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Sage Advice for CFA III
 

Going Concern's picture
(King Kong, 1,696
 
Points)
 on 5/14/12 at 12:38pm

Anyone that's passed CFA Level III have any sage advice to offer?

And I think it's gonna be a long, long, time
Tags:
arant's picture

Me in the same boat :)

(Monkey, 61
 
Points)
 on 5/14/12 at 12:46pm

Me in the same boat :)

Simplicity is the highest form of sophistication ~ Leonardo da Vinci

Oreos's picture

Bit late guys, only 3 weeks

HF
(Neanderthal, 2,450
 
Points)
 on 5/14/12 at 1:01pm

Bit late guys, only 3 weeks left. From all the L3s takers/chartholders I've spoken to they all say that you have to use the CFAI books, unlike L1/2 where Schweser will do.

Ravenous's picture

I passed in 2008 since my

HF
(King Kong, 1,347
 
Points)
 on 5/14/12 at 1:07pm

I passed in 2008 since my advice might be a bit dated, but I'll give it a shot.

The writing portion is a bitch. You will definitely have one long piece about grandma's superannuation problem or some garbage like that. The year I took it, the write up for the question was at least a page long filled with tiny details and twists and turns, and you were supposed to unpack that and come up with a cogent answer. It was ridiculous, but they seemed to be fairly lenient with answer credit as long as you had a thought process that made sense and showed your work. I discussed some of the written answers post-test with some friends, and we all came up with different stuff, but all passed. I am not 100% sure there are clearly defined right and wrong answers to some of the questions. Obviously follow the material and don't wing it, but I think as long as you show your work and apply whatever they taught you, you should do okay.

They do test minutiae. There was an entire question set my year on reverse cash and carry arbitrage. When I looked after the test, that topic was covered in like a half a page of the CFAI materials. It was definitely a "gotcha" set. There's nothing you can do about that -- you either know the material or don't. Everyone I asked failed that section.

I would try to keep the written answers as simple as possible, focusing on key points. Basically you want to list out using their key terms everything that is relevant to the question and explain why it is relevant. No need to be creative, I would use their exact terminology and go for layup points (even if you can't really answer the question you should at least aim for half credit). If you get a convexity question, you should know there are several key points for convexity, and list everything applicable, for example.

The best passing strategy is to make sure you pick up all the easy points. My year, there were easy points in GIPS, ethics, and portfolio attribution. The material is easy and you know it will be on the test, and it helps that it's all extremely boring (others won't study it hard). So make sure you cross the Ts on the easy sections (they may have changed the point distribution since I took it, I don't know).

That's about it. I went into the test underprepared (studied about two months). Multiple choice section was pretty easy and saved my bacon. No matter how prepared, you will miss some written questions, so just make sure you are generally on top of the material and crush the afternoon test. Good luck.

And don't be a dumbass and forget your calculator like I did. God bless nerdy Asian kids with extra calculators :D

Cola Coca's picture

You just violated Standard

O
(Orangutan, 321
 
Points)
 on 5/14/12 at 1:14pm

You just violated Standard VII(A).

Ravenous's picture

If someone said that to me in

HF
(King Kong, 1,347
 
Points)
 on 5/14/12 at 1:27pm

If someone said that to me in real life, I would grab my crotch and say VIOLATE THIS. I don't care about the CFA standards.

blueslord2910's picture

Any advice for level 1, I

 
Points)
 on 5/14/12 at 1:33pm

Any advice for level 1, I just found out that I am using the wrong calculator :(

Cola Coca's picture

@Ravenous - Haha yeah, it was

O
(Orangutan, 321
 
Points)
 on 5/14/12 at 1:40pm

@Ravenous - Haha yeah, it was sarcastic, but it's really funny when people ask for the copied Schweser materials on LinkedIn, exposing their real names.

blueslord2910:

Any advice for level 1, I just found out that I am using the wrong calculator :(

Buy one of the approved calculators? The TI one isn't too bad, around $50 I think.

blueslord2910's picture

I bought it yesterday :( And

 
Points)
 on 5/14/12 at 1:47pm

I bought it yesterday :( And I am not trying to figure it out. I used TI 83 before @@ this one is not even similar.

How do you think of level 1. Do the schweser practices and mock exams in CFAI? Will I be fine? I am way behind because I was interviewing in the last minute for a firm.

Cola Coca:

@Ravenous - Haha yeah, it was sarcastic, but it's really funny when people ask for the copied Schweser materials on LinkedIn, exposing their real names.

blueslord2910:

Any advice for level 1, I just found out that I am using the wrong calculator :(

Buy one of the approved calculators? The TI one isn't too bad, around $50 I think.

Going Concern's picture

Ravenous: I passed in 2008

(King Kong, 1,696
 
Points)
 on 5/14/12 at 2:56pm
Ravenous:

I passed in 2008 since my advice might be a bit dated, but I'll give it a shot.

