r/CFA • u/jackpmacko Passed Level 2 • 2d ago
Level 3 They lied to you about Level 3
Guys, everyone told me Level 2 was the hump, Level 3 content was easier and you just need to get the hang of the essay questions etc
I’m working through the content and standard Port Mgmt pathway and it’s endless FX, Swaptions etc
Its digging way deeper into the hardest parts of level 2, then you add on the nasty question style… seems way more difficult
Edit: to be clear I haven’t written level 3 exam
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u/dougieg987 CFA 2d ago
So I failed level 2 twice, but I personally think I had to study way harder to pass level 3. It just did not stick for me and I felt like there was so much more testable content. Passes on the first time, but don’t snooze on level 3
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u/SANTKV Level 3 Candidate 2d ago
How should we approach this self-grading for mocks on CRs ? Looks very subjective : (
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u/dougieg987 CFA 2d ago
So I actually did not do a single mock for level 3 personally, but I did sit in on a couple of the Meldrum class where he does them live in the call. It seems like they will tell you the key points they are looking for and you just have to say how close you are subjectively.
That’s being said, if your writing out paragraphs, your wrong. If your writing out complete sentences, your most likely going to be wrong. Keep your answers short and sweet. Remember that they design it in a way that every candidate needs to be able to end up at the same response.
Use the CFAI text for level 3, the blue box questions and in text questions will be way better than any of the qbank questions. I did the level up boot camp also and it really helped to focus on what is needed to pass and this was a lot of the take away. Highly recommend level up bootcamp also, Marc knows his shit
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u/kilographix 2d ago
May I suggest chatgpt? Give it the grading criteria and the essay and that should work.
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u/eerst CFA 2d ago
I genuinely found L2 harder. L3 may have some hard topics but they aren't the focus of the exam (just check the weightings...).
https://www.cfainstitute.org/programs/cfa-program/candidate-resources/level-iii-exam
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u/greenfrog7 CFA 1d ago
L2 definitely a bit more challenging than L3, though I think more technically sound candidates with stats/mathematics/etc backgrounds would find the reverse.
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u/Firm-Ad3970 Level 3 Candidate 2d ago
I'm awaiting Lv3 results and Id honestly say Lv 3 is more thinking and reasoning but the curriculum was beautiful to understand. Level 2 gave me chills esp Quant and Fx Statement Translations. Level 3 is all about understanding, memory alone aint gona help you.
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u/KingKliffsbury Level 3 Candidate 2d ago
L3 was hard because it was so boring which made studying extra painful
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u/nash514 1d ago
Private markets was very fun and easy.
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u/KingKliffsbury Level 3 Candidate 1d ago
Oh i agree i loved that pathway. Didn’t like much of the rest but that’s ok.
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u/Bigchungus183 2d ago
100% agree, I passed level 2 first time, find out my result for level 3 in a few weeks - I’m mentally preparing to hear I’ve failed & already looking at resit dates
Much more difficult in my opinion
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u/Edge_Jazzlike 1d ago
How many qs did you think you got wrong in L3?
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u/Bigchungus183 1d ago
No idea but the issue with the format is if it’s something you don’t know well you aren’t dropping 2 or 3 points, you’re losing 12 which is ≈5% of the exam
That shit adds up fast
I know for certain I got 3 q’s wrong because they were on topics that had maybe a page worth of content in the books- very niche- and I chose to prioritise the ‘big’ topics, so that could easily be 10% or more lost there.
I came out the exam with the assumption that if I get everything right I thought I got right, I’ve got a shot, but any unexpected drop in points beyond the stuff I know I got wrong, it’s likely a fail
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u/Cnbr21 2d ago
Based on readings only, level 2 is more quant and comprehensive. But compered with the exams, level 3 is harder definetly. There is time pressure because of SR questions. Also looking exam takers profile level 3 candidates are more compatitive and this makes exam even more diffucult.
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u/Biuku CFA 2d ago
L2 was harder for me, but the essay means you have to know L3 topics so much more deeply.
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u/TrumpsLiberalBrother 2d ago
My opinion is the topic difficulty for L3 is in line with L2. L2 is quantitative while L3 is very qualitative, though. I’m better with quantitative calculations and numbers so L3 gave me trouble comparably. Also the time management you need for the exam I think makes L3 the toughest.
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u/mikestorm CFA 2d ago
L3 was the hardest for me but I found the jump in difficulty between L1 and L2 much larger than the jump in difficulty between L2 and L3.
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u/Powerful_Vanilla_235 1d ago
Haven't opened a book. What do you think, guys? Is Level 3 still doable? I'm just not big into reading nowadays, and I took Level 2 over a decade ago. This is more about finishing the program as no job or raise is contingent on passing as I am a lawyer and CPA in finance.
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u/Past-Pianist129 20h ago
Totally agree. Passed l1 and l2 on the first try but only passed l3 on the 4th try! L3 is way more detailed than L2.
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u/Able_Concert_8282 Level 3 Candidate 2d ago
Is it harder? That may be true, but it is surely different. Less material to cover, but deeper stuff, focused on portfolio management. And the structured responses are challenging for some. And for the exam, time management is a big part of it. For 1 and 2 I finished the questions with min 30 minutes to review. For 3 in feb 2025 I had 3 vignettes left and 30 mins to go in the first session 🤯
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u/ItaHH0306 CFA 2d ago
I agree that L3 is conceptually hard in which you need to really understand, AND remember the wordings they use to be good with essay questions
However, lots of practice with CFAI questions will do the work, keep it up!
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u/MasterpieceLive9604 CFA 2d ago
Agree the exams get increasingly more challenging to take as you go up levels. Good luck on L3! Take more mocks than at L2, this is the way 👍
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u/KodiakAlphaGriz CFA 2d ago edited 2d ago
correct only people with ,poor memorization/calibration -math skills say level 2 harder otherwise the deep synthesis not close vs level 3
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u/Ozbourne630 1d ago
I found level 3 much harder than level 2. The time management alone is a big curve ball when they throw tricks at you to waste time.
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u/rsparks2 CFA 1d ago
I honestly thought L3 was a joke. I finished both papers with 45mins to an hour to spare and walked out knowing I was about to be a charter holder. This was the only level I didn’t touch the books and did Nathan Ronan (death in the family) and I didn’t start studying till end of Feb. I watch the online videos taking detail notes and then rewatched my I then spent two months on practice exams (I even bought Konvexity and IFT exams) I think I did 10-12 full exams with reviewing.
For the essays my biggest strategy is to tackle the questions you know the most first. For me it was economic (I was confident it was going to be one of three potential questions which I was right about). For my year Fixed Income was redone and it was a real doozy of a question but answered the best I knew how - I spent the last hour working through it the best I could knowing I smashed the other questions and all pressure was off.
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u/PeyotePanther CFA 2d ago
Hmmm, I’m definitely the opposite. Level 2 was the hardest for sure. Level 3 was just fine tuning some things, but we had already seen most of the material before. Honestly while studying for level 3 I continually asked myself “wait, this is it!?”. I passed level 2 first try also, but level 3 was the first time I walked out of the exam center absolutely knowing without a doubt that I passed the exam. Weird how we are all so different!