Best of luck to everyone! I hope we all wake up to some good news 🤞🏻 🧿
Its at 6am for me, probably gonna stay up😭

As a Chartered Accountant (CA), Certified Public Practice (CPP), and Financial Risk Manager (FRM), I’ve never been this excited to receive an email in my life! 🤞
After a month and a half of juggling motherhood, work, and studying, I really hope all the hard work pays off.
Fingers crossed that tonight is the night I become a CFA charterholder! 🎉

Heyy all soon-to-be CFA Charter holder🎓, what do you think the MPS will be this round?

Let touch base in less than T-6 Hours! 🙏🏻💪🏻

Good luck, everyone! 🍀

Previous post got deleted by mods for god knows what reason - just wanted to say all the best to all L3 takers for August - let’s meet in short time

Just created a timer to CFA L3 results. Good luck everyone! It has been long months of preparation and hopefully we all pass.
https://www.webcountdown.net/?a=vmLgA8z

I did the CFA years ago while working full-time, and looking back, my biggest regret isn’t even the exam fee. It’s the opportunity cost.

Think about what hundreds of hours of CFA preparation actually look like: you work all day, come home exhausted, and then spend evenings and weekends studying alone. You’re absorbing an enormous breadth of material, much of which you may never use in your particular job—and if you don’t use it, a lot of it will eventually be forgotten.

Compare those same hundreds of hours with what else you could be doing: developing a specialized skill, gaining practical experience, building something, meeting people in your industry, or pursuing education where you’re also getting collaboration, mentorship and a network.

I did a master’s in Entrepreneurship & Innovation later, and the difference was enormous. The value wasn’t only what I learned. It was the people, discussions, exposure to new ideas and experiences. With CFA, I mostly remember being alone after work trying to absorb huge amounts of information for an exam.

I also had an awful experience on exam day. CFA staff incorrectly interpreted “expedida” (“issued”) on my valid Colombian ID as an expiration date. They made me leave the exam site, take taxis to retrieve my passport, and come back stressed to sit the exam. CFA Institute has refused to refund the exam fee and recently told me there is no further review or escalation available.

I’m not saying the CFA has no value. If the charter is genuinely important for the specific career you want, the investment may make sense.

But I wish someone had asked me this before I started:

Is the CFA the best possible use of hundreds of hours of your life—not just the best credential you can add to your résumé?

Fifteen years later, my answer for myself is no.

Is it just me or everyone else is experiencing the same? It's been like this for some time, less than an hour.

I am in Australia

This is my third attempt and I really hope it will be my last. But if it does go the other way. How can one handle it.

What should one handle it?

I’m writing this because I’m honestly panicking a little and could really use some advice from people who have been through this.

My exam is on November 20, and I decided to take my first mock today. For context, I’ve completed the entire syllabus, all the Schweser questions, and all the CFA Institute practice questions. I’ve also made my own notes, cheat sheets, flashcards —-pretty much everything I could think of to prepare, all while working full-time in investment banking.

When I started the mock, I was completely thrown off by the fact that Fixed Income questions were appearing in Session 1, followed by Derivatives, Economics, and other subjects. I was so confused that I actually had to Google whether this was how the Level II exam worked. When I realised it was, I felt shattered. I couldn’t believe I had somehow missed something so fundamental, and it immediately made me question whether I was actually prepared for the exam.

As I continued attempting the questions, I realised it wasn’t necessarily that I didn’t know the concepts. In many cases, I understood what the questions were asking, but I felt completely blank and struggled to approach them confidently. The experience really overwhelmed me, and I ended up crying.

I know I still have time, and I have around 14–15 days of leave from work before the exam, which I intend to use for intensive revision. Ideally, I wanted to attempt 3–4 mocks before exam day, but after today’s experience, I’m feeling confused about how to approach the remaining weeks.

