Why I Consider My "Passing The CFA Level I Exam" As A Miracle

It's been one week and four days since I received the email from the CFA Institute notifying me about the result for the December 2020 Level I CFA Exam. And honestly, I'm still so freaking happy! I couldn't believe that I passed. It felt like I had been saving luck for my whole life just to spend it for this incredibly miraculous moment. 

The email looks like this! Woohoo!

Why do I think this passing result is a miracle? Because I knew that I didn't study enough. "Enough" here means "studying effectively", in other words, covering all 10 subjects and understanding thoroughly every concept (or at least important, fundamental ones). I think that I was quite courageous back then when I decided to give up on 2 subjects. That's TWO subjects with substantial weights, which were Financial Reporting and Analysis (FRA) and Fixed Income (FI) (I know these are two essential subjects especially for a professional financial career, so I promise myself that I will restudy them properly once I finish the work that I'm up to my ears in right now). 

My Journey to The CFA Level I Exam 

When I decided to register for the exam, I was a junior in university, which means I'm now in the final year of my bachelor's degree program (time flew so fast). My major is International Business Economics, sounds weird right? I know a normally-called major should be Economics, while my major is a mixture of Economics and Business in an international scope (some of the core courses include International Investment, International Business, International Marketing, etc. basically everything including "International" in its name lol). This funny major explains my background for the CFA Exam, which covers Econ (I'm better at Micro than Macro, actually I barely knew anything about Macro), Quantitative Methods (Math was my favorite subject at high school btw), and Corporate Finance (luckily I took this course as an optional one). That's all! I didn't really have a good finance background, but I was taught the most basic things so that I wasn't lost when studying for the exam (many thanks to my lecturers!). 

Taking extra classes is like a tradition in my country, from kindergarten (only in big cities where the competition to get into a good primary school is harsh, I guess?) to high school (of course, we have a really tough uni entrance exam, but those ranking first often share their secret of only studying from textbooks without going to extra classes, I consider that as a supernatural power), and the CFA Exam is no exception. We have several preparation course centers for the CFA Exam, which is quite similar to a tutor except for the fact that the tutor doesn't know my name and my existence. With my poor background along with a big lack of motivation and self-commitment, I enrolled in one center to best prepare for the Level I CFA Exam in June 2020. The truth was I came to the class hearing the lectures unconsciously and letting knowledge escape my brain freely. That's because I didn't practice at home and didn't even read the curriculums and Schwezer notes properly and completely (could my two part-time jobs excuse this laziness?). The exam day was approaching and I was in a real panic. I even had to quit one part-time job to focus on the exam, but all the lazy days made me want to travel back time more than ever. Fortunately, one thing that no one could have ever imagined happened (I know putting the word "fortunately" here is not right at all but it was a fortune to me, or I think it would be), which was the Coronavirus (idkw but I'm scared of typing this term, it evokes the vibe of "You-Know-Who" or "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named"). The situation was getting worse and worse and eventually, I got the exam postponed to December (I received the deferrals email in late March). That was a relief for me cuz I'd have another half year to make room for improvement! 

Something kinda sus is gonna happen?... 

Sadly, no. I still made no progress. Another thing suddenly came in the middle of the way, which was Among Us. Among Us was on-trend into the lockdown. And I was a "victim" of this game. Honestly, I played it like every day in October. It's OCTOBER, meaning that there'd be only one more month to the exam day. I was screwed, one more time. I got no job (I lost my second part-time job as a content writer as the company didn't operate that field anymore) and just spent almost my entire day lying on the bed playing Among Us with some kids saying that I was sus cuz I was orange and orange is the color of prison clothes (seriously, kid???), not to mention many other ridiculous reasons. For the remaining time, I watched K-dramas (why do good movies always peak at exam preparation time?). My life was miserable. I'm sorry that I'm off track again but this is also a ridiculous excuse for my extremely unproductive days during the lockdown 😞. 

I got into a panic again and crazily wanted to start all over again but it's too late. I had covered all of 10 subjects, but that story was like a million years ago (it's exactly a six-month break). And I hadn't finished all the exercises in the curriculums, the worse thing was that the number of questions I'd answered on the CFA website was just a few (I even got back to it to continue solving some more after taking the exam to not feel guilty for my mom's money). That's when I decided to skip FRA and FI since there are many difficult concepts in them and I didn't have enough time to review them all over again. The only tactic was to focus on other subjects to offset weak performance in these two "cursed" subjects. The one and only dream I had the day before the exam was that "I wish the world would come to an end tomorrow". 

