Why the unit is the item set
At Level II the thing you practise is a case, not a question.
Every one of the 88 questions hangs off a vignette. If you only drill loose questions, you train recall and skip the part that actually costs time: finding the right number in two pages of text and exhibits.
So ask how many sets you have done, timed, from start to finish. The exam itself is in how many questions are on Level II.
A workable range
Roughly 150 to 250 item sets, which is 600 to 1,000 questions.
This is our working range, not a CFA Institute number. It is what you get if every topic sees a dozen or more full cases, with the heavier ones getting more. Our bank has about 110 sets, so the rest comes from the curriculum and the CFA Institute mocks.
| Topic weight | Sets to aim for |
|---|---|
| 10 to 15% (Ethics, FSA, Equities, Fixed Income, Portfolio Construction) | 20 to 30 each |
| 5 to 10% (Quant, Economics, Corporate, Derivatives, Alternatives) | 12 to 20 each |
Topic weights: CFA Institute. Set targets: CFAQuiz guidance.
Practise full Level II item sets
Timed cases with worked explanations. Every miss goes into one review list.
Where the score actually moves
Redo every set you missed, twice, a week or more apart.
When you review a miss, sort it into one of two piles. Wrong number from the case, or wrong method. The first is a reading problem and more timed sets fix it. The second is a knowledge problem and the curriculum fixes it.
Common mistake: stacking up new sets without reviewing the old ones. Fifty sets reviewed properly beat a hundred and fifty you only scored.
How to tell you have done enough
Your accuracy per topic has stopped moving and your timing holds at 12 minutes.
Track both by topic. When a topic has been flat for a few sessions, move the time to one that is still climbing. Then sit full mocks in two 132-minute blocks. Use CFA Institute's mocks as the benchmark. Ours, like any bank, are for practice.
Start with a free item set for every topic. How to work each case is in the item set guide.