Good Luck CFA® Candidates, but Let's Cut Out the Humble Bragging
Happy CFA® season monkeys!
First, let me say good luck to everyone this weekend! I've busting my butt trying to prep for level 2 like most all candidates and I know that the feelings of apprehension and terror are shared by many. That being said, there's some of you out there who have gone a little crazy with the humble bragging. Who here has heard someone say something along the lines of:
I'm really worried about the exam, I've taken a bunch of practice tests and the CFAI mock exam and I'm only scoring between 75%-85%.
A little frustrating, right?
So, for those of you who are guilty of this, let me give you a piece of advice: Don't humble brag, regular brag, because that's awesome. By now, everyone should know that by hitting 70% on exam day, you're guaranteed to pass. If you're hitting north of 75% consistently, be proud of that and be feeling good about going into the exam. You're in a very enviable position.
What do you monkeys find frustrating to hear from your fellow CFA® candidates? I know you've all been busting your asses these past two weeks, so I'm sure everyone is a little on edge, and probably has plenty of things that are irritating! Only a few more days left before the break!
Good luck everyone!
"I understand FSA :):):):):):)" sets my teeth on edge. There is no understanding that shit.
I find everything frustrating. Namely the coffee addiction I've developed in the last week. Actually worried I'll crash in the middle of the am session.
2nd the douches thatre freaking out over mean test scores of 75%. "Is that bad, did I break it?!"
This.
But also, good luck to all. I am looking forward to the ~2 months between taking the test and finding out the score before its back to studying after either a pass or fail
I honestly think CFA instructors would BARELY break 80 on the mocks. It doesn't help that the errata is about 10 pages long and probably incomplete.
A bit off topic, but I recently got my first job offer and it's not good for my CFA studying. On one hand it lessens the stress as I don't have as much riding on the level 2 exam (I did level 1 to get my foot in the door), but on the other hand I usually thrive on that stress. Now I just feel complacent, ah well.
Ditto. Good look to all. My girlfriend spent Sunday drinking wine with her friends in our garden. I almost massacred them all.
lol +1
Right with ya civil - buddies were sending me pics of beers on patios all weekend while i was locked in the apartment doing mocks. Saturday night can't come fast enough.
CFA venting, love it.
Anyone else get the people that subtly try to invalidate the charter by regurtitating something they heard once? Just absolutely love the (non-candidates) that chyme in when they hear you're taking the test, as if it somehow validates them as a finance whiz. These folks are often a) not in the industry and/or b) think the CFA and the CPA are the same exam. Not sure which is worse. Quote from a buddy of a buddy on Memorial Day when asked why I wasn't getting blasted with everyone else:
"Yeah, have Level II of a big exam Saturday. Kind of in crunch time now, can't afford to be out drinking."
arms folded, chest puffed out "Ohhh, the CFA? Yeah, well L2 is definitely the hardest, so I hope you've been studying. L1 is pretty easy though." --annuity sales associate at life insurance firm. Before the conversation ended, he made sure to include that he had passed the Series 7, and definitely understood the true grit and sacrifice necessary to become a charterholder.
Also, my accounting friends who are getting ready for the CPA who will flip through my notes, look at one or two concepts, and exclaim "HA, THIS ACCOUNTING IS SO EASY!!! MAN I WOULD RUIN THIS TEST!" Eat shit buddy.
Lastly--and this is definitely more my fault, I definitely shouldn't be getting angry about this--when people tell me "Good luck! You're smart, you're going to ace it!" I have a shortlasting urge to choke them for a second. +1 for this thread
Every. Single. Goddamn. Thing. In. This. Post.
That said, I signed up for L2 this summer after passing L1 last Dec. and well.... let's just say I've had a lot of fun and done very little studying so I expect to see "Congrats on passing L2!" sometime mid-2014.
3 DAYS TO GO AND I FIND OUT THERE ARE CORRECTIONS IN THE SYLLABUS!?!?!!?
good luck guys!
My birthday was Monday and with the Holiday I actually had off but had the weekend (like every weekend the last two months) blocked for studying. 3 buddies called me up and wanted to take me clubbing in downtown DC. As I stood in the middle of my home office on the verge of telling them I was in, I looked over and I swear the red headed chick on the front of the Schweser Practice book I had on my desk said, "If you go you fail"...................spent the rest of the day doing practice exams..........................happy b-day to me.
My birthday is this Friday :P
Well at least she's cute
^Are you high?
Good luck bros. Just remember that people who have been through what you are going through will respect you for it for the rest of your career.
Ditto to the friends who have scored above 80% on mocks and still stress out.
My range of practice scores so far have been 76-79% for Level II.
Except every time I'm asked to calculate covered interest rate arbitrage, my head explodes.
Congrats! Those are great scores! So good in fact, that you probably don't have to worry about topics you're less familiar with!
You had to say it, huh :). Hidden in the answers to a practice exam is a tip on how to approach those type of problems:
In covered interest rate parity, the hedged foreign return should equal the domestic return:
1+rd = (1+rf)(forward rate)/(spot rate)
For arbitrage questions, it won't. One will be bigger than the other. Whichever one is bigger is the currency you borrow with. Then to calculate the arbitrage profit, just take the difference of the right hand side and the left hand side of the above equation, then multiply by the initial amount. Should work.
I mean, I don't really need to give a tip to a guy who's scoring as well as you are, haha. But hey, doesn't hurt for ME to review, right? Good luck!
If those were Schweser, I wouldn't be so sure of myself right now. However if you're hitting those on Elan or CFAI mocks, you're golden.
68% on the CFAI mock.
Definitely made a ton of mistakes by just not reading all the material in a question and would've cracked 70 if I had. palmface
I find it odd that Schweser mocks are considered easier than the exam for Level II. I found the Schweser mocks significantly more difficult than the actual exam for Level I.
I'm a Level 3'er. I hate it too, and it's still on level 3. I always think about interest arbitrage as follows. Let's say domestic rate is 11%, foreign is 4%. Spot rate is 1.75 (d/f) and forward rate is 1.6 (d/f).
Borrow 1000 domestic at 11%. You owe 1100 at the end.
Convert the 1000 to foreign, so 1750. Invest that at 4% so 1820. Convert back to domestic at 1.6, so 1137.5.
Since 1137.5 > 1100, borrow money in domestic to buy foreign currency now and sell foreign currency forward.
other candidates don't bother me as much as the people that tell me "you have been studying for a few months now, I am sure you will pass........"
This, so many times. Frankly I am tired of hearing it.
I never broke 75% in L1 or L2 mocks....and passed both with flying colors
Fucked for L3 tho
I'm glad to see this... But I'm still fucked. I don't think 50-65% on practice exams is gonna cut it for Level 2...
L2 MPS is estimated at 58-63% and remember the 2013 CFAI L2 mock is waaaaay hard. I got a 62% but I'm actually feeling pretty good for Saturday.
heh for interest rate arbitrage, I get them right but, since I guess which curerncy I need to borrow with. It either takes me 3 minutes or 6 minutes. haha.
anyone got a good way to figure out which currency to borrow in off the bat without trial and error?
Great thread. I'm sitting L1 so I'm right there feeling the pain with the rest of ya
you know what's great to add to the stress? realizing three days before the exam that your middle name isn't on your exam ticket.. yeah, not a good feeling.
On one hand I'm completely screwed for Level I, on the other I'm very well prepared for my university finance exam the week after.
Taking Level III on Saturday. I got a motivational speech for everyone, courtesy of Sgt. Major John Sixta and Generation Kill:
I'm gonna get so hammered off of 3 beers tomorrow.
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