I just don’t think I can do CFAI text (I’m a really slow and unfocused reader, it would take me 5 years to read all those books and retain anything)? But I’m really worried that going Schweser alone is not going to be possible?
Do I need a reality check or is it doable?
My aim is to use Schweser as the source and then refer to CFAI only when I get stuck.
Anybody care to share their thoughts on this approach. With L1, I looked at the CFAI books the day I got them, and then never looked at them again except for EOCs.
I have never opened a CFA book and have passed all three levels on first attempt. I live by Schweser and past papers.
For each level I took three weeks of work before the exam. Go through all of Schweser texts (don’t worry about what you remember and what you don’t) trying all the questions (don’t worry you will get a fair few wrong). Then spend your last week do all the CFA pass papers you can get your hands on and as many of the Schweser papers as you can fit in.
Definitely… CFAI are impossible for me too… I’m a slow and patient reader just like you. I passed level 1 by schweser, plus EOCs for ethics only. A charter holder told me the same rthak said, you only need schweser to pass the three levels. I’m really surprised how there are people here who only use CFAI books I’m not really sure how smart it is to bang my head with such huge books while others pass the same exam with its summary.
I will have finished FRA by the time i get Schweser then will make the switch to study from Schweser and re-do FRA QM and Econ from Schweser, i hate studying from the CFAI books. I really learn with practice problems and exams, so my goal is to finish the readings as soon as posible and start to practice.
Hamada.smaili while i appreciate that fact that each and everyone of us have our own methods of preparing, i doubt there are many around here who can do what you are trying to do. I did give a go to your strategy but i quickly realized that its not for me. CFAI studies are just too verbose and also mind numbingly boring. I’d do well to even open them. I’m betting on Schweser and Irfanullah to see me through. I may be wrong though. Time will tell.
100% Schweser / Cliff Notes / Stalla etc.? In a word, no. If you already went to business school and studied finance at least to an intermediate level, so you know this stuff already, and you just want to brush up real quick, maybe. But given that CFA Level I is the extent of my previous education in anything business- or finance-related, and much of this material is new to me, my plan is to take a methodical approach through the official curriculum, leaving a good couple of months to take practice exams and review my weaknesses. I am in general very satisfied with the official CFAI readings so far, and I see no reason whatsoever to displace these as the core part of my studies for the exam. I don’t want to be negative; if it works for you, by all means use it, but I’ve worked through some Schweser, and I have a couple of complaints about it: 1.) Those “professor’s notes” are just a little too cutesy and irritating for me. If it’s really so important, then by all means make a big deal out of it in the main text, not in some side note. Otherwise, I just want to learn the stuff, and I don’t need any “hat tricks” or other fluff like that to distract me. Just a pet peeve, but come on, I’m not in grade school anymore. 2.) I get the feeling that some of the practice questions are not as well posed as they might be, and that not enough care was taken to ensure that the right answers are really right and the wrong answers are really wrong. Probably better off for the extra practice, but it’s important to get these things right for the exam. 3.) I just don’t “get it” the way I do when I work through the official curriculum. (Probably because it’s new to me, and I really do need all the dry, boring, gory details in order to “get it”.) Level II is definitely reality check time. It’s hard, and I’m going on the assumption that you really have to know it, and get it right in order to pass the exam, but you have nearly eight months to check your reality, and I have every reason to believe it’s doable. Six months to go through those six fat books, and then take a practice exam to see what didn’t stick. Review, then another practice exam closer to the real exam. Just pace yourself. Read a half hour every morning with your oatmeal and coffee instead of checking the financial news, and another half hour every evening. Put in a little extra time if you’re in the mood, but get some exercise or do something else to relieve your stress if you’re not. Just get a routine going, and stick with it.
Sorry but I don’t agree. I’m a lawyer and don’t have any finance background. Schweser is more than adequate. Of course there will be questions in your exams which are not covered by Schweser but that might only represent 4 or 5% of the questions. The time I saved by not going through CFA books meant I could do more pass papers increasing my score by more than this 4 or 5%!!!
Schweser alone may be a good idea as long as one solves EOCs from CFAI. If you think CFAI is verbose, you havn’t seen the half of it, wait till you get to L3!
^This! Can past L2 takers speak to whether or not they feel the benefit from the time saved by going through Schweser would outweight the cost of skipping the CFAI curriculum? Specifically, would this saved time be better spent reviewing (referring to CFAI text for further clarification in certain areas) and practicing problems, like I did in L1, or would it benefit me/us more to get it straight from the horse’s mouth from the start?
