Sunday, June 6, 2010

Dried Duck

It is over! I am so happy. It has been a torture for many many months like years to me. CFA Level 2 is an extremely difficult level. There are so many topics to cover and the very topics you think will not appear actually appears. Here’s a chronology:

7am – I did not have a very good sleep probably because of anxiety. Eat three slides of sandwich, a cup of coffee and a cup of water. I know many people said that coffee is diuretic but hack.

7:30am – My colleague called and said he is going to pick me up soon

7:45am – Waited at the bus stop and the cab came – with my colleague

8:00 am – Singapore Expo traffic was bad. There were so many cars! The cab had a hard time figuring out which was Hall 7. Apparently it was some warehouse away from Halls 1-6.

8:30am – Entered the hall. Check-in. Sat down and waited

9:00am – The exam started. This morning paper was horrible. Although most questions I could solve it when NOT under pressure, but the time and environmental pressure was really slowing my brain cells. I was stuck with some questions and was getting behind time. I forced myself to give up some questions (“guessing”) to make up for lost time. The mental pressure was tremendously. It did not help that the temperature was erratic from being warm to cold (probably because it was running outside).

12:15pm – Was dismissed for lunch. I had to walk all the way to Hall 2 to collect my pre-ordered lunch from CFA Singapore. The walk was sooo long. Goodness. I wasted precious minutes walking there. When I reached there, I had to queue up. Hack, even the man’s washing room had to queue up (similar to last year)! By the time I collected my lunch, I had to quickly consume it in a designated “ballroom” which had no more sitting place to eat. So I sat down on the stage to eat my lunch! The food was lousy. Almost tasteless. Well, I eat to live, not live to eat. So it does not matter as long as I can last for the afternoon!

1:15pm – By the time I completed lunch and walked all the way to Hall 7, it was already 1:15pm. I flip through my notes but they keep on telling me to get into the Hall. I decided to just get in.

2pm – The afternoon exam was less of a killer. Probably because I was less pressured already and some topics were familiar. Unfortunately certain questions I could not do either because I had forgotten how to solve it or I did not learn. There was one question which I came across in EOC on the CFAI but I decided not to learn it because it was so complicated. The Schweser notes did not have it and the LOS was not clear. So I just ignored it. Unfortunately it came up for exam! So sad.

5pm – End of exam. I am so happy to get out of this place!!

General comments: The attendance was quite high. Not many empty desks and nobody walked out of the hall during exam. This was unlike Level 1 in which there were many empty desks and many people walked out. This year’s Level 2 questions were hard. I found that many of the difficulties were related to language rather than on the technical content. The English language was poorly written as there were too many double and triple negatives. I really wonder whether does the CFAI knows that they are partly grading the language skill of the candidate as well. It was a very hard paper as many topics you think would not turn up actually turn up. Every LOS is important.

As I blog this, I felt like a dried duck. Felt so tired and exhausted. Tomorrow I’ve to work to meet a new client. I hope it will turn out well.

This is it. 9AM at Expo Hall 7

When this post goes up, I’ll be in Singapore Expo Hall 7 reading my first item set. This is a scheduled post.

It has been such a long journey for Level 2. I can tell you that it is a horrible level. I have done 1244 questions from QBank, 360 questions from Schweser Practice Exams, 120 Questions from CFAI’s Mock Exams, almost all the questions from the Schweser’s notes and did most of the End of Chapters’ questions from the CFAI text. Yet, I still do not feel well prepared. There are just too many topics to remember.

I have lost track on how much time I spent studying for this exam. Probably I spent 1000 or more hours. I am not sure whether is it worth the sacrifice. The sacrifice is just so great. My health took a beating and I became very sick and required two courses of antibiotics. Fortunately I recovered in the nick of time. My income has been a decline since I started the CFA Program. I hardly need to pay tax now since my income level has dropped so much. Is this worth it? I really do not know.

In the meantime, none of prospecting clients care. Most clients wouldn’t bother about these qualifications and all they want is FREE advice and FREE work. At this point in time, I am beginning to wonder whether how long can I last to continuing do marketing to source for new clients. I find this unsustainable on a long run. It does not help that I refuse to sell unsuitable products to clients. Perhaps being a CFA Charterholder can help me find to do something less tiring.

Friday, June 4, 2010

Schweser Practice Exam Vol 2 Exam 3 AM

Scored 68% against 69% global average

Schweser Practice Exam Vol 2 Exam 3 PM

Scored 75% against 61% global average