In the order that I took them



Schweser Exam 1 AM - 77/120 - 64%
Schweser Exam 1 PM - 73/120 - 60%
Stalla Exam 1 AM - 91/120 - 75%
Stalla Exam 1 PM - 85/120 - 70.83%
Schweser Exam 2 AM - 90/120 - 75%
Stalla Exam 2 Am - 89/120 - 74.17%

Those first 2 Schweser's were tough but I'm glad they woke me up a little. They used a lot of calculation questions which were time burners and they also used the least likely convention which always makes you work a little bit harder to find the right answer since 3 of the choices are correct. Reviewing the exams afterwards has been great. Even on the questions I got right, reviewing the answer is a great way to go over material and make it strong.

I am noticing that a lot of the material is crystallizing now and I'm retaining a lot more than I did at the beginning. I've seen the same concepts tested in different ways and I've also seen questions on obscure topics which should help if they come up again on the exam.

So far here's how I feel on each section

Ethics - thought this was one of my stronger sections but I am barely breaking 70% and sometimes not even. I definitely need to read the SPC again.
Quant - very strong. I'll make the occasional dumb mistake but I'm consistently breaking 80% on this section. This is as expected given my background and exposure to this material
Economics - this section is just weird for me. I feel like I'm guessing on every answer but I always seem to score decently well. I've broken 70% most of the time. I don't want to spend too much time reviewing this material but I don't feel confident despite my good scores so far.
FSA - This is hit or miss with me. Sometimes I do very well, sometimes I'll do mediocre.
Corp Finance - Pretty strong. I get tripped up on some of the obscure material that I've been hit with but now that I've seen most of it, I think I'll be ok on this
Portfolio Management - I kick this section's ass routinely. I wish it was a bigger part of the exam.
Equities - Strong, I just get this stuff. The trivial pursuit obscure stuff gets me from time to time but the core stuff I'm good on.
Fixed Income - Strong, it all clicks now
Derivatives - Hit or miss on this one. Another section where I should probably do better on but I dont want to burn too much precious time reviewing.
Alternative Investments - Good here. I won't spend much time if any reviewing this and will just use the exam questions to teach me what I need to know. This is such a small portion of the exam(6 questions), that approach is just fine.

I'm going to take a break from exams tomorrow and just review some key sections and the Secret Sauce. I've been using Schweser's cheat sheet and I also have the one from AnalystNotes I will probably go thru. I probably wont get to finish all the exams I have available to me and want to wrap up with the 2 CFAI mocks either Wed-Thurs.

So far feeling good but not time to let up on the gas.

Taken last night

7City - 85/120 - 71 %

Taken this afternoon

2003 CFAI Mock - 98/120 - 81.67%

The 7City one was tougher than I thought it would be. They had questions on regression analysis which was left out of the curriculum this year but I actually got those right. They followed a different format where they would have similar questions back to back to back, with just a few data points changed and the questions slightly different. There also was no section on Alternative Investments. I completely bombed their FSA section but got enough in other sections to pass overall.

I decided to take the 2003 mock since I figured that a lot of the material would overlap(it did) plus I just want to see how the CFAI structures their questions. I heard that the mock exams from earlier years were much easier than the real thing and I did score better than I have been on the earlier tests. I didn't do too well on the Econ section on this part though.

Overall, I'm still pleased with my progress. I'm able to see where I need to review but I'm now seeing the same core concepts over and over again presented in different ways which is helping my understanding. I'm going to take my first Schweser mock tomorrow and then review all the sample and mock's I've taken so far and drill in on key topics I need to get stronger at. I'll be using the Thanksgiving weekend to review those topics, and then take at least one full exam simulation(AM/PM) using Schweser. My plan is to work up to take the 2 CFAI mocks next week as my final preparation for the exam.

Feeling good right now, just need to keep my foot to the pedal.

Just wrapped up my 3rd sample exam.

44/60 for a 73.33%.

I again finished my first cut with 30 minutes left which left me enough time to review the entire exam again. I hope I can maintain this pace during a 120 question session. Will be taking my first one tomorrow night so we'll see how I do.

This one seemed the toughest out of all 3, there just seemed to be a lot more trivial pursuit questions on it.

