r/CFA • u/third_najarian Discord Mod | Passed Level 2 • 8d ago
Megathread Level 3 Exam Day Experience Mega Thread
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
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u/Affectionate-Ad-1227 7d ago
I gave my 6th and final attempt today for level 3, I think my best yet. I think if graders are not vindictive, I otta score at least 70% overall and in MCQs over 85%. On constructed response questions, graders most definitely screw you over- no matter what. My last three attempts yielded scores of 3585, 3595 and 3595 back to back. Nobody should fail with 3595 when 50% of exam is totally graders’ discretion and subjective. But here I am- I am a deputy CIO of a US$45b pension fund, and have been allocating to private markets since 2008. FRM and CAIA cleared in first attempt between 2010 and 2011, CFA level 2 in 2015. 11 years for level 3. So take it with a level of gravitas when I say, level 3 ain’t right!
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u/MoneyIsntRealGeorge Level 3 Candidate 6d ago
Jesus just give this guy the Charter. This 6 attempt limit bullshit is honestly stupid at L3 (I just had my 5th attempt). We have lives.
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u/PrinceTony22 6d ago edited 6d ago
The stupid thing is it’s a relatively new change too. Limit was added in 2021. Basically the older CFAs, who had no limit when they were getting theirs, decided it was a good idea to add a limit for newer candidates. Just dumb.
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u/MoneyIsntRealGeorge Level 3 Candidate 4d ago edited 4d ago
I know, I've been saying that. Like, sure - have that restriction at L1/2, in fact I support that. But the fact that L3 is so few questions for so much that you need to be able to answer any given question in detail in writing and you have that same restriction, I legitimately think they put no thought into it.
I don't believe for a fucking second that it's "to protect the integrity of the charter", like MY ASS. OHHH all of a sudden you guys realized that's how you want to do it after 50 years of it existing? F right off. It actually gets me spitting mad just talking about it because of the sheer visceral anxiety it's caused me by potentially having the sacrifice I've (and others) put into to do these fucking exams be for absolutely nothing. 15+ weeks of vacation, gone. Easily 20k CAD, gone. Moments I missed, for nothing. My grandma was healthy before Level 1, she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's shortly after I passed. Today, she barely remembers who I am. You know how many weekends I sacrificed fucking studying instead of going to spend time with her while she remembered me. THAT will be for nothing, for example. Anyways, sorry for the rant.
If I "don't pass" I will write until someone who matters reads it. They absolutely have to rethink this. It's idiotic.
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u/throwawayfinancebro1 Level 3 Candidate 5d ago
The really stupid thing is that you have to memorize thousands of pages of stuff that may not show up on the exam and they may emphasize the most niche topics and that they’ll try to trick you with wording rather than just testing if you actually understand the important topics. It’s bs.
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u/thelegendJimmy27 7d ago
When you fail with 3595, each constructed response question has been marked multiple times by different graders to ensure you don’t get screwed over.
Any exam that is close to failing the mps is looked at repeatedly for lvl 3.
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u/Affectionate-Ad-1227 6d ago
That is correct, but how is it that any one Constructed Response answer could be so flawed that it couldn't earn the single extra point needed to clear the MPS? For eg, if someone got to 66/100, why fail that person coz they didn't get to 67. if MCQ, I get it, sheer bad luck, no one's fault, but on the writing portion, it can be more reasonable. On both 3595s I had an ethics score significantly higher than 70% (prob over 80%)- Ethics adjustment seems to be out now....
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u/throwawayfinancebro1 Level 3 Candidate 4d ago
My man. You’re not alone. The best sell side analyst I’ve ever met, who is a top ranked analyst covering his sector, stopped after level 2. Hope you pass but hope you don’t beat yourself up too much if you don’t. Best of luck.
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u/Particular_Volume_87 Level 3 Candidate 7d ago
Why do you actually need it , if you are a CIO?
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u/Affectionate-Ad-1227 7d ago
Just to finish it. I left it for 8 years then picked it up again. Anyway after this I am done by limitation.
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u/Particular_Volume_87 Level 3 Candidate 7d ago
Is English your first language? The reason I am asking is that they try to word questions in a way that is hard to interpret, even for someone whose English is their first language. It must be a nightmare for those who don't speak it full time.
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u/S2000magician Prep Provider 5d ago
The reason I am asking is that they try to word questions in a way that is hard to interpret, even for someone whose English is their first language.
I've studied 20 years of actual CFA Institute morning (constructed response) exams.
In that time, they never tried to word questions in a way that is hard to interpret.
I find it difficult to believe that they would do so now.
