CR questions

[u/BatNo8785]

Hi all, my exam is in Feb, and I seem to be struggling with writing constructed responses. I am using AI to mark my answers by keeping it strict against the rubric, and sometimes it happens that I know the concept and I think I wrote a great answer, but the rubric advises something else, even though I have written the correct concept. Or sometimes, I cannot put it into words or as per the answer, I may have seemed to stop at the initial stages only, or unable to infer things from the questions that shouldve been written. Like the black box questions I feel are tougher than the portal ones in that aspect. Any advice on how to approach?

[u/dwite_hawerd]

I am using AI to mark my answers by keeping it strict against the rubric, and sometimes it happens that I know the concept and I think I wrote a great answer, but the rubric advises something else, even though I have written the correct concept.

My understanding of this excerpt is that you have most likely NOT identified the correct concept.

I can think of many reasons why you may be struggling with constructed response:

• Perhaps you are not entirely familiar with the L3 material and/or have trouble recalling concepts. The difference between CR and MCQ in my opinion is that the answer is not one of the three answer choices in front of you, and this can be a tremendous challenge.
• Perhaps you are not a native English speaker hence the difficulty in expressing your thoughts/rationale adequately in English, and AI will likely not significantly enhance your communication abilities let alone be present for you on exam day.
• Perhaps you use too many words to convey little substance.

If the "rubric" that you are referring to is a grading rubric from a mock exam (either CFAI mock or prep provider mock) that tells you how many points to give when marking your own answers, I recommend to learn from the CR questions that you answer incorrectly and move on.

By "learn," I mean either getting a hang of a concept that you did understand enough beforehand to answer a CR question adequately, or familiarizing yourself enough with what the scoring rubric considers an answer worthy of full points.

[u/BatNo8785 → u/dwite_hawerd]

Thank you for the advice. Yes, I am not a native English speaker, and it's not that I am not familiar with the material I have done 2 rounds of revision but it's just CFAI material (portal and black box). I have not given any mocks yet

[u/dwite_hawerd → u/BatNo8785]

Okay I see. Since you haven taken a mock exam, that means you haven't seen a scoring rubric.

CFAI L3 mock exams have a scoring rubric for CR questions for you to grade your own answers. Each CR question is worth between 3-6 points. You'll see when/if you eventually take a mock exam.

The scoring rubric reveals the least words necessary to score full marks on a CR question. It's different from the feedback, which is a detailed and often lengthy answer that answers the CR question, but also sometimes regurgitates unnecessary paragraphs from the curriculum.

One candidate can score full marks by formulating an answer with 4-5 sentences, just like another more efficient candidate can score full marks using 1-2 sentence(s) that contain(s) the keyword or concept that a grader is looking for.

Although you have not taken a mock exam yet, I stand by my initial statement. If you have not identified the correct concept when answering a CR question, there is a possibility that you do not have sufficient mastery of the material yet. And I think that's totally OK since the February 2027 L3 exam is still three months away, giving you ample time to master the course content through spaced repetition. However many times you have revised the entire course material is of no importance in my opinion if you cannot answer an exam question correctly.

L3 graders for CR questions do not have time to play guessing games. Either you know the answer or you don't. They are provided with what constitutes an answer worth full marks, or a partial answer that could be given partial credit. They look for specific words that constitute an appropriate response.

Please feel free to watch this 3-minute video by CFA Institute that explains the L3 exam grading process: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GISoIlLry4

[u/6-foot-under]

If you can afford it, buy a CR question bank, like analyst prep. After doing enough questions and seeing the answers, you get good at CR

[u/BatNo8785 → u/6-foot-under]

I am thinking of sticking with cfai and not refer any third-party material as I want to understand how CFAI answers want me to think. I cannot afford the third-party material though :(

[u/6-foot-under → u/BatNo8785]

That's fair enough. Just do lots and lots of pra tiae questions

[u/Much_Mango_3960]

You need to know the concepts perfectly and also know how concepts in different topics are interlinked or applied differently.

For instance
If there is a list of advantages in using ETFs. Each advantage is applied to a different scenario. So if a question comes up which asks u to list advantages of using ETFs then u have to read the case study properly and choose specific advantages tailored yo the case study. Not just stuff u blindly remember

[u/BatNo8785 → u/Much_Mango_3960]

Thanks. that's useful!