Hey guys, Im repeating level 2, failed band 9… Here’s my input:
I did not have any finance background, I was an econ major. took level I june 2011, went 100% schweser, totally worked for me, passed at my first go with flying colors! Level 1 is very introductory and I didnt feel like I needed all the boring details of the CFAI books.
Attepmted exactly the same strategy with level II, assuming finishing the material quickly and sloving alot of mocks and practice q’s a couple of months before the exam would work but it didnt. The material just wouldn’t stick in there.
So my advise would be if you are some sort of finance wiz or you have a very solid background, go with schweser and use CFAI when you get stuck. If your a regular fellow like myself, go with CFAI. Yes its longer, yest its boring, and yes it makes you want to shoot your brains on to your desk, but to be honest once your done with the reading you feel like you’ve actually learned something. I will be continueing to use CFAI for the rest of the material and will use the Schweser books I got last year for revision.
First timers taking level II… BEWARE, this exam is a biatch.
Similar story here. Used Schweser exclusively for L1 and passed first try with 70+ in all categories except economics. I replicated that strategy for L2 last year and failed in band 9. I spent a LOT more time on L2 versus L1 but in the end I just could not grasp certain key concepts. Many of these weaker areas showed up on the exam, and in my opinion that is where I just could not cross the finish line into passing territory.
This time around I will use the CFAI text in spite of my slow reading pace and propensity to become distracted. In my opinion, Schweser just did not prepare me for the item set format and the unusual wording/language that L2 presents.
Schweser is great but I don’t recommend using it completely. If Schweser was enough to pass the exams why wouldn’t the company advertise their pass rate on their website?
I think the people who pass with only Schweser are the exception and not the rule.
I am a slow reader as well, even if you used only Schweser you would still need to read their material and their books are almost as long as the textbooks provided by the CFA.
As a visual learner, I bought the video instruction series (not the online classes) for level 2. The examples in the videos are great, I never touched the Schweser books or practice tests. I used the CFA text to fill in the blanks from the video series and go throught the end of chapter questions and examples throughout the readings.
Becareful with Schweser or you will just end up having to read the CFA text in 2014.
No prep provider, including Kaplan Schweser, can publish their passing rates on their website or on any piece of marketing material. From the CFA Prep Provider Guideline Program Handbook:
PPGP Providers are eligible to receive a Candidate Pass Rate Analysis Report (“CPRA Report”), which is designed to help them assess their products and programs by providing information about strengths and weaknesses on CFA Institute exams for candidates using their services. The CPRA Report and information contained therein is provided for PPGP Provider’s internaluse only, and may not be published or disclosed.
Firstly with the caveat that I had an undergraduate degree in economics, with accounting and finance and mathematics as minors. So I would not be able to compare myself with someone who did not have any background in this stuff. But given my background, here is my opinion and experience.
IMHO, you really dont need to go through the painfull process of reading the cfai books for level 2. The schweser notes are MORE then enough for you to pass confortably in the level 2 exam. If you really want to you can read ethics section and the portfolio management stuff from the original. These books are simply too verbose and waste tons of time with useless information.
IMHO schweser does excellent job to prepare you for level 1 and level 2 exams. I also HIGHLY recommend to supplement your schweser notes with schweser videos as they will help you loads and focussing your attention on what is important and solidifying tricky concepts. You can spend a lot of time that was wasted on reading useless stuff in cfai in reviewing the material and doing papers and questions. There is a ton of material in schweser and imho it covers almost everything you can be asked on exam day. I would like to warn you that you need to know everything, you have to know every word in schweser inside out and do expect questions on obscure or vaugue topics. It is close to impossible to know every word in scwehser inside out nevermind the original books. So strive for 90 to 95 percent accuracy and I am sure you be fine. This is my personal experience and advice. Everyone is different. So please feel free to do what you feel works best for you. You can also check out my poost on how i passed level 2 exam in the level 2 forum of this website. I go in depth about everything I did to pass and what i felt was important.
An “undergraduate degree in economics, with accounting and finance and mathematics as minors” ought to put you in good stead to pass with Schweser notes or similar. That’s a lot of learning that you’re taking for granted, though.
My undergraduate degree is in pure mathematics and computer science, and if I would have done a minor, it would have been in foreign languages. I’m confident that my education is and will be all very useful and applicable in finance, in its order and in due time, but meanwhile I have to learn much of this “economics, accounting, and finance” from scratch. Freshman political economy and freshman stats are all I have to go on for much of this material, and that was well over a decade ago.
In fact I’m quite sure you will be fine if you “get it” with 90-95% accuracy with Schweser. Only you can tell. However, I was getting 70-75% when I tried reading Schweser notes, and that’s just not good enough for the exam.
