L3 : Kaplan Schweser only or not Kaplan Schweser only ?

CFA Level III
#1

Hello comrades,

First time posting there and not being completely fluent at English so please be gentle :slight_smile:

I passed both level 1 (dec 2016) & 2 (june 2018) on first shot only using the Kaplan Esssential packages which consists mainly of :

  • Schweser notes (the books)

  • Practice exams (exam like content with answers)

  • QBank (but i learned that after passing the L2)

Before doing the same purchase for Level 3, i threw an eye on AF and saw quite a non negligible amount of critics toward Kaplan contents.

Looks like the go to material could still be the Kaplan Schweser, but highly recommanted to complete with CFAI stuff for some chapters (Global attrib / GIPS) and mandatory to do their EOC (end of chapters) questions + past exams on CFA website.

Since the e-book format we get upon registration makes me wants tu cut my veins, i don’t really want to throw 150+$ to get the printed version so i’m tempted to “stick to my guns” and stay on Schweser only to finish the final boss.

Am i wrong ?

#2

you can use note + CFAI End of Chapters questions. Level 1 and 2 , I used only note still able to pass it. I believe if you understand the materials, you can apply it to all questions. You don’t need to buy printed book.

#3

if you intend to seriously study the CFAI material, then you need the printed books. Can y’all study by feading pdfs off your screens?

#4

I don’ seriously study CFAI material, ONLY end of chapter questions. You can print those at company for free?

#5

If CFAI materials are important study tool , why do you have to thinking on investing extra $150+ ? Wouldn’t the benefit outweigh the cost? Since I used 3rd party provider, I only print EOC from the company for free :slightly_smiling_face:

#6

Schweser notes are too summarised. Not really suitable for Lvl III.

However if you do insist on using it, recommend the following:

  1. Read Schweser notes for a topic area (e.g. Private Wealth Management)

  2. Do EOC and past year questions.

  3. If you can do Step 2 comfortably then proceed to next Schweser book, if not refer to textbook and read that reading.

#7

I guess I could wait until tomorrow to find out if I passed or not, however, based on my experience using only Schweser self study material for all 3 Levels III (June 2016, June 2017, June 2018) overall I found Schweser to be better suited for Level I and II than Level III.

Material wise, I think it is decent/good, however, my biggest problem was with their Q-Bank and end of chapter questions. The wording in a lot of cases was ridiculously hard to understand and in multiple instances I had high doubts that their answers were not correct.

That being said, I would still suggest reading the material from Schweser, however, make sure that you do all CFAI EOC and blue box questions along with their topic tests online and their mocks.

#8

I will tell you tomorrow but in my case, I always used Kaplan and I don’t notice by doing mock exam of L3 that Kaplan doesn’t suit for L3. My mistake for this year was my lack of time to make the EOC of the official book as I did for L1 and L2 but I decided to focus only with mock exams. To sum-up I used Kaplan + secret sauce + Kaplan videos and I practice five or 6 mock exams + 2 Kaplan exams. I hope it will be enough to pass.

#9

i basically used only kaplan + CFAI mock focusing heavily on mock exams. Felt well prepared but i think it was a mistake not to use any EOC questions. Seemed like Kaplan was a little worse on Level III than I or II. Also felt like mocks were much harder than the real thing on level III

#10

I used Schweser Notes for Level I, Wiley (video package) for Level II, and Kaplan for Level III. I only read through the material from the 3rd party providers but used CFA EOC questions and mocks to supplement. The CFA provided material is unnecessarily long in my opinion. Passed Level I and II on the first attempt… verdict is still out on Level III haha.

Schweser was more than adequate for Level III. I would strongly suggest using a 3rd party provider for your initial read through and supplementing with CFA provided material.

#11

Update: Got the good news yesterday and was surprised to see that I passed above 90th percentile.

That being said, Schweser should be enough material wise for Level III, however, I would strongly suggest giving the highest priority to CFAI mocks, EOC, and blue box over Schweser’s Q-Bank and mock exams. I did not attempt any of Schweser’s mock exams this year purely because after going through their Q-Bank, I had a feeling that a lot of their questions were poorly worded to the point where it was almost impossible to answer the question correctly, or I was simply not convinced of their answers.

Best of luck!

#12

I passed around 90th percentile.

I used notes (just for reading, not including questions), CFAI mock exams and practice questions. The last week before the exam, I took three study days and worked only on mock exams with strict time constraints. Then I checked for my answers and tried to understand every point I did incorrectly or not concisely. It was very helpful, as I reached 90th percentile in the AM exam.

#13

CFAI materials plus Level Up was my approach this year, although I had used Schweser at earlier levels.

Level 3 is a different beast, given the essay portion and requires a different approach.

I did use Sauce and the IFT sheet in the last weeks before the exam as a way to keep things together

#14

Well thank you all for your replies (i was not expecting such an amount!)

It good to see that their is a convergence in your advises.

Hoping it will help other L3 candidates.

Well done / good luck :slight_smile: !

#15

I used Kaplan Schweser for all 3 levels. I found the 3 day review courses very helpful as well.

#16

I only used Kaplan for L1, L2 and L3. The class for L3 is not as good as L2 (no Dr Holmes) but overall the material is good

#17

Dr. Holmes is a legend.

#18

I used Schweser for all 3 levels.

#19

I used Kaplan for L1 and 2, but am thinking of something different for L3, maybe LevelUP or IFT because they teach from the CFAI books. I thought for L2 that Kaplan summarized too much and I got lucky on exam…and I desperately want to be done with this exam.