I started studying in May for the CFA Level I this December as I front loaded my studying because of work increasingly growing busier as December approaches. So far I’ve logged 166 Hours and I wanted to share a shift in thought that I recently had with others while we are still early in the process.
A few Fridays ago I met a friend at a neighbor’s barbecue who just took the CFA Level I in June. We discussed the CFA for awhile and Brian mentioned that if he could have changed one thing in his studying that he would have read as much of the CFAI Curriculum as he could have instead of just Schweser.
I also recently had the opportunity to have dinner with the Chief Economist of American Realty Capital Group who shared much of his wisdom (four degrees from Harvard and MIT). He advised and encouraged me to learn to truly understand the material instead of merely learning for the sake of passing an exam.
I’m studying with Schweser’s Premium Plus Study Package and I’ve read through the entire SchweserNotes for every Session – Some sessions I’ve read more than one time. After my conversations with these individuals, I’ve also read maybe 20% of various sections of the CFAI Curriculum. The difference I noticed in my understanding and depth of knowledge after reading the CFAI is like night and day.
By utilizing the CFAI Curriculum as my core material for studying, I honestly think it will make an enormous difference going forward and encourage others who were thinking of using only Schweser to try CFAI out as well.
Anyways, I would agree with both of them. CFAI gives you more in depth explanation of the material albeit longer. Some parts on the test were not covered in Schweser. So if you are a boy genius and already think you know finance just go with Schweser and take level 1.
However if you want to truly understand the material and have a higher chance at passing, I would go with CFAI.
I know if I decide to retake the CFA level 1 I will be using CFAI and maybe Schweser for mocks and review in the end only.
I passed L1 last dec using Cfai only. Since I was on short timeframe for L2 this past June, I decided to do schweser. I was not at all satisfied w my mastery of the topics. Halfway through studying, completely changed course and ditched schweser. Felt very comfortable w where I ended up and think I passed. We’ll see. Short story, I strongly prefer Cfai to schweser.
CFAI books on a short-turn from Dec - June is almost impossible having to read 3000 pages and do all the LOC’s, then do Mock’s… kudo’s to those who can do it…
Honestly most of the stuff you read you are going to forget anyway after a month especially formulas, I thought even Schweser was overkill for level 1, just do every question in the question bank and bunch of mocks and you should be fine. L2 I thought Schweser was more than adaquate, reading CFAI would just drive me crazy…
Be efficient people, you are trying to get a pass not As…