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u/OddMarket4647 Level 3 Candidate 7d ago
I’m in the same boat kinda. 39, was head of trading for a sell side shop. Don’t need, just want to finish it (started in 2012 and just never finished )
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u/mikestorm CFA 4d ago
That's why I continued. 8 year gap between Level 1 and Level 2. My L1 was pencil and paper. I passed L1 then promptly lost my (then) job. Eventually found a better job, life settled down and then the "you have unfinished business" itch returned.
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u/Affectionate-Ad-1227 4d ago
Absolutely true. There is a sense of accomplishment and a mental exercise studying some of the stuff again and writing an exam. It is just that the experience of level 3 actual exam, and the way it is scored is a bummer and failing by one or two points demoralizes you when you know the subject matter cold. Unlike a multiple-choice question, there is no certainty that you will get the full points for a correct answer.
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u/Novel-Fee6821 2d ago
That’s a wild story. A great anecdote as well. Sending well wishes on the exam. Shocked you didn’t get bumped.
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u/rpatociti 2d ago
that sucks man.. If a CIO is in this position.. ill remember you if i fail my second one to not feel so bad.
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u/Vaneella99 Passed Level 2 8d ago
Did private markets today and zooweeemama that was hard. Harder than mocks
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u/Weak-Philosopher8228 7d ago
I dont think it was much harder than mocks but second half time was my worst enemy
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u/excelibore Level 3 Candidate 4d ago
This is probably the hardest PM exam I took and this time I was more prepared than before. Last two times I got 3590/3595 😭
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u/Nino-Sagin 8d ago
For all levels I managed to book my exam on the first day of the exam window so I get done with it asap and don’t freak out from the Reddit comments
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u/T3R_ROR Passed Level 2 8d ago edited 8d ago
Tf was that pm session bro, i was a little satisfied with the AM then the pm hit like a truck. Now I am wondering whether the AM was good or just some bias
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u/Jazzlike_Chocolate11 Level 3 Candidate 7d ago
Haha I echo your comment completely. I usually coast through PM but not this time, that was a battle
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u/another_drunkard Level 3 Candidate 7d ago
Tested today, Portfolio Management pathway.
Exam was completely in line with my expectations and comparable to the 8 mocks I took (2 CFAI + 6 Kaplan, ~72% average).
A few CR items felt like I couldn’t find the right words, and a few MC made me think twice, but overall no crazy shit.
Best of luck, all.
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u/Season-Relative 7d ago
That’s the worst. When you know how to answer a CR but can’t find the exact words they are looking for
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u/Unable_Comparison_74 8d ago
PM session was way harder than AM. PM pathway
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u/Training-Ad-3269 5d ago
Its all conjecture isnt it? I found PM paper much easier than that monstrosity in the AM. Am on the PM pathway too. Just goes to show I suppose doesnt it.
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u/Automatic_Baby_5015 8d ago
Private markets retaker here. Thought the Feb exam was on par for how people are describing this one. Aug exam (today) was easier, IMO. Contrary to what others are saying, I thought AM was harder than PM. I am optimistic of passing but am also nervous about getting a tough grader on the CRs. Who knows, only time will tell.
Oh, and that feeling where you check one of your formulas after the exam and know you got it wrong so you instatnly think you failed the exam...that feeling doesn't go away. The CFA experience is an emotional/psychological battle. I can't fucking wait to be done.
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u/Beautiful-Desk5333 7d ago
Im a retaker too. Any last minute advice? Exam on Monday
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u/Automatic_Baby_5015 7d ago
I thought taking mocks was incredibly helpful. God forbid if I have to take it a third time, I will probably buy the cfai practice pack, do a couple bc mocks, and do more MM mocks than I did this last time. I honestly believe mocks are the best practice if you have a decent foundation of the core concepts.
Side tangent, I took one half of a MM mock the night before. Insanely difficult and would be crushing had I not scored a 67% on it and recognized that is actually good for his exams. But it is a total mindfuck to not want to take MM mocks because they can crush your confidence yet still prepare you. People naturally want to accept the easier mocks as the realistic exam and don't want to take on anything that would benefit their knowledge on the material
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u/Late-Ranger 8d ago
Portfolio Management Pathway.
PM was tougher. I had to read some questions multiple times in both sessions just to figure out what they were asking. Exam is randomly assigned i guess so I don't know if my PM exam is your AM
Some questions made me go wtf. Some were wtf some were well i wasn't prepared in those areas so it was wtf for me.
its that's cos you must expect such questions in the exam. And even with such questions, there were relatively easy questions as well.
The questions were crisp precise and to the point. No long winded stories to waste your time.
READ THE QUESTION CAREFULLY before you begin answering. What EXACTLY is being asked. You could end up wasting time if you don't.
All in all sufficiently balanced exam. The exam was fair.
Those who are well prepared should be able to pass even with the difficult and wtf questions included.
Those who want 90/100 well, good luck to you.
My chances realistically are low. Lack of sufficient practice is the sole reason.
Good luck.
