CFA Level 2 Exam 2009

Took the CFA Level 2 Exam this past Saturday.  This was my second time taking the exam.  Last year I was not very prepared and my test results showed it.  Last year, I had a rank of 5.  That means of al of the people that failed the exam, I was in the 5th decile.  So I ranked in the top 50% of those that failed.  How wonderful.  At least I didn’t get ranked 10.  That would have sucked, to know tha tI was in the 1st decile of those that failed.  So close yet so far.

This year’s experience was much different.  For the past two sememsters, I was an Assistant Instructor for the CFA Level 1 and Level 2 class at the University of Utah.  Those are two core classes for the MS Finance program at the University.  With my previous years experience, I had lots to share with the students.  Being an Assistant Instructor also forced me to study much more than I normally would have done on my own.  While I didn’t study as much as I liked, I think it was enough.

I sat for the morning session and everything came to me easily.  I had an answer for pretty much every question.  There was one question where I just could not remember the formula correctly.  It dealt with the H-Model for valuing a company.  I finished my first pass of questions in 2 hours 15 minutes.  I spent the next 15 minutes trying to figure out two problems that had stumped me.  One was the previoulsy mentioned H-Model, and the other I just can’t remember.

Went to lunch and I felt pretty confident.  So far this exam seemed much easier than the previous.  The afternoon section wasn’t too bad either.  It was pretty much like the morning session, but with different item sets.  This time, I couldn’t remember the formula to convert Levered Beta to Unlevered Beta.  Got that problem wrong.

All in all, I felt I did much better on this exam.  I’m even going to say I expect to pass Level 2.  Last year I knew I failed it once I finished the morning session.  Unless they change the grading curve to be more strict, I should pass with flying colors.  If I don’t pass, I’ll be more than disappointed.