Hey guys, I wanted to ask a few questions to those who have experience with Marc Lefebvre’s LevelUp Videos and Bootcamp. I appreciate any feedback!
Any negatives about the videos and/or bootcamp? I feel like all I hear is how great his program is, but I would be interested to hear some criticisms.
How valuable are the IPS and Essay workshops compared to others like Daren Miller’s? These workshops only make up a few hours of the 4-day bootcamp, so I am curious if they are as valuable as Daren Miller’s multi-day essay writing workshop.
Is the Focus Material comparable to the Schweser Secret Sauce or Wiley 11th Hour as a fall-back guide when time or materials are not available (lets say, at work during the last weeks before the exam)?
In your opinion, how intense would one need to study to get through the CFAI material (including BB’s and EOC’s) AND watch all the corresponding LevelUp videos in 5 months (assuming 2-3 hours on weekdays with a full time job and 4-7 hours on weekend days)? Just curious how doable this is.
Not really… he does go through the material quickly during the boot camp but that is expected given number of days and material that needs to be covered.
Never took Miller’s classes or looked into it, so not sure. Looking back on it, I would have paid to go to the boot camp just for the IPS workshop. It helped a ton on the exam (got >70%, honestly think I got 90+%)
Focus material and slide book are amazing. I reviewed the slide book a TON before the exam. Best study material across all three level IMO. Focus material was just as good.
I have two kids so I mainly studied at night and partly on the weekends (2ish hours per day). I went through the curriculum with a highlighter, watched Marc’s videos (goes through curriculum and slide book), went through focus material (curriculum again) marking pages with BB and examples in the text that game me trouble and made note cards on those topics.
Going through this process right now myself. One thing I would say is im currently watching the video with a highlighter and the text in front of me. It’s a slow process because you’re listening and then stopping and highlighting areas and writing things down in the book so if it’s like a 1 hour video, I would bank on being there for a solid 1.5. At least for me, sometimes i gotta rewind and go back. And after that I’ll review the text again and do blue box and EOC’s.
But Marc is super helpful though. Gave him a call during labour weekend and he helped me out with some crazy mortality table stuff that I never really got a hang of when I went through schweser.
People should really use the search function on this site. I guarantee you there are probably 10 different threads started about Level Up and they all answer the same question.
No IPS is not covered in the online videos, only in workshop (you should do both). Last year the videos were not downloadable, at least I don’t think.
It is definitely worth it. In fact, it is must lol keep in mind, I had already went through the reading then EOCs twice and ten mocks by the time I went to the Bootcamp during the first week of May (started studying in November, put in 700 hours). In other words, you should only use the Bootcamp as review and a tool to dominate the written portion. He knows the curriculum inside out. The man is a G.
Based on everyone’s enthusiasm I’d like to sign up for the level up videos. I was planning on combining these videos with the schweser notes as reading material. I really dislike the original cfai institute material. Only planning to use it for the EOCs.
However, based on this video, the level up videos appear to rely on the cfai material pretty heavily (around 2:30):
LevelUp uses the CFAI curriculum for a reason- to learn what can be tested and not take short cuts. You have plenty of time to follow through the curriculum with LevelUp. The videos and Marc, will make it easier than diving into the curriculum books themselves. Give yourself the best chance of passing that you can- utilize the source material and someone navigating you through it in a way that makes it bearable.
I have started using them coupled with the CFAI curriculum.
What I found was that the videos for a very good road map for the readings. Marc basically dissects the readings on the basis of the topics covered instead of by LOS. He does mention the LOS but I felt that the videos and slides were more focused on breaking down the topics on their own. Which in my opinion is a good thing because sometimes not all the topics are explicitly highlighted in the LOS but the do exist in the reading. Another good reason and probably a very positive factor is the fact that he talks about the possible relationships between different readings and how topics are cross connected across readings - something very important to know for the level 3 exam.
I would suggest - watch the video first, it will help you understand where the different sections of the reading lie and how they tie together and then read the curriculum and make notes or whatever you need to. This is how I have been doing it.
I guess ill just give it a shot then. Thing is that I had a hard time comprehending the level 1 CFAI material because of the way its written and that the Schweser notes proved sufficient (and very readable) to pass lvl 1 and 2 on the first go. Was thinking of getting the LevelUp videos as a complement to Schweser, rather than switching to the CFAI material just for level 3.
If I did Level 3 again, I would have done Marc’s LevelUp videos (I did bootcamp last year), that is how good of a teacher Marc is. I used IFT videos, initially, but found myself not finding them very useful. Marc teaches the material in such a way that you understand, can master, and pass the exam. I think people not only underestimate the AM, but the multiple choice in the PM is no slouch either (or at least last year it was not). IPS workshop and other items are worth there weight in gold.
I have the same question as you as I used Schweser for level 1 and 2 and I found it very sufficient. I am just debating whether to use both Marc’s videos and Shweser or just rely on the videos and CFA books.