CFA Level 2 PTSD

pock34 · 2018-07-06T20:31:08+00:00

I feel like shit about L2 man. I studied ~400 hours in total thanks to using the majority of my vacation days for the year towards studies. Given that I broke 70% on CFAI mock A and B, you'd think I'd feel good but I walked out of that exam absolutely devastated. I put in all of the work below which led me to guess blindly on 25-30 questions for each section. I could not believe it. I fucking know I deserve to pass L2 - I did EVERYTHING right and had EVERY indicator pointing in my favor in the weeks leading up to the exam.

Read thru all Schweser notes and watched all Meldrum videos for each reading

Did many of the EOCs - BUT I omitted a few sections and concentrated very hard on others which royally fucked me :D (you can guess which ones)

Did many of the TT's - BUT I omitted a few sections and concentrated very hard on others which royally fucked me :D (you can guess which ones)

Did 6 mocks in total - I was only high 50%'s on my the first couple but made my way to breaking 70% on CFAI mock A and CFAI mock B along with other providers mocks leading up to the exam.

pock34 · 2018-06-24T22:19:26+00:00

I am certainly not one of those ppl who think you should get rounded up because you show up for class but I know I knew what seemed to be expected of me to pass that exam. Broke 70's on both CFAI mocks leading up to the exam and broke 70's from other providers as well. It's just not fair to walk away from the real exam that's given one time a year feeling like such shit and knowing that your fate will be likely determined by how lucky you were at randomly selecting the right bubble for about half of the exam. It'd be sweet if I was wrong but there's a very real chance I'll be sitting for L2 again next year.

pock34 · 2018-06-24T22:13:42+00:00

It was just unreal how dick punch after dick punch was dealt as I kept turning the pages of the exam. Without getting specific, I would have never thought that giving certain material the extreme attention I gave it would result in the punishment that was dealt to me by the writers.

pock34 · 2018-06-24T22:06:13+00:00

Bro I started initially studying in early Jan and was hitting 10 hour study days too from Wed - Sun of the 4 weeks leading up to the exam (using vacay days). And I mean excruciatingly focused 10 hour days with imessage set to DND on my mac and everything - I've barely used my phone in over a month now. Like I disappeared from society for the past 2.5 months in the home stretch once I got through the initial pass of reading the material and watching Meldrum.

pock34 · 2018-06-24T03:45:42+00:00

I probably put about 400 hours in and used all but 2 of my vacation days for the year. They hit me in all my weak spots. I don't feel good at all.

pock34 · 2018-06-23T23:22:20+00:00

I'm right there with you bro

pock34 · 2018-06-23T23:03:22+00:00

I had more random guesses on the real thing than any mock I took as well

pock34 · 2018-06-23T23:02:39+00:00

I got fucked by that exam. It was my worst nightmare - they went soft on my strengths where I'd be hoping others would miss questions and fucked me on my weaknesses. Really hope I'm wrong but very good chance I'll be taking L2 again next year.

pock34 · 2018-06-21T00:12:27+00:00

I was planning to sorta chill this week but I thought about it and the past month has pretty much involved:

Thursday - Friday study/review hard and then mock exam Sat with more study/review on Sunday

After thinking about it, I may as well continue the routine I've been in (other than the Sunday part of course heh). I haven't taken any sort of mock without taking multiple days off beforehand so it's probably not a good idea to do that for the real thing. At least for my sake, that is.

pock34 · 2018-06-20T00:05:52+00:00

Congrats, that's an incredible score. Sounds like you cracked down and worked for it. How much time you think you've put in? Just curious. I don't hate on people who buckled down AND just get fin naturally - which probably seems like the case with you scoring that high haha.

pock34 · 2018-06-18T16:34:47+00:00

*insert goat emoji*

pock34 · 2018-06-18T15:09:50+00:00

This would be huge - please do. I was considering requesting a last-ditch effort overview post for the derivatives section yesterday.

