I Wish Someone Told Me This Before I Sat For The CFA Exams

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 05/31/2013 - 15:00

I'm not going to give you any tips on how to memorize formulas.  I'm not going to tell you how you what to eat during your lunch break.

I just have one word for you: coffee.

Maybe Red Bull or some other energy drink is your preferred source of caffeine.  But whatever it is, drink it up!

Test-takers are often told that they have an average of 90 seconds to spend on each question (120 questions for each 3-hour section).  At least that's what they told me when I took the cram courses.

As such, bathroom breaks are often considered wastes of time.

But that's a fatal error.

Drink coffee, Red Bull, or whatever, and give yourself 5 minutes for a bathroom break for each section.

It's better to be efficient for 5 hours and 50 minutes, then to be inefficient for 6 hours.

Sincerely,

Someone who sat through and passed all three exams

PS: And don't wear a diaper.  Every CFA test-taker has heard someone joke about this, and some claim they know someone who's done it.  But that's ridiculous.