There was one point during the test where I panicked during an easy Quant question that I should have been able to answer easily. I got really frustrated for about a minute before I calmed down and just moved on to the next question. Lo and behold, on my 2nd pass I was able to answer it correctly. My strategy of not getting too hung up on a question seems to be working. I also just feel smarter and more confident the 2nd time I go thru the tests which allows me to not feel as much pressure.

No more sample exams. Now on to full 120 question mock's. Will begin with the 7City version tomorrow. Spending the rest of tonight reviewing Schweser's Secret Sauce for Corporate Finance thru Alternative Investments.

Just finished the 2nd sample exam.

Scored a 42/60 for a 70% on the dot. I'll do a breakdown later, for some reason this sample didn't have the questions in order, fixed income questions were first, Ethics was in the middle.

This one was tougher than the first one as my score indicates as a lot of topics I need to review again were tested this time. I was able to finish my first pass through in an hour and used the last 30 minutes to review my answers and answer any unanswered questions. I think the approach I mentioned in the previous post works. If you don't know an answer, skip the question and come back to it. I found that on my 2nd pass through the test, my confidence was higher and the juices were flowing a bit more which made it easier to answer the question the 2nd time around. Once I go thru a full 120 question mock I'll see if I can apply this method as well.


Here's the list of topics I need to review again.

- Relaxing of CAPM assumptions
- Time Weighted and Money Weighted Rates of Return
- Random Sampling
- Economic Profit vs Accounting Profit
- WACSO, Stock Div's, Stock Splits - I don't know why, but this ALWAYS gives me trouble. Need lots of practice on this topic, these are easy points.
- % of Completion vs Completed Contract - Again, easy points but I'm forgetting the formulas for this.
- NPV profiles - I figured out a question on this but had to really think it thru.
- Forecasting
- CAPM vs Bond Yield for Cost of Equity

Some of these I got questions wrong on, but even in cases where I got
the answers right I'd still like to strengthen my understanding. I'd like to really answer the theory questions fast so I can use the extra time on the time burning ones that require calculations.

Another interesting note is that I didn't use the calculator as much as I thought I would.

Overall I'm pleased with the results of the 2 sample exams so far. I passed both which is the only thing that matters and it's encouraging to see that I'm retaining more knowledge than I thought I would, plus I'm able to figure out answers on questions I'm unsure about by intelligently guessing. Made a few dumb mistakes on this exam but those were balanced out by the questions I got right by intelligently guessing.

I still need to review certain pieces of the curriculum but with 2 weeks left I'm feeling good.

Just took my first sample exam from CFAI. 60 questions.

Scored 49/60 for a 81.67% result. Breakdown by section

Ethics - 8/9
Quant - 7/7
Econ - 4/6
FSA - 9/12
Corp Fin - 5/5
Equity - 6/6
Alt Inv's - 4/6
Fixed Income - 5/6
Port Management - 1/3



I timed myself and allowed 90 minutes to complete it. I finished with about 30 minutes to spare which allowed me to go back and answer questions I didn't know how to solve or were unsure on. I was able to do 2 complete passes within the 90 minute limit. I should note that some of the questions were easy and may not be reflective of the level of difficulty of the real exam.

The key I think is to not spend too much time trying to figure out an answer. If you have some idea, give it a go, but if you just can't remember the formula or are completely clueless, move on fast and come back later. I was able to intelligently guess on certain questions I was lost on, and I got a few of those right. I was impressed with how much I actually remembered and it's amazing how the answers will jog your memory enough. There were a few questions on trivial pursuit material I just didn't remember at all, but using common sense was enough to guess the right answer. This made up for some dumb mistakes I made. I had a Homer Simpson "DOH!" moment a few times when reviewing the answers but also had some fist pumping moments when I was proud of myself for figuring out an question that at first glance I was lost at.

Some of the questions I got wrong were because of dumb mistakes, like not knowing the difference between fiscal and monetary policy. I was disappointed that I got 2 out of the 3 Port Management questions wrong as I count that as one of my strongest sections, if not the strongest. I'm counting on that section making up for any weaknesses in FSA or Econ so I need to make sure I don't repeat this performance come test day.

I plan on taking the other 2 sample exams this weekend and then use the results to identify some weak areas to go back and review. Will be working in the CFAI, Stalla and Schweser mocks this upcoming week.

This is material I've identified as stuff you can really only memorize and as such I will not make any major efforts to review during my review session except for right before the exam so the material is fresh. This list will be updated as I go thru my review.

