May level 1 exam experience
I gave my Level 1 exam today and wanted to share my experience. There is a lot of fear mongering on this subreddit, so I just wanted to give some helpful advice.
It is not harder or easier than the mocks. Difficulty is subjective. I remember finding some mocks easy because they tested topics I was confident in, and some mocks hard because they focused on my weak areas. If you have a good understanding of most of the syllabus, you will be fine.
Mocks are not some magical form of test preparation. As discussed above, the combination of questions can make an exam feel hard or easy. If you have some time, try to do 3 to 4 questions from each topic to make sure you have at least a brief understanding.
The CFA is not out to get you. The difficulty is very comparable to the exam mocks. While some questions are hard and there will always be some things you have not seen before, I am sure you have felt like that before while studying. Do not panic and try to relax.
A big mistake I made was crying all of yesterday because I was so overwhelmed and tired, but after today’s exam I realised it was unnecessary. If you are prepared, you should be fine.