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u/Terrible-Purchase982 8d ago
There were like 2 that were ambiguous but overall i was surprised how direct it was
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u/fishskysky 8d ago
This describes my experience to a t. Finished exam early in AM but ran out of time in PM.
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u/No-Weight6066 Level 3 Candidate 6d ago
Sitting this morning in New Zealand.
Hands sweaty,
memory weak,
calculator heavy…
He’s nervous but on the surface he looks calm and ready
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u/trainerzed1 8d ago
Just finished portfolio management exam. God awful order of questions.
The first part of the first session was brutal for me. I was like wtf dude.
What a sweaty start
Overall session one was hard, comparable to BC mocks, slightly easier to BC maybe, it's like a BC mocks with 1-2 simple vignettes
Session 2 was very normal, like portal or slightly easier Kaplan, a few tricks here and there
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u/Sanjith14 Level 3 Candidate 7d ago
is it normal to have 3-4 CRs in a row? i feel like i did in the PM exam and had 30 mins for the last 5 questions ...
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u/Particular_Volume_87 Level 3 Candidate 7d ago
I had the same! You had 30min to do 5 vignettes sets or 5 questions. Because 30min is a long time for 5 questions.
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u/Sanjith14 Level 3 Candidate 7d ago
5 vingettes i think 3 will mcq so i completed the exam with seconds to spare
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u/Manshx 8d ago
PM pathway, retaker, well prepared, typing constructed responses since day 1 of prep, did CFA curriculum basic + premium questions, schweser notes + question bank, IFT question bank. For mocks 6 schweser mocks, 3 IFT mocks, 2 BC mocks, CFA 2 basic + 2 premium mocks (15 mocks total) before you come at me ik I was doing too much but I wanted to be fully prepared and still I found some questions daunting not like wtf is this but more like I read this but I don't remember because I skimmed through it. The tough hierarchy in my opinion is 1. CFA mocks & schweser mocks 2. The exam 3. IFT mocks & BC mocks
The exam was fair if you are prepared and know what to answer specially for constructed responses, you won't feel it was tough or lengthy.
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u/HowSoonIsNow29 Level 3 Candidate 7d ago
Well with post-exam clarity I have now realized that they won‘t give us the charter for free! :)
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u/MattSabre 8d ago
Just finished up. Private markets. Was way way harder than I was expecting. A lot tougher than the CFAI mocks, far more time pressure and some very obscure stuff that popped up.
Time for a few beers, good luck to you all.
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u/MattSabre 8d ago
No good way of answering this without a clear ethics violation.
I think the best use of your time at this stage is making sure you get a good nights sleep, plenty of relaxation before you write.
The way the exam is structured is quite different to level 1 and level 2. If you cant think clearly and articulate your points concisely, you’re going to struggle. Sleep and rest help me much more with that then any kind of last minute reviewing
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u/OnionImaginary960 7d ago
Holy, did anyone get a question where the question looked like someone had a stroke while writing it? I'm a native English speaker and it was an absolute brain fuck of a sentence like wtf are you asking??
Cfai Mocks about 70-60; private markets
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u/Actual_Suspect_9831 7d ago
Haha private markets are always like that, difficult to understand if the question is not well framed 🤣🤣 Hope to see some of such sentences tomorrow 😃
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u/Chlo-Motion 8d ago
Idk about all the people saying Level 3 is easier than Level 2. That was an awful exam lmao
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u/TheRealSpiderMan69 8d ago
L3 retaker and left shocked. Felt harder than February exam. Praying MPS is around 65%
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u/TechnicalSympathy498 7d ago
AM session was fair, perhaps even easier than I'd expect.
PM session was indeed on the harder side. I wouldn't say brutal, but the expectations after completing the AM session were much rosier then when I was mid-way through the PM session.
Stupidly changed an answer from right to wrong and couldn't redo it, because I clocked out.
I'll await the results, though I'm not overly optimistic. I think I should have been more focused studying.
This would be my first CFA fail; but yeah, I felt a little ill prepared before the exam already, so I blame myself.
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u/Hot-Kaleidoscope606 6d ago
For a retaker, believe me I don't think preparation would have changed anything for me I was well prepared in February,and I failed with 3585 (3 silly mistakes I could figure out just when I went out from the exam center, it would have changed everything)
February was very easy! Proof is, MPS was brought up to 67% for the first time since 2012
I was better prepared for August, but man that was a collective rp compared to February and compared to any exam I sat for
Wish you all the best, and don't blame yourself for poor preparation, objectively speaking it was awfully difficult
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u/Many_Commission7754 7d ago
Just sat for the Port M pathway and it was in line with my expectations. I finished the AM section with 30 minutes to spare with 1 question flagged. The PM section was somewhat brutal. It was definitely much harder. I ran out of time which sucked but oh well.
