Taking the CFA Level I mock exam is necessary for those who will be facing the real CFA Level I exam. For some people, however, the mock exam can be a scary thing, since they will directly experience how hard the exams are conducted and how the real exam would be later.
If you have a plan to face the CFA Level I exam, you may wonder whether a mock exam is effective and must-do or not. To give you a reference whether you should take the CFA level 1 or not, we will show you the CFA level I mock exam compared to the real exam. Okay, let’s dive into our post to find out the comparison.
Comparison Between CFA Level I Mock Exam Vs Real Exam
We finally found the CFA Level I Mock exam from Reddit forum where many users on Reddit who have taken the CFA Level I Mock exam revealed that CFA Level I mock exam is harder than CFA Level I real exam.
Why does it happen? Here are some reasons why people think that CFA Level I mock exam is harder than real exam:
1) For some people, mock exams threw a decent amount of questions at them which were a bit obscure, but the exam questions were a lot more on the nose and the material that was front and center in the readings.
2) Mock was more difficult than the real exam for some people, since it scored 62% on CFA’s system mock 1.5 week before the exam and 90th percentile in the July exam session.
3) Some people who have taken the CFA level I mock exam gained a lower score than the real exam. Of course, they think that CFA mock exams are harder than real exams.
That’s why people are scared of mock exams. According to people’s experience, the mock exams unforgivingly expose people’s weak areas and validate their nightmares like a certain topic which they did not understand, ran out of time, how they panicked and others.
Others may understand the value of taking the dry run, but they wanted to ensure that they are all ready before giving the mock a try. Even though they may often do it, they are never ready and miss the opportunity.
The point is, the CFA exams are meant to have similar difficulty, but most readers seem to agree that CFA level 1 mock at least is harder than the real exam. Of course, it can be that this practice is their very first experience. Furthermore, the stress frequently makes the questions seem harder.
How Similar Are CFA Level I Mock Exams and Real Exams?
It’s no doubt that mock exams are representative of the real exam, but how similar they are. Of course, you may wonder whether you can trust your results on the mock exam to be like your results on real exam day.
Well, there are some factors that affect how similar CFA level I mock exams are with real exams. Here are they:
1) Content
There will be the questions on the mock exams that must cover similar material to what you can see on the real CFA exam. The questions from the CFAI mock exam, practice questions and question banks are all based on the curriculum for the exam you are taking.
On the CFAI mock exams, you may find similar questions on the same topics that you will face on exam day. Of course, the questions also have the same level of difficulty as the real exam.
The point is, you can safely rely on the CFAI mock exams to reflect what you can see on the actual CFA exams in terms of content.
2) Structure
Talking about the structure of the mock exam, fortunately, they follow the same structure as the real exam. However, it’s highly recommended for you to know and understand the exam structure to make a huge difference in how you perform on exam day.
That said, mock exams are structured and weighted like the real exam and of course all of the questions are served in the same format as you can face on exam day. So, as far as structure goes, there would be no surprise on exam day if you take the CFA mock exams.
3) Results
For the results, it is very hard to say that if a person scores well on a mock exam, he/she will also score well on a real exam, since none will have the exact same experience as another.
Some students may leave their exam feeling like it was easier and that they could score better than on the mock exams, in fact, others have the opposite experience. According to students’ experience, most students who do well on their mock exams tend to have similar or even better results on the actual CFA level I exam.
Well, if you have a plan to take CFA mock exams, and replicate the exam day environment as closely as possible, of course, you will have a bigger chance to earn your exam results similar to real exam day.
Where to Find the CFA Level I Mock Exam?
It’s pretty straightforward to find the mock exam for CFA Level I, since CFA Institute offers up to a maximum of 3 full length mock exams for each CFA level on their Learning Ecosystem.
Of course, you can easily get all three CFA mock exam levels from the CFA Institute website. In fact, CFA Institute gives away free mock exams to every registered candidate to make it easier for them to prepare and face the real CFA exams.
To get CFA mock exams, you can just visit the CFA Institute mock exams and practice questions page here. CFA Institute designs mock exams to replicate the timing and structure of the exam.
Additionally, mock exams that are also known as question banks will be posted on the Learning Ecosystem about two months before the date of your real exam. Of course, it’s highly recommended for you to take a mock exam to face your CFA real exam easier.
