re: CFA Check in thread.

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frick you with a rusty AIDS robot caveman dick.

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I remember my practice test scores for Level 1 making a continually progressive improvement, i.e. 64 > 66 > 69 > etc., until I was consistently mid 70s and up.

Level II is like

68 > 70 (confidence rising) > 62 (confidence shattered) > 68 (completely numb to any sort of confidence or lack of confidence)

I hope what I've read about MPS being as low as 58-63 is correct and, also, that everyone is having a miserable holiday.

My friend sent this to me, pretty accurate:

Remember the great training montages in the Rocky movies? Where the champ could come back from a defeat to overcome a stronger boxer by just going through three minutes of training set to some kick*#@ music.

Ah, if only studying for the CFA exams were like that. You could slide through the first four and a half months of the year with your mind decidedly not in the game and then crank out a hardcore two weeks to beat the exam! Epic!

While you can’t expect to pass the exam with just two weeks of studying, what would your montage training program look like?

Eye of the Tiger
Picking up on the montage scenes in the movies where Rocky turns everything he can find into an exercise, you really need a diversity of study resources. Rocky’s montage may only last three minutes but yours will be two weeks and only doing practice problems is going to get boring. You need to be using flash cards, condensed reviews, practice problems, and single-sheet summaries. Just as you can’t expect to get well-developed pectorals from just a bench press, you need to hit the CFA curriculum from different angles to assimilate it.

Do you see Rocky taking it easy during the montages? No, he’s sweatin’ and pushing the limit lifting a 500 pound cart with Paulie in it. You can’t take it easy in your montage either. By now you know which topic areas are your most difficult. While it wouldn’t make much sense to spend a lot of time on something worth less than 10% of your score, you can’t afford to neglect any one section. Be realistic here and divide your time between those topics that carry a lot of weight and those in which you need the most work.

The beginning few sequences in Rocky’s montage sometimes start with him attempting a really heavy lift or exercise and not quite being able to get it, only to succeed with the same lift later on. For your montage, this means looking deeper into those practice problems or mock questions which were missed so you can answer them correctly if they come up again. It does you no good to just take a mock exam and look at your score. You have to actively study the questions you missed and understand what material you need to work on.

If you haven’t already, you absolutely need to take a practice exam now. Better yet, take two exams to make sure that your score in any particular topic area in the first practice wasn’t just luck. This is going to give you a good idea of where you stand for your grasp on the material.

nce you know how well you are doing on the material, start your two week montage hitting those practice problems, flash cards and review sheets.

At the end of your montage, maybe Wednesday/Thursday of next week, take another couple of practice exams to see your new, improved score.

Then get ready for the big day!
If the exams were a Rocky opponent…
Level 1: Apollo? Many Level 1 candidates are surprised the first time and fail but then come back for the win

Level 2: Mr. T? For most, the hardest exam and many candidates get overconfident after a passing Level 1 score. I pity the fool that don’t take Level 2 seriously!

Level 3: Ivan Drago? Still a tough exam but at this point, we all know that you are going to beat the exam though it may feel like you’ve got brain damage afterwards.

Ah, if only Stallone could live forever, “Rocky XXV: Clone Wars”

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Remember the great training montages in the Rocky movies?

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It's sort of eerie, I've been having this one Rocky II scene that's just been stirring in my head for the last couple of weeks: Rocky 2 Church Scene.

I tell you, man, there are no words to describe what I've been through these past 9.5 months. As of today I'm coasting through my last week of classes, and finally breathing normally again now that the last of my presentations are out the way, but I've still got a gauntlet of exams to run this summer. Just 2-3 weeks ago I was in the midst of one of the nastiest tailspins I've ever been--just a total faceplant for about a week-and-a-half. I've taken some pretty big hits. In many ways, it still looks like I'm about to fail out. I'm not sure I even remember why I wanted this so bad for so long, or why I ever thought I could somehow get by once I got here. All the signs point to me having to face the fact that I'm about to get smushed by the competition, by all these younger whiz kids who can run circles around me with ease.

But here I am. I'm still alive. I'm still standing. And in one week it will be go time once again. Time to live or die.

:end CFA hijack:

Just bombed my first mock (64) after nailing the first couple (74 and 85). Worst part is that it was my last one I had not already done.


Meltdown mode in full swing.

I'll either fail or set the curve.

Yes, I'll be there. Can I crash on your floor?

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Can I crash on your floor?

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Sho nuff. I might still be living in a hotel at that point though. Haven't even started looking for a place.

Thanks lynx

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I'll either fail or set the curve.

Yes, I'll be there. Can I crash on your floor?

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Good luck. I'm sure you'll do fine.

Try to relax before the big test and keep calm.

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Sho nuff. I might still be living in a hotel at that point though. Haven't even started looking for a place.

Thanks lynx

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Are you moving?

I'm about to relocate, myself.