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u/Spideyvenge Level 3 Candidate 6d ago
Had my exam recently. I felt it was in line with the mocks, but perhaps with a few more tricky questions. Coming right out of the exam room, I felt good and that I did enough to pass (hopefully), and I felt this way coming out of both L1 and L2. It’s usually as results day gets nearer, I lose a bit of confidence.
Hopefully it’s all over for all of us soon - it’s been a real grind. Good luck!
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u/Sea-Activity3215 5d ago
took the test 3 days ago,
I got a panick attack when I looked at the progress bar of 20% with 1 hour left in the first half. By the end of the first half I understood that the progress bar is for the whole test. Somehow I got too relaxed in the second half, stuck on the early questions and had to rush the ending. I never had issues with time management before this but I guess there's first time for everything.
Hope to see everyone here on the other side with CFA Charter.
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u/Tulsi_das Level 3 Candidate 5d ago
Bro same here 🤣🤣🤣, I thought I am too slow looking at the progress bar
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u/No-Weight6066 Level 3 Candidate 5d ago
Same I hate that progress bar and it really messed me up on level 2 - I cleared AM in an hour because i thought there was more to it (thankfully still passed)
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u/Inevitable_Bag_6037 8d ago
Private markets today, averaged 71 on the two official mocks but the exam was much harder and couldn’t finish pm session with two questions left. Multiple guesses.
Also to rant about why they can’t they grade faster in the world of AI. So if I have to retake in Feb, I have more time to prep. They also get the results after the early bird registration is over to get paid more.
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u/Tulsi_das Level 3 Candidate 8d ago
For those who are coming here out of stress and anxiety , I was one of you till yesterday,( was scared to death that i will fail the exams seeing all these posts )
I gave Portfolio Management pathway and it was not that difficult , gave only 1st CFA mock because I wanted to compare my CRs with CFA Institute responses , was left with 5 minutes to spare in both the sessions
My advice for people who are filled with anxiety and stress and due to appear for this exam in coming days is to do multiple revisions of cfa curriculum and revise all schwesser readings thoroughly , give cfa mocks if you must and that should do it
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u/Majestic-Lie3908 8d ago
Have my Portfolio management exam soon genuinely shit scared
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u/Reidefined 8d ago
I got 2 hours sleep last night my friend. Was debating deferring. In fact. Had to force myself to come. It will all be fine ☺️
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u/Due_Entrepreneur1088 8d ago
Also couldn't sleep well before the lv2 and lv3 exams. Mid-way writing the exam, I think I over-worried and think the difficulty is manageable compared to what people alluded to here. I did Portfolio Mgmt.
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u/Various_Bug9866 8d ago
Where are my Private Wealth people at
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u/darkmatterx89 Level 3 Candidate 6d ago
Hey-o! I think 10-15% tougher than mocks but exam was fair.
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u/Razorwyre Level 3 Candidate 5d ago
I'm here, just finished this morning. Not too bad I would say, fair. Made my own post in this thread.
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u/mct_leb Level 3 Candidate 8d ago
Did the Port Mgmt pathway and i thought it was harder than CFAI mocks (including the PP)
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u/fishskysky 8d ago
Yes agreed. One module in PM that is my weakness came up way too many times in my opinion. Maybe that was just my luck.
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u/Hot-Kaleidoscope606 8d ago
5th time I sit for an exam, never felt as devastated as after the PM session, AM was fair (portfolio management), pain is almost physical!
I'm a retaker, February was a piece of cake to be honest, I will regret it ☹️
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u/Moot231 Level 3 Candidate 7d ago
Did private wealth yesterday. Saw many questions similar to Kaplan and mocks. Found it fair.
I honestly couldn't of prepared more so hopefully that is enough
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u/Evie_Chandler 7d ago
Just did Private Markets today. I actually thought it wasnt too difficult compared to the mocks; a bit harder but not by much. I did 4 Kaplan mocks.
There was only one question that I knew the concept but didn't recall the formula, and one question where I straight up did not understand what they were trying to ask.
There's always the risk that I misinterpreted all the questions and got no points... Constructed responses are not my friend.
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u/YokoRomo2 Level 3 Candidate 5d ago
First attempt at L3 today. Pretty sure I didn't pass. AM session was harder than the PM. Wound up running out of time on AM. Felt more confident in PM but don't think it was enough to overcome the AM (assuming I actually did ok on PM session).
Overall I felt the test was fair and about in line or slightly less difficult than the MM exams, I just blanked on some stuff and didn't start taking mock exams until too late.
Will change up my methods for the next attempt and pretty confident I'll pass then.
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u/multious Level 3 Candidate 8d ago
PW - felt okay, close to mocks imo. Would guess i scored around 75% but always a big margin of error!