Moreover, I’m a reader, so reading isn’t painful to me, and I need the reading, context, and practice to really “get” these things, some of which you already “got” as an undergraduate. My way of thinking is different, too. Some people can memorize by rote and do well, but I have to understand something on a primitive level all the way from the basics, or else I just don’t get it.
You are quite correct in that everyone’s different, too. But videos are just not for me. If I can’t raise my hand and ask a question during a lecture, it’s just a waste of my time when I can read it in black and white and turn the page back if I miss something.
i would like to say that my undergraduate background was useful in level 1 as i had seen about 50 percent of the material before in some shape form. But for level 2 that percentage dropeed to maybe 15-20 percent or even less. So i was in the same boat as most other candidates without any background.
I feel by and large schweser does a good job for explainning stuff from a basic level and explains all that you need to know. As far as the content coverage of schweser is concerned. I think it covers upto 95 percent of material that you can ever be asked in a level 2 exam.
I also study by getting in depth of every single line i read. You can get stuck sometimes when you dont understand something, maybe because it is poorly explained or it is assuming knowledge of something that you dont really have. In those cases i would do my own research like through internet resources/articles, text books, reread the material or use schweser videos etc or even analyst forum. So I was able to clarify few occassion when i did get stuck and i prepared for level 2 without ever consulting a teacher.
THere is a ton of material in level 2 and u need to know almost everything. In such a scenrio rereading and revision is almost compulsory. There is no way you can retain all this information on the first go if you are a person of average intelligience. In such a case inefficient time used in cfai books can be used a million times more productively by reevising and rereading the schweser notes. Also the condensed form of schweser notes give more oppotunity to revise and reread. IMho one full reread is a must if you are a serious candidate and with cfai books its just not practicial.
There is no real added value in reading cfai books as compared to schweser notes when it comes to the level 2 exam. Infact there may be a disadvantage be because of above mentioned reasons.
level 2 exam is more calcultion/computation based. You need to know what goes up what goes down. find the value of this or that etc. And schweser notes and schweser eoc do a fine job in that. I also personally felt scweser eoc are well written and if you can do them twice you will be in good position on exam day.
practice and revision is key and what makes cfa exams hard is not as such the content more so the length of the content is huge and retaining that stuff is the biggest challange.
you will hear many stories like hey i did schweser and i passed or i did schweser and i failed and then i did cfai books and i passed or the opposite. you will find cases on both side. These in my imho are weak arguments. You can need to differntiate between causation and correlation. A guy studies schweser and he does a rubbish job at it or does it half heartdly and does not put his heart and soul in it and then he fails and then he says oh i failed cos i read schweser. If that is the case sir. how come the guy sitting next to you passed using the exact same material? cos he bust his ass for it mate , he studied like his life depended on it. These arguements are equally applicable to cfai books. Hey i studies cfai and i failed arguments. I really feel this not really of uber importance. whatever you use you are not gona breeze passed these exams. these exams are hard to pass.VERY hard to pass and the guy who is willing to go that extra mile and pour his soul and every last drop of effort in it will pass. Not because he used cfai or schweser. For each of the two exams i passed i worked my heart out and when i walked in the exam i could safely say i knew almost every single concept like the back of my hand. When i got my level 2 result i actually cried like baby. Cos that moment was too much for me. The amount of effort i put into this exam . maybe i never did for anything else in my life and all those seemingly endless days relentless effort bear fruit is something i can never quite put in words.
Sorry for this farily lengthy rambling . dont want to make thigns more daunting or confusing for you. But my point is mate. if you work your heart out mate u will pass. not because of schweser or cfai.
one last point, i highly reocmmend schwese videos for level 2. they will helkp you immensly when you get stuck on a tricky concept. or you dont know what particulr aspect of reading is important or foccus on. So do check them out if you can. also DO read ethics material from original cfai books and do all ethics questions from original cfai books. For ethics is a very important part of the exam and its more qulaltitivae.
You can pass all 3 tests by 1) reading every word of Schweser, 2) doing all CFAI EOC, and 3) doing mock exam & Schweser practice tests.
Don’t overfocus on the question of which is better. Instead, read CFA or Schweser and finish your first read by March. Identify weak areas by taking 1-2 half practice tests in March. Do EOC in April & 2-3 more practice tests. Then, continue to polish up weak areas (as identified by practice tests & EOC), rework key EOC questions, and finish the rest of your practice tests.
If you don’t consistently do practice questions that are laid out in the actual format of the test it won’t matter whether you read Schweser or CFAI, you will fail either way.
I’m not really sure how smart it is to bang my head with such huge books while others pass the same exam with its summary.