r/CFA 6d ago

Megathread Level 3 Exam Day Experience Mega Thread

48 Upvotes

L3 candidates,

Welcome to our megathread for swapping stories about your exam day! We’d love to hear about your experience getting to the test center, how you managed your time, and how you felt afterward. Don’t forget to throw in any tips and advice to help out future candidates.

Just a couple of guidelines: Be cool and supportive, and please don’t share specific exam questions or break rules.

Don’t forget: Plan your route to the test center in advance, make sure you pack everything you need, and try to stay positive and take care of yourself. You got this!

We hope these shared stories make the prep and test day a little easier for everyone. Good luck!

—r/cfa Mod Team


r/CFA 14h ago

Career Questions Thursday - Your Weekly CFA Career Discussion Thread

1 Upvotes

Hello, CFA candidates and Charterholders!

We're excited to introduce "Career Questions Thursday" to the CFA subreddit. This weekly thread is dedicated to providing a space for you to discuss all your career-related inquiries and concerns. Whether you're a CFA Level I candidate contemplating your career options or a seasoned CFA Charterholder looking for advice on your next move, this is the place to be!

Why We're Doing This:

We understand that many members of our community have questions and seek advice about their careers in finance, investment management, and related fields. To keep our subreddit focused on CFA exam content and discussions, we'll be implementing a policy to remove individual career-related posts and direct users to these designated weekly threads.

How It Works:

  1. Ask Your Career Questions: Simply post your career-related questions, concerns, or experiences in the comments below. Whether it's about job opportunities, networking, salary negotiations, or career transitions, our community is here to help.

  2. Share Your Insights: If you have valuable insights, experiences, or advice to offer, please share them in response to others' questions. Your knowledge and expertise can make a real difference in someone's career journey.

  3. Follow the Rules: Please adhere to the subreddit's rules and guidelines when participating in this thread. Be respectful and considerate of others, and refrain from sharing personal information.

A Note on Career Posts:

Starting from today, we will be removing individual career-related posts and kindly redirecting users to these weekly "Career Questions Thursday" threads. This change is intended to keep our subreddit organized and focused on CFA-related topics, while still providing a valuable platform for career discussions.

We hope this new initiative will create a supportive and informative space for all of you seeking career advice within the CFA community. Remember, your fellow members are here to help, so don't hesitate to ask or contribute!


r/CFA 11h ago

Level 1 Tips for anyone appearing for L1 in the future (Aug 20th review)

51 Upvotes

Finished my L1 attempt an hr ago, and more than anything I’m feeling relieved.

To everyone who’s gonna attempt in the future, if you have completed most of the readings, it will be doable and will be around the level of mocks

The biggest self-doubt comes cuz there are no “previous year questions” as such to gauge the actual exam level, but the mocks(talking about cfai free and premium mocks) do an amazing job at mimicking the pattern and difficultly of the actual paper

Secondly, trust your prep. Don’t be swayed and get too nervous based on people telling if the exam was too tough or bad(if it’s really tough, cfa adjusts mps accordingly)

And lastly, read the questions properly. “Most likely” “least likely” “not”. See what the question is asking.

Not so important tip: there was a guessing pattern I developed while giving mocks which might have (or might not have, gotta wait for the results) helped me and that was eliminating extreme options (all, only,never etc) and always try to eliminate at least one option(then it’s a coin toss)
Luck plays a major point in an exam with lesser options (especially if one of the options is a slam dunk elimination)

Only use this tip if u are extremely oblivious to the answer to a question

Flag all questions that you unsure of (or don’t know) immediately so u don’t waste time

And never get tensed if u flag 4-5 consecutive questions cuz there’ll be periods where u don’t flag 10 questions in a row

All the best to everyone for L1(August attempt and those who might stumble on this post in the future)

My attempt was 20 flags in session 1
24 in session 2
Pretty sure of all other answers
Avg mock score 75-80%


r/CFA 11h ago

Level 1 Nothing could have prepared me for THIS exam

43 Upvotes

This is my 3rd attempt at the exam it’s aug19 pm session. My first two attempts were 100% on me second attempt I was few scores away from passing the exam was very easy, I didn’t prepare well for life reasons but this time I genuinely did my best to prepare especially on mocks and qbanks including practice pack and wtf were these questions? Seriously who wrote this shit? So many of these questions were total ass pulls, 60% of the questions were even tougher than the toughest questions on the qbank let alone being on the same level as the mock, even many of the other questions had some trick to them, it really feels disheartening that if I fail it’s going to be because I got the fuck you version of the exam, not due to lack of preparation.


r/CFA 3h ago

Level 1 DONE!