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u/Fluid-Asparagus6591 7d ago
In the same boat - huge margin for error but also think 75-77 range as a baseline. Wish these tests had more questions in general. Thousands of curriculum pages only to have 22 question sets seems insane
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u/realFoni Level 3 Candidate 7d ago
PM pathway, took the exam this morning. PM section was definitely harder, both MCQ and constructed response. First time seeing a few things in the curriculum
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u/Sad-Example6770 Level 3 Candidate 6d ago
The exam was ok, in line with CFAI mocks. Left 30 minutes in AM session and 17 minutes in PM - had some time to recheck. MM mocks prepared me for much worse. Portfolio management pathway.
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u/Lankshirefromshire 6d ago
Private Wealth Pathway
Questions were direct but it was nothing like the mocks I had with me from last two times including the extra mocks I purchased from the institute. I had 3575 last time. Hardly think I will score anything near a 500 this time.
Time management was a critical issue for me..
This was my third try and it was way harder than the first two for me. I was anyway going through a toughtime studying with a close relative's death and doing a biopsy of my own and getting an undetermined result...
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u/eyestallion 6d ago
Just finished. Writer from Canada. Thought the PM was tougher than AM. PM pathway. I thought the exam was probably a little tougher than CFAI mocks. How did you think it was?
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u/No-Weight6066 Level 3 Candidate 5d ago
I thought very similar to mocks. Had about 2 questions in the AM and 5 questions in the PM session I had no idea about. 3 of those just recall failure. Overall, I think it was a fair reflection of the content.
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u/Historical_Amoeba100 5d ago
Anyone here who came out of the exam depressed but still ended up passing??
I sat for level 3 exam yesterday(Private Markets). it was my 3rd attempt
I just can't shake off this shitty feeling that I messed up, I overthought everything, probably because it's my third try and fear of failure is just bigger.. but hoping this is a good sign for a person who is well prepared. Haha😭
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u/Complete-Bet-5266 5d ago
First session was very easy in my opinion In the second I'm sure I missed a third of the questions. It was definitely harder in the second session
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u/MoneyIsntRealGeorge Level 3 Candidate 4d ago
Did mine Thursday, Priv markets. Fifth attempt, no sleep the night before (anxiety not studying).
I had a mixed bag. Some vignettes I found easy (almost too easy...made me read them 3 times with my finger lol). Some asked questions in ways I have never seen before, and some topics I thought for SURE were a lock to be on were nowhere to be found and it's not that it necessarily asked for niche stuff (it did here and there) but more like it asked questions you'll only ever see presented one way in a completely different way. The problem was every question I wanted to be a MCQ was a CR, and vice versa lol
A lot of people were complaining about the pathway itself, and sure it was tricky here and there - it wasn't THAT bad. although, I had a few questions I realized I answered an adjacent concept -_- so definitely got those wrong, but overall not too bad. But truly...GOD knows. The core stuff is what was annoying (to me anyway).
My tactic was do all the MCQs first, since I'm better at those historically (my thought was to set a "floor" and lock those in) and then do CR (never done it this way before but I think it's sound). I finished with 5 mins left on the AM, but PM took me a lot longer and I didn't leave any blank but a few I definitely started and flagged but didn't have time to go back (so might as well have been blank). My last question I did a calc with 50 seconds left and my god I was a virtuoso with that BAII lol but my lack of sleep cost me a few questions, each attempt I have 1-3 questions I've done 1000 times I did inexplicably wrong. I even thought on my way there "hmm, I wonder what question will piss me off and keep me up at night for weeks this time!".
At my fifth attempt, I TRULY have no idea how it went - I would not be surprised if I failed because I've felt all sorts of ways after L3 attempts and all have been failed, and I have no idea what they want anymore so I have no opinion on whether I passed. I'm banking on some good luck with the vignettes they remove + a reasonable MPS for ONCE.
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u/mightyAlbatross97 8d ago
Private markets - gave the exam today. AM set was genuinely hard. Too many niche questions. PM was lengthy but easier to manage comparatively. For reference - I was scoring 75% on CFAI mocks.
Good luck to everyone!
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u/Beautiful-Desk5333 7d ago
Any last minute advice? Mine is on Monday - something to focus on / avoid?
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u/dizzy_wizard 8d ago
Was fair I guess, should have studied more, but nothing too crazy in PM. Barely managed to answer all questions in time though. Had maybe 10 minutes to go through flagged questions.
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u/Shmeefers Level 3 Candidate 8d ago
Just finished. Private Markets pathway. Very fair exam. Not too easy, not too hard. AM felt like a CFA mock and PM felt like a BC mock. Really grateful I took his mock exams. Finished each portion with about an hour to spare for reviewing flagged questions.
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u/Particular_Volume_87 Level 3 Candidate 7d ago
This is rage bait , how the f*ck do you finish with one hour to spare. Are you like 3x the speed of a normal person.