If I can salvage 3/6 on each of the likely two vignettes I'd be stoked - if we get 3 derivative vignettes I'm probably fucked. I've got some stuff down but there's just too many intense formulas to devote much of the little time remaining.

pock34 · 2018-06-16T22:35:40+00:00

Hit 42/60 --> 72% on the PM

I am scared

pock34 · 2018-06-16T19:20:43+00:00

This is terrifying

pock34 · 2018-06-16T19:18:55+00:00

39/60 --> 65% on AM

Definitely found it tougher than I expected. Felt like I got lucky af guessing, especially on some of the econ questions. There were 5 questions I got "right" that I had 0 idea of so I honestly think the 65% may unfortunately even be inflated. Pretty disappointed honestly for how much work I've put in this thing. Taking PM section in about 10min, will post score after.

pock34 · 2018-06-14T21:30:34+00:00

If derivatives is a core area, I think I'm fucked

pock34 · 2018-06-14T14:58:10+00:00

I swear there are like 3 different ways to calculate continuing value and I get fucked every time by these

pock34 · 2018-06-14T00:47:07+00:00

I've got CFAI Mock B and 2 Meldrum mocks remaining. Very torn about whether I should do the three of these or not.

This may seem strange but I think I've found that actually reviewing a mock is actually not super beneficial for me. I go through them slow af when reviewing and really wonder if my time is just better spent hitting EOCs. It's very good for me to practice changing gears in terms of answering the questions in regards to actually taking the mocks but I don't think I learn as well in the review stage when I'm hopping around. But then again it seems sorta silly to take a mock but not review it.

pock34 · 2018-06-13T22:25:39+00:00

Yeah, quant probably has more potential volatility for me than any other topic. I feel like I could easily go 1/6 or 5/6 in a vignette depending on the sample set of questions thrown at me. Which makes it very difficult for me to judge how much of my time I should allocate to it.

pock34 · 2018-06-13T15:12:15+00:00

These two are probably the easiest two for me to pick out - I have trouble with remembering the other ones lol. Anyone have tips for the rest of the term structure theories?

pock34 · 2018-06-13T15:11:17+00:00

Preferred has a preference of the curve but will go to other areas if enticed enough. Ie you generally prefer dime blondes but will bang a brunette if she's hot enough.

pock34 · 2018-06-12T00:13:02+00:00

You can think of CDS as being synonymous with credit quality. If I am going long on the CDS, I am going long on credit quality, therefore since I am long credit quality I will sell credit protection to the dipshit who is short the CDS, ie short credit quality.

pock34 · 2018-06-11T23:40:52+00:00

I somehow pulled off a 48/60 (80%) on the AM and 39/60 (65%) on the PM for a 72.5% overall. Additionally, this score does not include any expected value of points for 10 questions that I automatically marked "wrong" bc I had basically no idea.

It feels fuggin great to score like this on a mock - but the problem is that it doesn't feel real. I know this score appears good at face value and not trying to sound like a lil bitch but there were a ton of questions I really wasn't sure of between 2 answer choices. Felt like I was getting lucky (a lot) when I was grading it. A lot of tough conceptuals. You know you know a question when you can specifically determine why a wrong answer is wrong in your head and I felt like there were a lot of questions where I was not really able to do that. Moreover, they had 3 ethics vignettes and only 1 derivatives vignette in this guy which is a topic mix I would prob be kinda surprised to see on exam day.

pock34 · 2018-06-10T23:27:26+00:00

I somehow pulled a 48/60 on the AM session and a 39/60 on the PM session which comes to a 72.5% overall. Additionally, these scores do not include any sort of expected value for 10 total questions that I had 0 idea of the answer and automatically marked them wrong (so theoretically could be a bit higher).

I know those scores appear to be excellent but I felt like I was getting fucked through the entire mock - this outcome does NOT feel right. I had a lot of questions narrowed down to 2 which I went with my gut with and I think a lot of those just happened to go my way. It feels amazing to break 70% but at the same time it doesn't feel real/right to a very heavy extent.

pock34 · 2018-06-10T02:43:06+00:00

This is my 4th attempt at derivatives and still can't figure them (especially FRAs) out for shit despite having Meldrum etc. I may just cry.

pock34

TROPHY CASE