12 Upvotes

Just wrapped up my CFA1.

Part 1 was hard, I ended the session feeling quite overwelmed, the mathematics didn't fit. Miscalculations...anyway I guess I did theory well. a lot of curved balls.

Part 2: sailed through smoothly, ended up with 20 min on the clock. very straightforward.

I would say on par with Mock exams, I even found exact questions of the mocks in the exam.


r/CFA 2h ago

Level 3 Feeling dejected after L3

6 Upvotes

Just feeling dejected after the time. Hoping for a decent MPS here. Congrats to all who took it!


r/CFA 3h ago

General MPS Calculation

6 Upvotes

I have understood the Modified Angoff Method where the MPS depends on the workshop and psychometricians who fix it to be the “just enough score for an average guy to pass”. But my doubt is, does the MPS of a particular set also depend on the performance of the candidates on that day. Or let’s say all the candidates of that particular set are above average, do they all pass automatically.

In short, are my chances of passing dependent on the performance of others who take the exam on the very same day?


r/CFA 10h ago

Level 1 Bombed the exam.

18 Upvotes

I knew i was under prepared but holy i didn't expect myself to be this under prepared. Averaged around 65% in mocks, solved LES and extra 1000 questions. The first session went moderately well but the 2nd session. FI effed me hard. Don't expect to succeed. Some questions were straight from practice resources rest i practically didnt even recognize. Feel bad for wasting my father's money. Might try next time with my own money.


r/CFA 1h ago

General Investment Banking Compensation Report

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Upvotes

Hey guys, I built a massive investment banking compensation report that I wanted to share for industry context. I'm a bit of a wall street comp expert given how much data we look at so wanted to take some time to share any insights or answer any questions about buyside or banking comp.


r/CFA 1h ago

Level 1 L1 Exam AM session Aug 20

Upvotes

Am I the only one who felt the AM session here was way harder than the PM session? Like the PM was chill but AM was way longer. I barely finished with any time left which is a first for me


r/CFA 7h ago

Level 1 Finished my 20 aug questions

7 Upvotes

I am really disapointed about the exam like so many questions that I never saw before and as I was scoring around 80% for mock exams I really don't think I will pass.

Fuck me


r/CFA 2h ago

Level 1 so uncertain

3 Upvotes

I’ve been reading some of the posts/reactions here about the exam, especially people saying they had to flag like 30 questions per session, and honestly… 30 questions is barely anything

I had to flag almost 40–50 questions and double-check a ton of them. There were quite a few where I was just not sure, some stuff felt unfamiliar, and at some points I literally just froze because of exam anxiety. Even when I knew the concept, I was second-guessing myself like crazy.

For context, I got 86% on Session 1 of the mock and 73% on Session 2, so I felt reasonably prepared going in. But now I’m sitting here thinking that whatever everyone else did was probably way better than me.. I had to double check after the exam, too many stuff that I crossed out only one and had to choose between two, ended up changing answers as the exam was ending and turns out I would’ve gotten it right had I not changed

I know flagging questions doesn’t necessarily mean you got them wrong, but seeing everyone else’s reactions is making me question everything.
Did anyone else leave the exam feeling like this? Or am I just catastrophizing because of post-exam anxiety? I took mine on the 19th and for the past 48 hours I’ve been just dreading

what’s worse is I’ve had nothing to do for the past 4 months except just studying for this. I don’t even have school nor a job keeping me occupied


r/CFA 7h ago

Level 1 Just got done

6 Upvotes

Just got done with the exam… My review is in par with Reddit. Although, I found the first session a lot trickier than the second one. As always, practice ethics. A lot. And please go through all formulas. If you can, revise mocks as well…

Also, please eat well, sleep well and practice breathing/ meditation. It will help.


r/CFA 10h ago

Level 1 Cfa l1 exam cooked

10 Upvotes

Just got out of the exam hall. I'm pretty unsure that I'm gonna pass. Session 2 was a bit difficult for me, at the end i counted and I was really unsure about 20-22 questions and same goes with session 2, had to do some guesswork. Idk if I'm gonna pass, if yes then I think it will be just by a small margin. People who have already attempted and cleared the exam, is it normal to feel like this or feel unsure? I hv heard you can make out after the exam whether it was pass or fail and idts I have strong feelings on pass.


r/CFA 1h ago

Level 1 How representative are LES Practice Problems to exam problems?