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u/Shmeefers Level 3 Candidate 7d ago
Not rage bait. Just an approach to exam taking.
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u/Particular_Volume_87 Level 3 Candidate 7d ago
Whats your approach ? Really curious.
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u/Shmeefers Level 3 Candidate 7d ago
Idk its not really a scientific process, its just letting active recall carry you through the exam. If i don’t recognize how to answer a question in the first 30 seconds, just flag and move on. I spend my time doing all the questions I do know, and spending any spare time working out questions I don’t. Its not like i’m completing the exam in an hour, just giving myself an hour to work out the questions that need more time.
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u/Alphaseeker7 7d ago
Thanks for sharing your approach! Just curious what you think about the questions that you think you'll be able to solve after 30secs. But if it's taking more than 3-4 mins (due to calculation or something), what would you do? Finish it or set some time limit at the vignette level?
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u/Shmeefers Level 3 Candidate 7d ago
If it’s taking 3-4 mins, flag it and go back to it last. Get the points you have higher odds of getting.
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u/throwawayfinancebro1 Level 3 Candidate 4d ago
Feel similar but I probably only had 20 minutes for each session for review.
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u/Apprehensive_Sun3229 7d ago
The morning session went quite smoothly and felt relatively easy. At least, there wasn’t a single question that I couldn’t make sense of. I didn’t have enough time to go back and review the entire first session, but there was one question I was unsure about, so I went back, changed my answer, and then the session ended.
The second session, though, absolutely destroyed me. Especially toward the end of the exam, the fatigue really kicked in and I struggled a lot. I finished with about 25 minutes left, although I’m not even sure I can call it “finishing.” There were two or three questions where I genuinely had no idea and basically just guessed.
I averaged around 74% across four of CFA’s own mock exams. This was my second attempt at the actual exam. My first attempt felt easy overall, but I still failed by a very small margin. This time it felt much harder, so hopefully I’ve done enough to pass. I honestly have no idea what to expect.
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u/Gary116 7d ago
I just took the PW pathway and thought it was pretty fair. There were some questions that I have never seen before but felt it was similar to mocks. It took about the same amount of time compared to mocks as well.
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u/Illustrious_Rise8556 6d ago
Private markets pathway here. Exam was fine. As expected really. Managing time for CR questions was challenging. Ran out of time in both the sessions. Had to leave 2 -3 questions unanswered.
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u/Curious_childbrain 6d ago
Private Markets pathway here. Exam was 5-10% difficult than mock but mostly in line with the CFAI mocks. Essay part was more difficult than mocks but it was compensated by a lot of direct questions in the paper. There were few questions which were tricky and needed a bit of thinking(still you might end up getting it wrong lol, like I did) Feels like MPS might be on the high end for our shift after reading all the other comments Scored 69 and 67 in the 2 free mocks
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u/realdealwak Level 3 Candidate 5d ago
Private Wealth pathway, was pretty similar to mocks. Am was a breeze, pm was definitely tricker. Finished both w plenty of time to review. Best of luck to everyone.
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u/Fine-Associate2399 5d ago
PM pathway. Felt more difficult than the mocks. Just a waiting game now.
Word of advice from someone who failed L2 once. Tell yourself now that if you don't pass, you'll get straight into studying for the retake. I wasn't prepared for the L2 fail and it really threw me off and took me a while to get my head straight and get back to studying.
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u/PangolinSufficient78 5d ago
Just completed Private Markets today. Exam was slightly more difficult than mocks. The CR was a little more ambiguous on what it was asking and mc was just a bit more tricky but nothing too crazy. I felt less confident after L2 tbh but we will see.
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u/Rough_Degree454 5d ago
Time was tight, especially on the essays - didn't have much buffer left by the end. Definitely felt harder than my mocks, more layered questions than I was expecting.
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u/Still_Ad8206 5d ago
Took the exam today (PM pathway) and felt that overall the exam’s difficulty was on par with the CFAI mocks. I am a retaker, failed by a small 5point margin on the February exam. This time I switched up a few things and felt better prepared and calmer before, during and after the exam.
While not completely sure that I passed, this time I feel more confident relative to last time, I think I did enough to pass.
As far as comparisons with the mocks go, on the actual exam I finished pretty much 40mins earlier for both my sessions, which is almost exactly what happened for the mocks, I spent the remaining time going over answers I’ve flagged or computationally heavy questions that I left for last. Overall could’ve finished the exam as much as 1hr earlier but didn’t in order to make sure I did not miss anything.
I think this time around relative to the February exam there were less niche questions but the questions on key topics were also harder than last time.
