Well, I can’t compare directly for Level II, but I used Schweser for Level I last December and Wiley/Elan for Level II. Here are my thoughts on the winners in some categories:
Study guide book presentatation/editing: Schweser
I found Schweser’s books to simply be of higher quality and were edited more thoroughly. I also liked the Schweser “tips from the instructor” a bit more than Elan’s “side box comments”. That said, Elan’s side comments were usually really good. There are some grammatical errors/typos in the Elan guides and even some typos in a formula here and there which definitely lowers the opinion of them a bit. But cosmetics are only so important. In the end, it’s the content, and how it’s laid out and presented, that matters most. Still, in terms of the overall quality of the books themselves, Schweser is better. Whether that matters to someone or not is up to the individual.
Study guide book content and teaching flow: Wiley/Elan
Elan’s books are great. They move the LOSs around some in ways that helps the topics flow better through a reading. Their calculation examples are fantastic and there are a lot of them, which somewhat mimics CFAI blue boxes. They also have several tables that summarize how ratios are affected by changes in certain concepts which are great. I felt like they had very good coverage of all areas and were written very well. Elan get’s the nod here, but of course I can’t directly compare to Schweser’s Level II books, only what I found in their Level I content.
Video lessons: Wiley/Elan
For me, there’s no contest. Elan’s videos are hands down better than Schweser’s videos. If you’ve never seen/heard Peter Olinto in action you’re missing out (YOU READY? ALRIGHTY?). His FRA and Derivitives videos are incredible. Basit does Quant, Econ and some other content, and his lessons are good as well, albiet a little more dry and far more detailed and longer. Basit loves to show formula derivation to prove theory which some people may really like but my brain doesn’t always work that way. He also writes a lot which can slow things down and hurt the attention span (for me). However, the fixed income videos leave a lot to be desired when compared to the other content in my opinion (no offense Darren … it is hard to compete with the likes of Peter). I hope they consider revising them for next year.
Online Study Tracker / Mocks: Schweser
I actually didn’t use either of their interactive study planners, so I can’t comment there, but I did use each of their online mock exam programs, and Schweser’s is flat out better. Wiley/Elan’s mocks had some errors, and their web test program did not provide any feedback on how well you did in each subject area, only an overall score for the session. Also, if you breached the 3 hour timer the exam just closed which I didn’t like. Yeah it’s meant to simulate the actual exam, but it’s also about working problems, and to get back to them you have to take the entire exam again. Overall I wasn’t too happy with Wiley/Elan’s mock exam experience. The exams themselves were okay overall I think, but can use improvement.
Other thoughts: Formula sheets are tough for me to compare, because L1 is more about single forumulas and L2 has less formulas and more theory. I thought Elan’s formula book was pretty good, albiet with typos (I found typos across all of your content guys … this can be improved). I bought Elan’s 11th hour guide for Level I and had it with my Level II package and it’s excellent. Well worth the standalone purchase if you didn’t buy a Wiley/Elan package.
TLDR summary of winners (my opinion):
Study Guide books: Wiley/Elan
Video lessons: Wiley/Elan (with the exception of Fixed Income)
Mock exams: Schweser