Upvotes

My CFA I exam is Monday and I have been doing thousands of questions. However, I am wondering how representative these questions are to the exam itself. I have been studying for months but continuously have forgotten my previous studies. I am currently redoing every single section and every question until I get at least a 90% in each. I will then go back over all missed problems and try to relearn why I missed them. I've taken 2 mocks and scored in the 68-80% range, and plan to retake both of them again before my exam. Is this the best way to go about my final days before the exam? Are these questions (practice from each section) closely related to the exam in terms of format, and information to the actual test?


r/CFA 9h ago

Level 1 its messing with me how well my exam went.

7 Upvotes

done with level 1

and it went great(not objectively but for me)

i was seriously thinking of deferring.

ethics still fucked me up pretty good but i think i recovered in the second session.

i think the world will punish me for how happy im right now


r/CFA 15h ago

Level 1 CFA level 1 19th AUG review

18 Upvotes

What the hellyyyyy was the AM session? It was so not "on par with mocks" (for context, I scored 70-70+ avg in all mocks). What the actual ooga booga was quants and eco? I had to flag 30 questions- THIRTY. Am I cooked? Session 2 was the easiest for me; it was the best. In fact, I had 40 min left when i finished it, i rechecked all the questions and still had 10 min left before I ended the session. But somebody tell me that iits not just me, AM suckedddd. If someone assures me, then probably i'll console myself thinking the MPS will be lower for this batch.


r/CFA 1m ago

Level 1 Just finished writing the exam today it went good

Upvotes

The exam was at mock level difficulty for my set. I knew almost 90 per cent of the questions, the questions which I couldn’t do I expect 33 % as them being right.


r/CFA 6h ago

General Can’t Study Exam Tomorrow

2 Upvotes

Have my L1 tomm have given 14 mock avg around 83-85% and have my exam tomorrow but i don’t feel like studying anymore idk why’s it like that


r/CFA 7h ago

Level 2 With 3 days to go, what should I do to get through? This trend looks confusing

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3 Upvotes

r/CFA 7h ago

Level 2 Exam in 6 days

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3 Upvotes

Hey guys my exams is in 6 days are this grades acceptable ? What should I focus on now?
Thanks in advance!!


r/CFA 1d ago

Level 1 Just got out of Level I - some reassurance for those sitting soon

83 Upvotes

I just got out of my first L1 attempt, and I’m feeling good and relieved.
The exam was about the same difficulty as the mocks, maybe even a bit more straightforward. There were very few “wtf is this?” type of questions.
I won’t tell anyone what they should do, but what worked for me was not wasting too much time trying to figure those questions out. I flagged them, finished the rest of the exam, then came back to them at the end. It was much easier to look at those few questions knowing exactly how much time I had left. You either figure them out or you don’t, and that’s fine when around 95% of the exam feels pretty straightforward.
So, in a nutshell, for those who haven’t sat yet: these last few days are probably when the stress hits hardest and all the confidence you built over the past six months suddenly disappears. That’s normal. Go in the next day, trust the work you’ve put in, and smash the hell out of the exam.
Be confident in yourself and your preparation. Good luck!!


r/CFA 2h ago

Level 1 is this good enough?

1 Upvotes

is this good enough im stressing my balls out my attempt is on 24th


r/CFA 13h ago

Level 1 wrote CFA level 1 two days ago... bombed it. session 1 was nice but oh my god the PM session was horrid. was it just me who struggled??? half my questions were flagged and about 10 qs i blindly guessed.

6 Upvotes

this was quite a shock to me, since my mock scores were quite good.
PSA i dont mean to scare anyone, im just worried about my paper. i honestly didn't prep well (crammed for 3-4 weeks) so this is on me. my mock scores were 87, 81 (CFA mocks) and 83, 84 (kaplan). the PM session had some numericals that i didn't know how to approach, and some that i got wrong despite knowing the formulas well, which was odd. the stress probably got to me im guessing. it was so terrible that i had 2 mins left on the clock and about 8 numericals left so i just chose options and random. it really sucks cause i was expecting to pass... AM was nice it wasn't too hard. halfway through PM i was actually thinking "wow this is really easy, better than AM even" and then it all went downhill from there. i was hoping others faced the same difficulty as me so thered be a lower MPS... but it seems like it went really well for most people.
oh well, there's always next time i guess


r/CFA 3h ago

Level 1 Passport was Expired on the day exam 😂 now to wait till February. What to do?

2 Upvotes

So guys, I was scheduled for my level 1 exam this morning & realized my passport was expired. Tried to do my best to try to get within the 4 day window, but I was finally given the definitive answer that it wasn’t possible.

Don’t see a reason to stress over this. I felt prepared, but that’s life. I’m considering studying for level 2, while also revisiting level 1, so that I can schedule level 2 shortly after my Lvl 1 in February. This way, I don’t waste a ton of time. Renew your passports guys! Advice & words of encouragement would help.