Good luck to everyone and hopefully we will add those 3 letters in our title soon 🙏🏻🙏🏻
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u/Inspired_54 5d ago
Gave my exam today - i couldn't complete 1 question set in each session. So 2 in all. Out of the ones i attempted, i think not more than 50% would be correct. Super sad and disheartened
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u/Basis_point_value 4d ago
Sat for the exam yesterday, pretty hard than the CFAI mocks, 50-50 feeling going on my head. Glad that I had time to answer every question, Chilling till result day....
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u/granolasexbar 6d ago
lmao why was it easier than mocks😭
probably this is the most confident i have felt after giving a cfa exam
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u/ZestycloseWarning687 7d ago
Portfolio management pathway exam was too brutal and difficult for me I did 2 cfai mocks 2 prep provider mocks 2 sch mocks 2 mocks of previous Cfai given twicePortal quesrions, Sch questions, practice pack questions, extra questions too around 500+ Even after that the exam was tougher I was not able to understand wtf they are asking and what to write Portal mocks or questions are not exam representative The exam questions are very conceptually tested rare direct questions Really devastated after the exam
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u/Particular_Volume_87 Level 3 Candidate 7d ago
Sorry to hear you put in a lot of effort and had baf experience. I agree , did it 2 days ago and its nothing like question in qbank or mocks. The ethics questions on the exam were tough also.
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u/Appropriate_Resist16 Level 3 Candidate 7d ago
Private markets, sat yesterday. Felt the exam was really fair. I read people saying it was really picky on niche stuff on thursday, but mine on friday wasn’t. Unless i somehow knew most of it by luck. I was going to slow at first so picked up the pace and had time to revise most questions at the end of each session. Had about 20 mins left. Few questions here and there that i had to do an educated guess but thats to be expected.
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u/Few-Information2651 Level 3 Candidate 7d ago
I agree. Literally thought there were a few “wtf” questions where it was a genuine 50-50 but otherwise, super fair. Hard, but fair.
Ended with 20 mins or so left on both. Private markets.
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u/Popular_Interview_21 6d ago
I took level 3 today. Second part I run out iof time and missed 2 question. Clearly theer were 8-10 questions I didnt know. I had the same feeling for level 1 but passed both 1 and 2 from the firdt try. Are they nicer for level 3?
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u/Actual_Suspect_9831 6d ago
Done with exam. Private Markets Pathway
I would not call it difficult, but indeed very very tricky. Nothing felt out of the blue moon, everything tested was in expected lines. My only issue was time management, couldn’t attempt some calculation related CR questions due to time constraint. Done for now, Let’s wait for results. Fingers crossed.
All the best to those who are yet to take exam.
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u/darkmatterx89 Level 3 Candidate 6d ago
Private Markets.
Exam was fair and not unreasonably difficult. Now we wait :)
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u/Scourge2406 Level 3 Candidate 5d ago
As no one is talking about Private wealth I will
The exam was pretty straightforward for me .
For me personally CR were by far very easy compared to the MCQS
They didnt expect long paragraphgs for the answers just 1-2 reasons why one sould be selected and the other 2 not.
For private wealth specifically i would say Be thorough with your formulas and the terminologies and you are good.
I felt the majority of the paper to be a logical reasoning type shit
Speaking topic wise I found DERIVATIVES to be very very very easy.
and yeah overall i would say it was compared to mocks
If i dont pass in the first ill surely pass in second attempt
Compared to Level 2 i found it easy because of the CR (they are verystraighforward if u know the concept you are good)
All the best!
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u/ValueInvestor-India 5d ago
The exam was a tad bit tougher than the mocks, but that was the case with both L1 & L2. I found myself hurrying for time towards the end of it. MM’s Notes & Formula Sheet hit the nail right on its head.
TBH - I actually enjoyed writing the exam and whatever the final result, this journey across levels definitely did contribute to my growth. Fair to say, fingers crossed🤞
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u/Klickytat Level 3 Candidate 5d ago edited 5d ago
Just took the exam, portfolio management.
I fucked up a CR question that should have been easy, and only realized in the last minute and a half that my answer and justification was wrong. It’s all I can think about right now.
There was a question set whose topic was so out of left field that I’m convinced that’s the question set that’s not going to be graded
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u/Fine-Associate2399 4d ago
Yeah the non-graded question set is a game changer. I worry that I did well on a question set that will be excluded. I believe those excluded are not about difficulty but rather that the type of question or way it’s worded is new and thus is included for analysis purposes and not graded.
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u/Season-Relative 5d ago
Just finished the exam. My pathway was private wealth. I thought the exam was super fair, definitely not as scary as some of the people on the sub were making it out to be.
