Between the registration fees and the time invested, the pressure of passing on the first try is eating me alive. I think half my exam anxiety comes from just not wanting to pay for this whole thing again if I fail by a hair.

Honestly, the main reason I upgraded to the Lifetime WSU plan was just for the "retake covered" guarantee. Knowing that if I completely bomb it in November, I at least have my study platform secured for the next window without paying again, took a massive weight off my shoulders.

How do you guys deal with the pressure of the exam costs?

Especially if I date 18-25 girls ? I'm 29 and I want to leverage the CFA to the maximum.

So, by averaging the questions topic wise, I got these results.

These are from the mocks.

Ignore the decimals.. obviously.

But as u can see, for example , corporate issuers, I can see that there are mostly 1 vignette per mock or rarely 2.

If we assume in the exam, there's 1 vignette only for corporate issuers ( btw in the exam, there's definitely going to be one topic having 1 vignette)

Then there's a high change that those 4 questions will decide how much I get in this topic.

So even if I miss 1 or 2 questions of that vignette, I'm freaking screwed?!

There's a high chance that my score in that subject becomes 50 percentile. (I know about the method CFA uses. But just saying these by probabilities, that's all)

Doesn't that mean these low weightage topics shouldn't be considered as low weightage and instead given more importance 😭.

I am saying this because mostly the people who have passed, their results show that around 7 to 8 of the topics are above the 70 percentile.

Ur opinion?

Studied so far for 215 hours, aiming for 325 by exam day.

Had a horror session 1 of Mock 2 where I scored 48% on part 1, 57% on part 2. Wanted to d1e after seeing my session 1 score.

Is this recoverable? I feel disheartened but no choice but to grind it out

It was eye opening simply posting about waiting on test results in a community forum and how the stress was killing me. I didn't mention level 3 because nobody would even know what it is on that forum.I wrote the 4th time.

But the point is that everybody thought I meant test results for health reasons and it was really eye opening how much support i got. I do want to pass but if I don't it's fine considering I'm healthy and so forth. The replies on the other thread helped me realize it's fine if I don't pass. People are going through crazy stuff.

But anyways, if anybody is stressing to the extreme, I hope this post maybe will help you as the other thread did for me.

I thought I was going crazy at first, but I went back and managed to find word for word where the information I was reading had been used 30 pages prior. What is the point of copy pasting information for us to re read multiple times? It just adds more reading to the already HUGE amount of material for no reason? And while this is the only time I’ve gone and found the exact copy and paste info, I know that there are many instances where this happens. Does anyone have a genuine explanation for them doing this?

Hey CFA Charterholders & L3 Fellas!

How early before the results does the CFA Membership status update (for CFA L3 Candidates who got membership approved) indicating payment of dues for Chartholder Membership ?

Will surely calm down my anxiety :)

Please comment..

Have been doing a mock a week with full review. I make flashcards of the questions I am not sure about (regardless if I get the right answer or not). I review the flashcards on my train into work, but I work full time in the office, and it's a demanding role, so I don't have much time to spare other than on weekends.

I focused my revision in the past week on my weaker areas, including derivatives and equity, in which I had scored 50-60% in my first two mocks, and scored better in Mock 3, but then my FSA score plummeted. Along with my flashcards on the train, I try to do 30-40 questions a day in the QBank, but my work circumstances really don't allow me to drill out the hours I see others in this subreddit doing.

I feel like I'm not being productive, and I don't know how else to optimise my learning. For my last two Kaplan mocks, I saw that they used fairly niche subtopic themes that came up 3-5 times, and if I don't know it, then I'm pretty much out of luck for all those questions which has a huge impact on my total score.

Each mock feels increasingly more difficult. I feel like I'm only sure about my answers for a third of the mock. And then the rest is either an educated guess (elimination of one choice and best guess of two) or a complete guess (roughly around 5-10 questions per mock).

My plan was to keep doing a mock and full-length review a week, so that would bring me up to 6-7 mocks before my exam; make flashcards on all the questions I wasn't sure about; continue reviewing the flashcards for about an hour a day; spend another hour a day doing the QBank and review. But again, I don't see my scores improving, so please can any candidates or members advise me on what I'm doing wrong and how I can improve.

Appreciate any advice, thanks!

Hi everyone,

I was recently diagnosed with dengue and was hospitalized for three days. I am still in the recovery phase and experiencing significant weakness, which makes it difficult for me to sit for long hours after office and prepare for the exam.

I wanted to ask if anyone could confirm whether I would be eligible for an emergency deferral. I understand that there is still some time left before the exam, but given my current health condition, the recovery time required, and the difficulty of regaining my study momentum, I am considering deferring the exam to the next attempt.

