I live in Toronto and will write the Level 3 exam here in June.
I am disappointed about being unable to register for the Creighton 4-day bootcamp. I discovered it too late, which is due to the fact that I made my decision about writing this exam very late into the game. I am disapointed because the Creighton bootcamp is all about the instructor, Marc LeFebvre, who is variously termed “genius… beast… Michael Jordan… the man…” by those who have attended. Further, I’ve read comments here on AF by Charterholders and CFA Level III passers about his instruction that go like, “most organized, helpful & relevant [of all L3 prep].”
So, I’m sold on Mr. LeFebvre and have decided to sign up for one of these two courses (that he instructs): (1) Schweser 3-day workshops in Boston (May 4-6) / San Fransisco (Apr 27-29) / LA (May 18-20), in each of which he is the sole instructor. (2) Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) 5-day intensive, approx half of which is taught by Marc: he covers SS4-8, 13, 16 & 17. For purposes of making comparison later in this piece, I’ll call the sum of these study sessions Marc’s “specialty areas.” This is based on the assumption that Schweser consistently places him to teach these particular Study Sessions for a reason, the reason being that he does them very well. The other half of the DFW 5-day is taught by Greg Filbeck, who has received lukewarm (at best) reviews here on AF for his work as presenter of the Schweser recorded video instruction, while the reviews for his in-class instruction are mixed, suggesting he is at best “average” as a live instructor. -------------------- -------------------- COMPARISON DFW 5-Day (Instruction time is ~4.25 days as the 5th day, Friday, wraps up by noon): - Course fee: $1,100 (includes breakfast M-F & lunch M-Th) - Instructor split: Marc 50%, Greg 40%, Third Dude 10% - Total instruction time: 36 hours - Marc Instruction time - Only does “Specialty Areas (see desc. above):” ~19 hours Link to overview: http://www.schweser.com/cfa/instruction/5day_seminar.php?new_level=cfa3 Link to schedule: http://www.schweser.com/downloads/syllabi/2012_cfa_iii_dfw_intensive_review.pdf
BOS/SFO/LA 3-Day: - Course fee: $500 (course only) - Instructor split: Marc 100% - Total instruction time = Marc instruction time: “20+ hours” - Time spent by Marc on “Specialty Areas (see desc. above):” 11.75 hours Link to overview: http://www.schweser.com/cfa/instruction/3day_seminar.php?new_level=cfa3 Link to schedule: http://www.schweser.com/downloads/syllabi/schweser_cfa_3_day_exam_workshop_schedule_level_iii.pdf -------------------- --------------------
BOTTOM LINE DFW 5-Day Marc teaches his “specialty areas” for ~19 hours. The rest is taught mostly by Greg for ~15 hours.
BOS/SFO/LA 3-Day Marc teaches his “specialty” areas for ~ 12 hours (that’s 7 hours, or 50%, less than the corresponding tally at DFW 5-day). Marc teaches his “non specialty areas” for areas for ~ 8 hours. Question: To use a sports analogy, in order to maximize the benefit to my exam prep, am I better off looking at Marc as: (A) a specialist “big hitter” who does some stuff exceptionally well (=> choose DFW 5-day seminar) or (B) an effective “all-rounder” - while he does have strengths & weaknesses, their distribution is sufficiently even (=>choose 3-day workshop)? Whew! I sincerely hope this makes sense and gets you guys thinking, and that it hasn’t been a royal exercise in overthinking. Thanks in advance for your thoughts.