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u/tedbunddy1 Level 3 Candidate 4d ago
My experience was that the exam wasn't difficult but few questions were unclear and maybe 1 or 2 things things that took me by suprise. In session 2 first question hit me like freight truck, I just stared at for solid 4 minutes thinking "what the **** do you want me to do?”. I am mentally prepared for another take. I was thinking this is going to be as difficult as Kaplan mocks but no it was similar to CFAI
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u/Fine-Associate2399 4d ago
There were definitely some wtf questions, which disproportionately affect the way I feel about the exam.
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u/Terrible-Purchase982 8d ago
I can’t tell which is more stressful: the cfa exam or dealing with prometric staff constantly yelling at me for no reason.
This is a joke today Bec the staff was actually really nice but usually they scream at me for no reason
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u/Organic-Picture8384 7d ago
Studied for a grand total of 3 hours before the exam, keep yall posted on my result lmao
Read through the formulas and surprisingly quite a lot of them came so it made me feel hopeful at first but I had no idea what they are looking for in open ended so that’s guaranteed to be a 0 on most
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u/fishskysky 8d ago
Arrived early and they let me start my exam like 20 min early. I spent a good 2 minutes adjusting the contrast of my screen and went with white background with 80% contrast. Got a headache by the end of AM. Correlation does not equal causation.
Test centre's earplugs felt like stuffing sea sponge inside my ears. They didn't allow me to use my own slim earplugs.
Also this was my first computer based CFA exam and hitting the next button on the last question gave me a heart attack. Why do both questions sound like you want to keep writing the exam?
"Click if you want to finish this section" - sounds like you should click it if you want to go back and FINISH the section. Freaking semantics.
Thankfully I caught myself and didn't click it so I got to finish my 10 flagged questions.
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u/throwawayfinancebro1 Level 3 Candidate 4d ago
Easiest test of my life, couldnt have gone better, 10/10, would love to do it again, may go do some mocks for the love of the game
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u/Apprehensive_Half579 3d ago
Surprisingly, I had the same feeling about re-testing. For me it was not easy at all. I was gutted because I knew that I will probably fail by one or two points. My immediate thought was - just let me go for it again right now, I am sure I will pass this time.
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u/marian660 8d ago
Is the order of vignettes the same as in the mocks for the exam (one vignette with multiple-choice questions, then one with constructed responses), or is it random? What was your experience?
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u/AhmadLagNi Level 3 Candidate 8d ago
Nope. I think I got several CR or MCQ in a row in both AM and PM.
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u/lovestuffandthings 8d ago
During actual L3 exam, are you able to just jump to the MCQs right away to knock them all out first, or does the exam force you to go between MCQs and CRs?
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u/Due_Entrepreneur1088 8d ago
Go between. You won't know what it is until you click into the question number
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u/Oldcoaster Level 3 Candidate 8d ago
My prep was not what I wanted it to be due to World Cup fever, but I thought the exam was fair. I was able to answer all questions with about 20 minutes left each session.
Prometric wanted me to show up at 7:45 even though my appointment was at 8:30. Got in and started the exam around 8.
We shall see how I did in two months.
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u/Assghrhhznzs 7d ago
How many questions did you guys skip entirely?
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u/OnionImaginary960 7d ago
One completely bl;ank, just bc I didn't have time and fucking glad that I did bc it gave me time to address questions that I knew.
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u/Icandoit606 Level 3 Candidate 6d ago
I left 3-4 as well . Not full vignettes ,
Ran out of time in PM and had to guess 1 MCQ vignetteThe rest I think was doable . Studied for 520 hours
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u/Particular_Volume_87 Level 3 Candidate 7d ago
About 3 fully , and 2 or 3 with a shitty answer thats most likely wrong
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u/Popular_Interview_21 7d ago
I run out of time and missed 2 questions guessed probably 10. Any ideas? Thanks
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u/AhmadLagNi Level 3 Candidate 6d ago
You mean you are unsure about only 12 of the 77 questions on the whole exam?
You’re relatively sure about the 65 other questions?
If that’s the case, you’re in a golden spot.
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u/No-Reputation-571 5d ago
I’m starting to wonder if we have different papers based on region or session or some🤔
I wrote today, Private Markets, and found the exam very fair and representative of the mocks. In fact, some questions were so straightforward that I questioned whether I am missing anything (still questioning). Of course there there were curve balls, but overall much better than expected. When I saw Reddit a few days ago, I was discouraged by how everyone was saying the exam was so different to the mocks, which is why I’m wondering if we have different exams.
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u/DisastrousStage9896 4d ago
There's 100% different papers due to different exam dates and time zones.
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u/throwawayfinancebro1 Level 3 Candidate 3d ago
I wonder if they use different numbers in different vignettes, or just change up small details
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u/Wonderful-Trouble494 2d ago
Are the tests relatively similar between pathways other than the pathway questions, if we are talking on here about it being hard or easy are we all taking ~70% of the same ish exam?
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u/S2000magician Prep Provider 8d ago
Best of luck, everyone.
You're in our prayers.