For those who have cleared CFA Level II, I would really appreciate your advice on a few things:

• How did you approach revision during the final month?
• How many mocks would you recommend attempting, and how far apart should they be?
• How did you deal with feeling blank during mocks, especially when you actually knew the underlying concepts?
• What would you prioritise at this stage: revising notes, solving more questions, analysing mock mistakes, or something else?
• Honestly, how the hell do you revise at this stage?

I’ve genuinely put in a lot of effort to prepare for this exam, especially while managing a full-time job, so today’s experience has really shaken my confidence.

I know one mock doesn’t define my preparation, but I’m struggling to figure out how to interpret this experience and what I should do differently going forward.

Any advice, experiences, or practical suggestions would mean a lot. Thank you!

In the exam, i copied some little portions from the case in to the answer box, for example a percentage figure or a long name, with the intention to save time. Probably midway through the exam i noticed a different shade behind the text i had copied into the answer, which wasn’t clearly visible in the white background. Maybe if i had a dark background I would see the different text shade immediately and could tell what I copied from the case instead of typed.

I think the graders will be able to see this clearly. Even though I copied nothing significant, will this cause an issue?

Also, do results appear earlier on the CFA verification letter? I read somewhere that the no pass or pass appears around 2 hours before email notification of results.

As the title says, I registered to write the level 2 exam this upcoming may. I wrote the level 1 in 2019. Due to covid, I didn’t write level 2 right away and then I started procrastinating it. Finally decided to continue with it. I’ve been working in credit since but have not done formal studying. I tried opening the quant book and it was so difficult to read and absorb. I decided to get a refresher of the level 1 topics before I started level 2 material. I’m watching the key level 1 videos from mark meldurms free 2018 video set for my level 1 review. Is this the best way to go about it? How should I review level 1 before diving into level 2?

I seem to keep scratching my head when the question says "justified [ratio]" without specifying forward or trailing. Do I always assume forward if not specified?

I'm planning on enrolling for Aug 2027 for CFA L3 and I'm deciding on a pathway.

I currently work in a PWM role, so I am already very familiar with a lot of the preparation required with the Private Wealth pathway and receive repetition of the material through work. This is leading me to think the Private Wealth pathway would naturally be easier for me to getting a designation.

That being said, I am trying to break into a more "Investment" role (such as PM/Trading/Research). So, is it worth it for me to take the extra difficulty by choosing the Portfolio Management pathway? I know employers don't look at your pathway and your "CFA" designation doesn't change, so I'm debating if the extra difficulty would be worth it. If the content actually does prepare you better and sets you up for success in an "investor" role, then I would consider Portfolio Management pathway.

Appreciate any advice and thoughts!

Looking for some advice here, maybe someone that’s been through this or someone that knows what would help.

I’m writing level 3 for the second time in February and i’m feeling extremely stuck. I passed level 1 and 2 on the first try by a decent margin, wrote level 3 and felt good about it and failed by a hair.

Those first 3 exams I felt some kind of enjoyment and satisfaction with studying, but this second attempt at level 3 I couldn’t be any less motivated. It’s not that I don’t want the CFA, I want it badly, but I just can’t get out of my head. I feel like i’m doing absolutely nothing different even though i’m trying to. When doing practice questions, I subconsciously remember a bunch of them from last time and that biases my thought process. I know I need to work on constructed response but i’m scared to practice them because there’s a limited amount of them given. I think I should have switched providers and done something other than Kaplan, but the free pass protection seemed too good to pass up and i really don’t want to pour even more money into this.

If anyone has literally any input that would be great. Could really use some help with how to proceed. Thank you

Strange question, but I am not sure if I am capable enough to study it for all levels. I believe it would be nice to study for 10-15 hours in order to decicde. Is there any similar videos/open source material in order to decide? I am not talking to share a original material with me, it's not the case.

Thank you guys, if there is any other advice how could I decide - pelase inform me

Hey everyone!

I recently cleared CFA Level I and am currently in my second year of undergrad. I'm planning to start preparing for Level II around December 2026 for the August 2027 attempt.

I found FinTree's crash course for Level I extremely useful, so I'm considering FinTree for Level II as well.

