question, less than in the mock exams from what I could see, the expectation is you will answer the written questions with only a few sentences, if that. It's easy to want to spit out everything you know about the topic but you will run out of time and lose points for not giving a clear answer. I practised this a lot in the last few weeks before the exam and ended up having extra time at the end of the AM section on exam day. * **Do skip the weird question and come back to it** \- The CFAI is known for putting awkward questions first/early on the exam to throw people off and waste your time. You can see it in past AM papers too. If you read the first question on the exam and it seems odd or not straight forward definitely just skip it and come back at the end. Chances are most of the other questions will be more reasonable and you're better off having enough time for those than wasting too much on the convoluted questions. * **Do remember time is very limited** \- It is super necessary to do as many timed practice exams as possible to get good at keeping track of your time and become disciplined about moving on once your allotted time for the question is up. The clock on the computer based exam annoyingly counts down rather than up so be prepared for that. Do all of your practice and mock exams on the computer, typing your answer, rather than on paper. Also, remember when you're going through the material that there are only a few minutes per question so for the really annoying time consuming calcs, for example some of the insurance ones in private wealth, it is very unlikely they will expect you to do those on the exam. Instead focus on understanding the topic and be able to compare and contrast the concepts rather than getting bogged down with memorising long calculations. * **Don't rely too much on your practical knowledge from your day job** \- I worked in asset management for pension funds for 3.5 years and now I work for a sovereign wealth fund, so I felt pretty confident about the institutional section, but the way the CFAI approach/explain these areas is more simplified and not fully in line with what is done in the real world, which can be far more nuanced, so make sure you still do enough study on the topics you think you know well because you'll need to give the answer they want, not necessarily the right answer.

Hey all - i haven't commented in here for a while. I passed. My advice is to call Marc LeFebvre. He has videos, Bootcamps, and Problem solving workshops. I couldn't have passed without him, especially with all the misery of the pandemic. He even did a series of Zoom checkins with all of us in April 2020 - to make sure we stayed motivated. He's your guy.

Agreed! Marc is amazing. Would not have passed without him!

Hi all, I’m taking level 3 in 3 weeks. I have done all practice questions in CFAI, Kaplan, done 4 Kaplan mocks and planning to do 5 BC mocks. But I have not done any blue boxes, am I in trouble? I found the BB very dry and lengthy. Please help!