Just sat for level I and if all goes according to plan (fingers crossed) I am planning on taking level 2 in Sept. For people who passed/failed, any recommendations on materials to purchase? I used Schweser notes/QBank for level I, but am not sure the QBank will be enough for level II. I actually have Schweser notes, I believe from March 2014, from a colleague who let me borrow his old books, but I’m not sure how useful they’ll be as I know in level 2 they reference current articles/events?
I was contemplating actually switching to Uppermark (at least for the test bank), as I heard the UM test bank is significantly harder and more representative of the actual difficulty of questions on the exam. Any advice on what combination of books/practice questions I should be purchasing from people who have already taken the exam? Much appreciated.
You can use 2014 Schweser books, just make sure you exclude old articles and read new ones (3 new articles for 2015). New articles are actually available on the web for free, just search by the name/Author and you will find them.
General consensus is that Uppermark practice exams are more difficult that Schweser’s.
Go for UpperMark for question bank and use CAIA books. I use UpperMark question for practice to level 1 and find it fair compared with real exam. For level 2 i will do the same.
Uppermark’s question bank will have every sort of question imaginable and if you practice it right, there will be very few surprises in the exam. For both levels, I read the original books and solved a hundred questions every day for a month (with a few mock exams within Uppermark). Of course you must grade yourself in the essay questions but they make for very good practice.
I used textbook for L1 and uppermark with Qbank for L2, strong passes both times. My approach was read textbook, Uppermark and practice questions. Slightly used Uppermark L2 materials available for cheap at williamcomalley@hotmail.com
I had books from both Uppermark and Schweser. I personally liked Schweser materials more and used them for L2 prep. Both cover the same material, I just preferred Schweser’s way of structuring their study notes over UM’s.
In the end, I don’t think it matters much which books one uses - official CAIA, UM or Schweser. The key is to invest enough time into study.