Reading materials - CFA only or CFA + Schweser

I just registered for the Level 1 exam in December, and I would like to know if using the CFA books alone would be sufficient to pass Level 1, as i am unable to afford additional Schweser materials.

Hi @Pnor, where are you located, I too am planning to give the Level 1 exam in Dec 19. Perhaps we can team up.

I only used Schweser for L1 as the material condenses the CFAI material considerably and used the candidate resources on the portal. Passed L1 comfortably so I was happy with them. There’s nothing in Schweser that isn’t in the curriculum, you’ll just be reading a lot more material than if you used Schweser.

Thanks. Guess I better get to reading then.

Ghana. u?

Yes, for sure the CFA Institute books are sufficient. However they are way longer than Kaplan and I think you cannot finish them in 6 months. I bought Kaplan, then switched to the CFAI books just for a week. Then I figured out it will take me a year to read the CFAI books, so I returned to Kaplan. But remember, read the ethics from CFAI book (or the ethics hand book, available online for free)

All the best

I am in NYC. my email is nikks99@yahoo.com. do send me your contacts so we can team up together. I finished Quant. and doing FRA currently.

This is mine, alshalabi.baidar.s@gmail.com, but I’m in Jordan and setting for next month L1 exam. All the best mate!

All the best I for your exam, @Pnor, what’s yours

thank you

prisashinort@yahoo.com

For L1, third party providers give very good option. CFAI readings are very lengthy so I think it is good strategy to use third party material but refer to CFAI books in case of any doubts.

Ethics should be done from CFAI books only. Also, try to solve end of chapter questions from CFA books and confirm your knowledge level

Hello… where can i get the Ethics handbook. I am in South Africa.

Thanking you in advance

Available for free online, just Google it

I used Schweser back in L1. While I am not going to talk about whether it is the best provider, the mock exams definitely helped a lot. The condensed version of the book is also a near-necessity, unless you enjoy reading through the CFAI textbook for the pleasure of trivial pursuit. Read through Ethics from the CFAI material in level 1, and go through every word. I also suggest you study Ethics as hard as you can. It will pay dividends down the road.

IMO, Third party notes are a waste of time (and money). They bring down 5,000 pages of original reading material into around 3,000 pages (which is still a lot of reading). If you’re going to read that much, you might as well read from the CFAI source material.

Third party video lectures on the other hand are very useful. Some of these videos are uploaded by the third party channels on youtube for free. Check these out for harder concepts (especially FRA).

If you can, for level 1, buy the practice exam book from Schweser.