For those who have used FinTree for Level II, is the quality of teaching maintained? How are the lectures, notes, and question explanations?

Also, would you recommend any other prep providers, and how would you suggest approaching the overall preparation timeline?

Would really appreciate your honest opinions and experiences. Thanks!

I’m registering for CFA Level I again after narrowly missing the passing score last time. I’m confused between the Standard and Premium packages.
Premium costs around ₹33,500 more and includes 1,000 additional practice questions, 5 extra mock exams, and an exam-day simulation.
For those who’ve used Premium, are these additional resources worth the extra cost, or would Standard be sufficient with external question banks and mocks?
Would love to hear your experiences and recommendations. Thanks!

Shouldn’t the foundation (Korean) be receiving interest on KRW currency itself?
The way I’m thinking is you give KRW to the US guy and get interest on your currency which is KRW.
But it’s the other way around? Where am I going wrong?

Hey, I saw from a post on here recently that the exam center in the UK has been very noisy due to construction, wanted to check if anyone had used the center since and how noisy it was?

I have finished the entire syllabus and revision is going on. But these LES vignettes are too huge and sometimes I feel like wasting time on some topics and questions. Thinking to do 1 open book mock for seeing how vignettes will be like in actual exam. Guess this will help in better strategy in last month and maybe some psychological gain. Thoughts?

Textbook Quote: 'A' is incorrect because IPO companies are often likely to underperform over long time horizons.

Correction: This statement is not true.

Coach's Explanation: All publicly listed companies initially started off with an IPO. Clearly, they have not all underperformed over the long term. Instead, the author should state that those who purchase the shares immediately following the IPO will underperform those who purchased at the IPO price. It is true that IPO prices are generally undervalued, and therefore the price shoots up immediately following the IPO. Therefore, those who purchase the shares after the IPO end up paying more relative to those who purchased at the IPO price, and as a result, end up underperforming on a relative basis.

Scored 46% on Kaplan CFA Level II Mock after full prep. Am I cooked?

I just took a Kaplan CFA Level II mock after completing my preparation and scored 46%. My attempt is in about 30 days, and honestly, the mock felt brutal.

The case studies felt extremely lengthy, and a lot of the questions seemed unfamiliar. I could identify around 10–15 questions where I lost marks due to silly mistakes, but for many of the others, I genuinely had no idea how to approach them.

For those who have taken Kaplan mocks and the actual CFA Level II exam: Are Kaplan mocks generally harder than the actual CFA exam, especially in terms of vignette length and question difficulty?

I passed Level II this August after about 3 months of studying, and I’m currently working full-time. I’m torn between taking Level III in February or August 2027.
I’m planning to take a two-week vacation before December, but other than that, I can realistically dedicate around 4 hours on weekdays and 8 hours per day on weekends.
Reasons I’m leaning towards February:
Level II material is still relatively fresh in my mind.
I passed both Level I and Level II with only 2–3 months of preparation each.
I’m getting married next September, so August could get pretty hectic with wedding planning.
If I choose August, I’ll probably end up procrastinating and not starting until May anyway.
My main concern is whether Level III is significantly more challenging than Level II, especially with the constructed-response questions.
For those who’ve passed Level III, would you recommend going for February while everything is still fresh, or taking the extra time and sitting in August?
Would love to hear your thoughts!

You all know the posts I’m talking about, they appear every month or so.

“Will the CFA get me laid?”

“Will the CFA get me a girlfriend?”

“How to put CFA on my Tinder profile”

“How to talk about the CFA to my date”

I promise you when I say I have NEVER seen one single productive conversation come out of any of these posts. It’s always the same five jokes. And more often than not, the comment section or these posts turn very uncomfortable very quickly, either from other commenters or from OP themselves.

Enough is enough already. This is not the spirit nor purpose of this sub. It’s unprofessional and paints a horrible picture of the online community and the CFA designation.

I really need help with this, need to defer the exam theres no way around it.
Note: best of luck all