Wow... I haven't had that kind of emotion in a looooooooooooonnggg time. There was a lot of blood sweat and tears that went into preparing for this moment, and to now see it all come to fruition is very very very sweet. After struggling this morning to get the results as the site was being bombarded from all over the world, they just popped up in front of me after I tried to check using the VPN from my job. I was expecting the same "page not found" error I had been getting all morning but all of a sudden I see PASS with my name next to it. Definitely a moment I'll remember for a long time. I'll freely admit that I lost my composure for a few minutes there, and it was a good thing I was home, I could let it out freely.

It's just a test, but to me it signified something way more than that. I decided to pursue this path not only to assist a career change, but also to see if I could challenge myself enough to scale a mountain like this exam. It's been a long time since I've had to really push myself beyond my comfort zone. From a pure achievement standpoint, this ranks up there in my life. Having my kids is definitely my top achievement ever, but this definitely ranks above finishing college and even obtaining the MBA/MSF.

The score is about what I expected. I was hoping for > 70 on all sections but to see me in the middle band on Ethics is not a surprise at all. It was probably the toughest section to handle and I'm sure a few questions made the difference. I think I aced the other sections well enough that it didn't matter at all. I cut and pasted the results into a tool found here and it came out with a score of 77% to 79.8%. I dont know how accurate this is obviously, but it is well within how well I thought I did coming out of the exam. I thought a score of 80% was possible.

The overall passing rate was 35% similar to June 2008 as well. I thought it would be higher as I didnt think the test was that difficult based on what my expectations were prior to the exam. I think Ethics killed a lot of people this time around. I really wish I could see the demographic breakdown of results. I have my own theories on why passing rates are so low and the demographics would help me see if my hunch is right. What is interesting is that on AnalystForum, most people passed, I guess that site is more reflective of the 35% who passed.

I'll be posting my own personal "Secret Sauce" for passing soon. I wanted to wait for the official results before I posted it. It will be my own personal views on the best ways to prepare and I'll also review the study materials I used from Stalla and Schweser along with some other tips that helped me.