CFA Level 1-December 2012

Warning / Disclaimer - Please do not discuss the actual exam questions or the content that was tested in the exam, not even on a sectional basis

Really surprised by the absence of any feedback on this thread post the exams yesterday.

I am aware that we cannot discuss any specific sections or any specific questions as per the CFAI pledge but i am sure we can discuss our overall feel for the exam and how confident we are of making the cut.

I will start with what i felt

Morning session - Was significantly difficult and i was forced to make intelligent guesses on quite a few questions and absolute guesses for a few

Afternoon session - Was much better and it felt more like the mocks / sample papers that i had attempted in which i was just about touching 70%

Overall i think even though the afternoon session was good it was not good enough to recoup the losses of the morning session

I have very low confidence of clearing it this time ... and feel that it was more like a band 9/10 performance.

Would love to hear similar feedback from others just to know where i stand relatively.

Warning / Disclaimer - Please do not discuss the actual exam questions or the content that was tested in the exam, not even on a sectional basis

Morning session: Quite Good

Afternoon session: found it harder.....lots of educated guesses. :(

@sushant1002001 said:
Morning session: Quite GoodAfternoon session: found it harder.....lots of educated guesses.
Yes .... that was the consensus opinion at my center too .... i.e. Morning - Easier, Afternoon - Difficult

Though somehow i found it the other way round

I too concur with NickLesson. I'm also not sure if I'll be able to pass. Maybe I'd be on the borderline.

I found the morning session very difficult - all sections - as compared to the afternoon sessions.

Many ppl at Noida center said their morning session was easy though :)
Don't think I will make it through this time. Hadn't really been able to prepare well.

Hoping to do better next time!!
@naga25french Thanks! I did give it this time itself with just about 20-25 days prep in Aug and then 15 days before the exam. 😃 So you would know already what is going to be the outcome.

Are there sectional cutoffs in CFA or just overall answers are looked at to decide if you pass or not?

There are no sectional cut-offs ... just the overall cut-off .... which they call the "Minimum Pass Score (MPS)"


However there is something known as the "Ethics Adjustment"

Which broadly means that if you are a borderline Pass/ Fail ... then your Ethics score is taken into account and your final result is adjusted for the same

So if you are a borderline Pass with Poor Ethics score ... u might end up Failing

Similarly ... if you are a borderline Fail with very good Ethics score .... u might be Passed

Obviously ... the definition of borderline ... and what constitutes a Good/ Poor score for Ethics is not disclosed

Scores would be declared in bands for each section


The bands are
51% - 70% and
70%+

You would never know the exact % in any of the sections or overall

Infact there is no indication for the overall score ... not even in terms of bands

People just guess what they would have got

In addition to the Pass grade, the Fails are graded into Bands 1-10. Band 10 meaning that you just missed being a Pass.

@NickLeeson I have heard that one needs more than 50% in each section to pass. I have also heard that if one gets between 51-70% in more than 3 sections, it is again red zone. Is this known for a fact or just some "guesstimates"?
@sesha_123 said:
@NickLeeson I have heard that one needs more than 50% in each section to pass. I have also heard that if one gets between 51-70% in more than 3 sections, it is again red zone. Is this known for a fact or just some "guesstimates"?
Both these points are definitely not true

I am inferring this so strongly as i have seen the score matrices of many people who have passed in the past who had both these features .... i.e 1) less than 50% in a section and 2) 50-70% in 3 or more

Think of it this way ... one of the sections AI has just 3% weightage .... which translates into 8 questions .... so if the less than 50% = Fail rule applied ... if someone got 5 of these 8 wrong in an otherwise good overall score would he be failed ..... doesn't seem logical naa

The max number of sections with 50-70% and still Pass really depends from exam to exam ... depending on the MPS of that exam
@NickLeeson Thanks a lot! Makes absolute sense. BTW, I had got a 58% in the mock I gave...:) So don't have any high hopes as of now and expecting that i wont make the cut this time...Will wait and watch anyway though :)

i sat in noida centre and my biggest mistake was...chole kulche..dnt knw hw was the aftrnun xm coz i yawned ol d time..

I too was yawning @ mumbai centre.....but i dont have any thing to put the blame on. 😛

Hi Guys...!!! I fared well in Ethics but poor in FRA & Corporate Finance in the Afternoon Session...!!! Rest all was Ok except couple of silly mistakes...!!! Found Afternoon session especially FRA & Corporate Finance tough..!!! How did it go wid u guys...???

Can anybody share der experience at cfa level 1 December attempt....???

@NickLeeson i feel i am sure of around 70-75 questions in both the sessions but then it would be max 62-63% correct only....so is there a chance of me getting passed based on this assumption?

Don't know tusheet....!!! Mera bhi same haal hai...!!!!

eco was tuffest