The writing portion is a bitch. You will definitely have one long piece about grandma's superannuation problem or some garbage like that. The year I took it, the write up for the question was at least a page long filled with tiny details and twists and turns, and you were supposed to unpack that and come up with a cogent answer. It was ridiculous, but they seemed to be fairly lenient with answer credit as long as you had a thought process that made sense and showed your work. I discussed some of the written answers post-test with some friends, and we all came up with different stuff, but all passed. I am not 100% sure there are clearly defined right and wrong answers to some of the questions. Obviously follow the material and don't wing it, but I think as long as you show your work and apply whatever they taught you, you should do okay.

They do test minutiae. There was an entire question set my year on reverse cash and carry arbitrage. When I looked after the test, that topic was covered in like a half a page of the CFAI materials. It was definitely a "gotcha" set. There's nothing you can do about that -- you either know the material or don't. Everyone I asked failed that section.

I would try to keep the written answers as simple as possible, focusing on key points. Basically you want to list out using their key terms everything that is relevant to the question and explain why it is relevant. No need to be creative, I would use their exact terminology and go for layup points (even if you can't really answer the question you should at least aim for half credit). If you get a convexity question, you should know there are several key points for convexity, and list everything applicable, for example.

The best passing strategy is to make sure you pick up all the easy points. My year, there were easy points in GIPS, ethics, and portfolio attribution. The material is easy and you know it will be on the test, and it helps that it's all extremely boring (others won't study it hard). So make sure you cross the Ts on the easy sections (they may have changed the point distribution since I took it, I don't know).

That's about it. I went into the test underprepared (studied about two months). Multiple choice section was pretty easy and saved my bacon. No matter how prepared, you will miss some written questions, so just make sure you are generally on top of the material and crush the afternoon test. Good luck.

And don't be a dumbass and forget your calculator like I did. God bless nerdy Asian kids with extra calculators :D

Great advice, I'd give you a SB if I had one.

Keep it coming...

And I think it's gonna be a long, long, time

DTM86's picture

For the written section, use

CF
(Chimp, 10
 
Points)
 on 5/14/12 at 3:13pm

For the written section, use bullet points, remember to bring a pen, and just give the number of answers they ask for (i.e., if it says "two reasons why..." then have only 2 points, I don't think they give you the chance to take a shotgun approach and hope 2 of them are right in order to get full credit). And similar to the advice I'm sure many give for all three exams - take as many mock exams as possible to get used to the questions and get used to writing out answers, showing your work, etc. I'd head over to analystforum.com and see what advice folks give over there as well as look at posts from prior years to see commentary people had after the test (without disclosing specific test information, of course :) )

suchislife's picture

I'm a last year pass, agree

PE
 
Points)
 on 5/14/12 at 3:32pm

I'm a last year pass, agree with all of the above, two tips:

1 always review ethics, those are some easy points, and GIPS

2.By now you should be able to make an investment policy statements with your eyes closed for all the typical scenarios; old lady, entrepreneur retiree, rich guy's son, pension fund, endowment etc. (best way to do this is through practice tests )

Good luck on getting your life back!

Unforseen's picture

Lots of stuff here:

(King Kong, 1,099
 
Points)
 on 5/14/12 at 3:34pm

Lots of stuff here: http://www.analystforum.com/forums/cfa-forums/cfa-...

Check out my Blog

duffmt6's picture

Oreos: Bit late guys, only 3

IB
(Neanderthal, 2,325
 
Points)
 on 5/14/12 at 5:11pm
Oreos:

Bit late guys, only 3 weeks left. From all the L3s takers/chartholders I've spoken to they all say that you have to use the CFAI books, unlike L1/2 where Schweser will do.

I unfortunately am relying on Schweser for this one due to time constraints (only got started a couple weeks ago). I feel pretty fucked thus far.

"Social cohesion and puritanical morality place roughly on my list of concerns between whether I'll pick up jock itch at the gym this week (not likely, since I don't go the gym) and whether it'll rain in Christchurch, New Zealand next Tuesday."
-Eddie

suchislife's picture

Well on that case cant say

PE
 
Points)
 on 5/14/12 at 6:53pm

Well on that case cant say anything but go for gold, its too late to go over the CFAI text so, pour over schweser do as many practice test as you can and go for it!

Worst possible outcome, you learn about the test and get a head start for next year.

Best outcome you pass!

Go ahead roll the dice my friend you never know...

arant's picture

Hi Guys can you point me to

(Monkey, 61
 
Points)
 on 5/15/12 at 1:30am

Hi Guys can you point me to some practice questions on Ethics & GIPS or are the Shweser notes enough for this

Thanks

Simplicity is the highest form of sophistication ~ Leonardo da Vinci

Ravenous's picture

arant: Hi Guys can you point

HF
(King Kong, 1,347
 
Points)
 on 5/15/12 at 1:47am
Ravenous's picture

Last point would be to make

HF
(King Kong, 1,347
 
Points)
 on 5/15/12 at 1:53am
blueslord2910's picture

Is it appropriate if I ask to

 
Points)
 on 5/15/12 at 1:58am
Cola Coca's picture

blueslord2910: Is it

O
(Orangutan, 321
 
Points)
 on 5/15/12 at 2:29am
blueslord2910's picture

I would like to read ethics

 
Points)
 on 5/15/12 at 8:25am
hungaroe's picture

Ravenous: I passed in 2008

CF
(Baboon, 126
 
Points)
 on 5/15/12 at 10:27am

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