1. GIPS
2. Monte Carlo vs Historical Simulation(LOS 3.9.i)
3. Treatment of Intangible Costs under GAAP(LOS 36b)
4. Technical Analysis
5. Corporate Governance
6. Industry Lifecycles
7. 
   

Almost 3 weeks to go and I'm feeling good about where I stand. Right now I'm in the middle of FSA review and I plan on taking my first mock exam this weekend, maybe even 2. I needed to go back and review the earlier material since I didn't do a good job of retaining most of it. The good thing is that most of it came back real quick once I reviewed and quizzed some more. It's amazing how much you get something after looking at it 2-3x.

The last 2 weeks will be nothing but mock exams day after day followed by review sessions. Will be taking off the Wed-Fri before the exam but I expect to use the last day to rest a little, review formula sheets and do one last reading thru some of the trivial pursuit material I've identified.

It's crunch time. Fired up, ready to go!!

I started Derivatives yesterday. This section is dangerous, especially if you've never seen this material before because it really is a lot for only 5%(12 questions) on the exam. If you've never studied futures, forwards or options before it takes some time to get used to and you can really burn a lot of valuable study time trying to learn this material. I was lucky enough to take a course in options and futures in my grad program so a lot of this was 2nd nature to me although I did have to refresh myself. I would suggest focusing on the following core concepts before trying to master every little detail

- FRA's, just know the calculation which isn't hard to understand. Memorizing it is a bad idea, easier if you understand what the formula does
- Characteristics of Futures vs Forwards vs Options and what the benefits/drawbacks are to each. You know the CFAI loves to test on these.
- Know the future margin calculations. Garanteed to get at least one of these on the exam.
- Know the Max and Min Values of Euro vs American Options.
- Know Max Loss, Max Gain and Breakeven of all option scenarios(Buy/Sell Call etc)
- Swaps - it's easiest if you draw a diagram to get the relationships down. This material is actually very easy, although it threw me for a loop when I studied it in class.

If you know those core concepts you're probably good to go on this section. I will do one last review and take notes on this section tomorrow and then leave it for later.

The only thing left to cover is Alternative Investments which I'll wait until the last Stalla lecture next week to cover. I've been reviewing Quant up to now, will finish that tomorrow and start Econ on Sunday. I've decided to shift the mock exams until next weekend, I really want to get a good FSA review in before I take another one.

I posted a calendar that I'll use to schedule my review time during November.

Located here

I only updated this week for now plus some obvious dates. Want to see how this week goes and I'll probably fill in the rest next weekend.

I took my first mock exam yesterday from 8:45AM to 11:45 AM at Florida Atlantic University. As expected, I didn't do well, I scored at 47% which was less than my goal of 50%. I started out by immediately working my way thru the test backwards since I had just reviewed the Alternative Investment material at a high level and wanted to get any easy points I could in that section. I worked my way back all the way to the beginning of FSA before I went back to Ethics and then completed the rest of the exam. My results by section, with some comments:




Some further comments:
- I finished the exam in 2 hours. Probably because I just guessed on certain questions vs spending time trying to solve.
- I did a cursory review of the exam but did not really go over my answers. I definitely need to do this on future mocks as I would have caught some of the dumb mistakes I made. I probably could have increased my score over the 50% mark had I really used the extra hour to review everything.
- A good rule of thumb, especially on calculation questions is that if you think this it's easy, it may be too easy so check for those common mistakes(not taking sq rt of variance to get std dev, etc)
- One thing that made Ethics seem easier to me(although my results don't reflect it), was that you could underline key parts of the question stem. I've found when quizzing electronically on longer questions it's easy to get lost in the verbiage. I was able to highlight key details that helped me when I answered.
- At no point did I feel overmatched despite my terrible score. A lot of the time, even if I didn't know the formula or exact approach, it was always, "I've seen this, once I review this I'll be able to answer this easily".

Definitely worth taking the exam at this stage. It may sound funny given my score but I came away very confident of where I stand now. I am under no illusions, I need to bust my tail for the next month, but it was good to see that I was "close" on several answers. The biggest thing I took away from the exam is that it's easy to get discouraged when you see how much material you need to study for the exam, but then on the exam you see how major concepts get tested which helps with the confidence. You quickly realize how futile it is to try and remember everything and usually the answers will help jog your memory if you do get a question on the more obscure LOS's.

Next up: my study plan for the month of November.