My study desk the night before the exam 

The Exam Day

It was the 5th of December 2020 and was a really cold day (I had already been cold on the inside but it was cold on the outside too lol). The unpleasant weather made me determine that I would never ever take any important exam in winter again. But I still had to roll my body to the test center and write the exam. My brother drove me there, in a car, luckily. I got lost in a building, going around and around then found out that I was in the wrong place. It's still early then so don't worry. On the way to the right building, I walked (or ran?) next to a boy who I thought also a candidate. When we saw the security guard in the entrance doorway, the boy said he came there to take the CFA Exam. The security guy asked him "What is CFA?" and he replied "Investment" and I was like "Oh I thought it's about finance, isn't it?". Yeah, I was even more confused (sorry the CFA Institute that you had such a candidate like me).

I took the morning session kinda fast. I finished the exam with one hour left, but doing fast doesn't mean doing well. I finished quickly because it's a multiple-choice test which I just randomly picked the answers to the questions that I had no idea about. My mom arrived at the exam center and brought lunch for me. Thank you so much cuz without you I would have been starving in the exam room and all my neurons would have died for sure. The afternoon session was a nightmare for me. I felt exhausted cuz I had been sitting and wearing a mask the entire day (I wear glasses so the trouble was doubled). However, I was more confident in the afternoon exam and was more comfortable taking it cuz I moved to a more feng shui seat thanks to the air conditioner releasing dust onto my former desk.

Me and my brother on the way back home after the longest exam day in my life

(A huge thanks to my family who always supports me 💓)

The Results Day

I barely slept the night before the results day. The waiting time truly got on my nerves. I had been praying and praying but the feeling about my failure had fully invaded my mind. Tbh I didn't get my hopes high so that a failing result would be ok to me (well deep inside I knew that it's absolutely not). That fateful moment finally came. Thursday 28th January 2021 will always be one of the most memorable days for me. Right after finishing washing dishes for my family's dinner, I got the results email. I thought I stopped breathing the moment I opened the mail. I was so sure about my failure that I didn't dare to look at the first word, which says either "congratulations" or "regret", but only looked right at the middle of the mail. Then the word "passed" caught my eyes and I was like "passed? who? me???". I looked at the first word instantly and saw "Congratulations!". OMG, I paaaaaaassed. It was like a dream, a very nice one (I'm still wondering whether I live in a lively dream as in Inception lol). It's the most magical thing that has happened in my life so far. Because of this event, I enjoy washing dishes more. 

I was 90% sure that I would fail due to my miserable scores which were around only high 50's in mocks, and my confidence interval increased to 99% after I finished the real exam. Then how come I still managed to pass? Here is the most pro tip: Praying to my ancestors before and after the exam, and using my birthday wish as well. I'm a superstitious person so worshiping is definitely the way to go. I do really believe in the Otherworld tbh. And I believe that thanks to their support, I luckily borderline passed. I was blissfully happy when I got the results email and still am. Thank you so so much. I'm so grateful for all the luck that came to me 🙏.

Regarding my detailed result, I got over 70% in three subjects (with Quant scoring a 90 percentile which makes me immensely proud), below 50% in one (Fixed Income, obviously), and the rest ranges from 50% - 70%. That was not bad, right? The fact that I borderline passed made me chill even more. With highsight, the motto "Practice makes perfect" didn't fit me well, but I don't attribute my success solely to luck (my thoughts are contradictory...). The realistic-sound advice here is to study in a way that makes you most comfortable and effective. No one is alike and neither are their study methods. After all, it is just an exam, not the end of the world (I confirm that my thoughts are flatly contradictory).

Passing the CFA Level I Exam is a big deal for me. I'm so proud but most of the time I do really regret that I didn't treat my time well and didn't study properly. There are so many things ahead to learn and I need to keep moving forward no matter how tough life is. Be confident to take the exam but be sure to get prepared well otherwise you may have to experience unhealthily desperate days like me. And don't forget to pray to your ancestors. May the Force be with you! And with me, too 😁✌