Just wanted to let people know how was my expereince with lvl1 2014 and also needed some guidance on lvl2. I have used both Schweser and Uppermark for studying lvl1. I have found that Uppermark is gave me absolutely everything I needed from reading the material, testank, mock and final exam review. I found myself well prepared for the exam. 3 months of daily studying 3-4hours. Schweser contains more info then the uppermark I think. But it was not as good as the Uppermark. (Schweser hands down for CFA but I didnt like thier explanations and Qbank for the CAIA at all =/).
Im definitely going with Uppermark for lvl2, But I have to change my exam approach as I would be quite time constrained till the exam time. Is anybody able to give me some insights about the difference of material load between lvl1 and lvl2, as such how indepth/complex it gets and by size difference is the material? Im planning to start in mid june and not more then 2-3hours daily. thanks,
Planning to set aside my full weekends in those 2 months just incase, hopefully that would be enough. Either that or I would have to take it next year sept.
Personally, I found the level of diffuclty of L1 and L2 comparable.
L2 is less quantitative than L1 and most of the qualiutative questions were straightforward. I think CAIA changed around the curriculum in September of 2012 and shifted some quantitative material from L2 to L1. Effectively, L1 became harder and L2 got easier. Just my thoughts.
As a side note, I used Uppermark for L1 and Schweser + Uppermark qbank for L2.
I found L2 more challenging because of the essay section.
You don’t know what topic you will get in the essays and essay questions go quite deep into the subject matter, requiring that you write an answer, which also partially depends on one’s writing skills. If you are completely out of luck and don’t know the answer - I don’t think you can just come up with something and BS your way through, which translates in almost 100% chance that you score ZERO points for that subject.
For the multiple choice questions - you can take an educated guess or a random guess - in any case you have at least 25-33% chance of getting the right answer, much higher % if you know the answer, vs. essentially 0% cnahce with essays.
In essence, essay questions require more depth and breadth of knowledge of the subject, which makes L2 tougher, IMHO.