I would really appreciate it if anyone who has gone through a similar situation or has experience with the emergency deferral process could share their advice.

Passed L3 last year in august. Since then i have not touched any CFA material and my job is also not quite related to what we studied here.

Today just to test myself i tried some fixed income concepts and i genuinely do not remember anything. Was struggling to remember duration and convexity. Then tried some numericals and i literally forgot how to use the calculator. Even with claudes help i was able to get the correct answers but I dont completely understand why they are correct.

Is anyone else experiencing this and do you guys have suggestions on how to boost retention/ revision?

I know this question has been asked about a billion times on this subreddit, and I apologize for asking it one more time.

It just seems that many of these posts are not serious (I.e someone posting they got 90%+ and acting stressed looking for compassion or someone saying they passed with a 40%)

I just feel as though they confuse people and set unrealistic expectations.

So, seriously, what’s a decent mock score that one could safely use as a benchmark to pass the exam?

I cleared Level 1 by lectures and schweser, without referring to CFAI material.

I had this doubt while starting L2,if Schweser would be enough along with pre-recorded lectures or is it necessary to read CFAI material?

Working through L1 material and figured there were others in NYC in the same boat. Was thinking to get a group together for silent study sessions focusing on a given section for each meeting with a discussion at the end to talk though progress, challenging concepts, etc.

My style is typically more lone wolf, so I've found this balance useful but could adapt to other styles or structure that may be more interactive (partnered flash cards/mock questions). DMs are open, please drop a comment if interested as well.

This is my first ever post on Reddit so sorry if I’m not doing this right.

Background: Graduated a couple years back. Never did any of the recruiting stuff while in school (originally went intending to go to law school, also I had no understanding of what finance was at the time). Then the government locked down the country and I felt pretty lost for a while. I was lucky to land an ops job after graduating and currently work as a Trading assistant/Ops at a hedge fund

I’ve been pursuing the CFA with the hopes of landing a role as an analyst for a PM at some point. Recently I’ve come to the realization that I don’t have the brains for the roll (most of the front office people I work with are literal geniuses with math or physics background). While I’m a smart person and have toyed with applying to quant finance/ applied maths masters programs, I’m leagues behind these guys.

I also find I just don’t have the interest in trading/investing I once had. I’ve been trying to build an options trading strategy for a while now but I just never feel the urge I used to to sit down and do it. Especially now since Claudecode can just do it all for me I feel like I’m not getting any value out of pursuing the project.

The seat I’m in is great and I’m super fortunate to have been hired - People are nice, team is fantastic, great culture but the job is the same monotonous tasks every day for 10-12 hours. Basically I don’t see myself doing this for another year.

I don’t want to pivot out of finance completely, at least not without a plan. I also feel guilty having poured so much time into building this career without really getting to test myself in a front office seat.

I guess the point of this post is that if the results come back negative I don’t think I’ll be taking level 3 again in February. And even if I do pass - I’m not sure I want to continue pursuing the front office roll anymore at least not as it currently exists. I wanted to see if others felt the same?

Hey! I’m currently pursuing an mbbs at a gmc in India, but I’m considering a career pivot into finance. I’m thinking of pursuing the CFA and eventually moving into management consulting or IB.Is this a realistic career path for someone with a medical background? Do I have a genuine chance of breaking into these fields?

Still a month to go and don’t know if I shall do other mocks or just focus on weak areas

I'm appearing for the November 2026 exam (CFA Level 1). I want to defer my exam (paid deferral option) to February 2027.

All over Google, I've searched for the deferral option, and it says that it stays open for 3-4 weeks before the exam appointment.
However, I cannot see the deferral option in my CFA account anywhere.

Someone please guide me. Can I even defer my exam now? I feel very confused.

I’m going for level 2 in exactly 1 month. I’ve already finished FSA, Economics, Equity and FI… Everything else is left. I’m able to study 3h on weekdays and full weekends (8h-9h per day), and I will be on “vacations” from October 30th till the exam, only for studying. Good luck to the rest of the candidates, and for the ones that may feel they are not prepared, I’m on the same boat.
Kinda tired of the people that say “I think I’m cooked” with three mocks and a full lap on the curriculum done since September. We are here to make it count boyyyssss.

My exam is Nov 26

And have'nt given a mock until now

Will give my first tmrw

I have access to the CFA mocks - 2 which are given + 6 premium mocks + premium pack books

Would that be enough ?

I am fown to last 20 days

And I also have a friend who suggested me to give atleast 10 mocks

Pls give suggestions . I AM SHIT SCARED.

People who create the cfa exam questions , and write the cfa curriculum books , how SMART are they ? AND How do i reach that level ? What degrees do i need to have ?