If you have signed up for the Level III exam, no doubt you will have heard that this level is slightly different to the previous two. You might wonder in what way and what your best strategy for success is.

 1.      Exam format

The morning section of the exam is “essay style”, or “constructed response” as we prefer to call it. This means no multiple choice, but free form answers or templates instead. Do not be intimidated by this section, you do not have to write essays. Often bullet point answers are sufficient. Plenty of practice of these types of questions is recommended to get a feel for what is required. If you attend any of our classes, we will go through plenty of question practice together.

2.      Material

Do not be fooled by the lower volume of material. The topics are quite different to previous levels (for example no accounting, but new topics such as behavioural finance and wealth management take a dominant role). There are quite a lot of wordy sections, which require you to get a deep understanding of the material presented in order to succeed in the exam.

3.      Don’t underestimate the exam

A lot of candidates make the error of thinking Level III is the easy one. It might be mathematically less challenging than Level II, but it makes up for this in other areas. Many candidates struggle with timing and simply not having prepared sufficiently for the exam. Question practice is extremely important for this level. The pass rate was still only 53% last summer – do not get caught out!

 We hope these tips will help you in your preparation for June.