Uppermark vs Schweser? Is Uppermark good? Anyone used this?

Is Uppermark Good? I have always studied from Schweser for CFA, so just wanted to know which is better?

I compared both, and decided to go with upperamrk. and I am quite happy with my choice. It is though but it works for me …

From my personal experience, I recommend Uppermark. Be prepared to put in the 200+ hours and you should be be adequately prepared to sit for the exam. Best of luck with your studies!

Thanks. So everyone recommends Uppermark.

I prefer Kaplan for the videos

I wasn’t as happy with Kaplan as I was with them for CFA. Every CFA question I encountered was covered by Kaplan materials but not nearly the case with CAIA. Granted I passed CAIA, but I would maybe investigate Uppermark if I were starting over because an associate I know who passed with me stated their video lectures are very detailed. I looked at one and thought it would be a good base to get thru the curriculum.

However, I would keep all calc problems high level in my studying. I saw Uppermark go way into detail on a calculation problem that you would never be expected to be tested on in that way in CAIA… The minute details and facts needed to know are qualitative versus quantatitive.

All I know is I got through CFA levels 1 and 2 with Kaplan and also got through CAIA levels 1 and 2 with Kaplan. It got the job done for me, but everyone is different. The Qbank with Kaplan is a bit on the easy side to be honest. But, again, it got the job done for me.

I liked Kaplan’s CAIA Level 1 video instructor (an English guy). However Kaplan videos instructor for CAIA Level 2 is beyond terrible. I found that Kaplan Notes summarizing the CAIAA official book is better than UpperMark Notes. However, UpperMark QBank (specially in Level II CIT and Essay questions) was a lot more comparable to the real CAIAA exam than Kaplan.

I used Kaplan for Level I, and UpperMark for Level II. I found the UpperMark question bank prepared me better for the exam than Kaplan (I also bought the QBank from Kaplan for Level II two and a half weeks before the exam just to be sure I was covering all the bases. In hindsight, there really was no need).

The Kaplan practice questions are far too easy for both Level I & II, whereas UpperMark’s are a lot more challenging. In the case of Kaplan, it’s very easy to spot answer that are clearly wrong, and in other cases the answer sticks out like a sore thumb.

My results for Level I were 3 comparable, 4 higher. My results for Level II were 1 comparable, 3 higher and 4 stronger.

@MajorNYC, I agree re. the Kaplan lectures not being as detailed as UpperMark. Level I lectures were very brief on detail in some areas, which led to some questions being asked on the exam I hadn’t come across before. With UpperMark, I felt their QBank and reviewing the lecture slides set me up well for the exam. Also, the fact all lecture videos are available from day one is a great help.

If you just crush UM and Kaplan… would you even need to read the book?

Where best to focus energy?

I would say that UpperMark is enough. Demolish the Question Bank and go through the lecture slides and you will be fine. I barely read the book for Level I, for Level II referred to the UpperMark texts in areas that were a bit more tricky, as well as the readings for Constructed Response study.

Just put in the work early and you will be fine.

I have to say that I am not impressed with UpperMark’s quality of video tutoring. The notes and lecture slides might be fine, but if you are looking for a lively, value-added lecture. Don’t bother! The instructor was ill-prepared. I felt that little attempt was made to actually explain the pertinent information and at times there was an obvious pause in the material as she was clearly trying to interpret what the slides were saying. It appeared to me as if it was the first time that she was reading through the slides.Not only was the lecturer extremely boring and unprepared, but she clearly could not explain concepts such as hypothesis testing. When I purchased the video’s UM did advertise a refund policy if not satisfied, I sent two emails to the address that they had on their website for the refund policy. Not only did they not bother to respond to either email, but they have subsequently removed the email address from their website as well as the telephone numbers for refund queries. They now force you to request a refund via post within a period of 5 days. Clearly if you pay for anything from Uppermark - don’t expect a refund if not happy. How can anyone receiving Internet-based information in a foreign country be expected to send a postal request for a number, if they are not happy with the product received. Only when they get the return number back via post can they then write to the postal address to apply for a refund. I would love to know how many people would support an alternative provider of quality CAIA video tutorials and question banks? Uppermark does not make the grade!

Totally agree and same here. Since you used Kaplan/Schweser for your CFA, I think you will be better served with Kaplan/Schweser since you will be famiilar with the format/pace of Kaplan/Schweser. It will be some learning curve with Uppermark for you and in your head, you will be constantly comparing Uppermark vs Kaplan. Stick with what worked.

I used Kaplan with Qbank plus UM qbank. Kaplan was good for high level material review but UM really got down into the weeds.