Elan is most likely guilty of guerilla marketing. I would probably do the same with a small startup facing a giant like Kaplan.
Schweser has a far better website, customer service, print quality and reliability. Also, it costs twice as much, so that’s is largely where your money goes.
The general feeling is that Elan has better quality. I use Fitch and Elan, and I think fitch is better. I used Schweser for CAIA and will never use them again. They suck, at least for 2010-2011 CAIA. Elan materials seem fine, and Olinto is top notch.
There is room for more than one prep providor, just understand the plusses minuses before making your decision. And reading a thread like this does NOT count towards your 300 hours study time.
Yoda - I’m using Elan this time around. Last time, I used Schweser and came close. The Elan materials cover some concepts from a different angle, and I think that’s helping my comprehension.
What do you like about the way Fitch presents their materials?
The Fitch questions are really good. The materials are different - presented in PPT with bullets instead of long text which works better for me. The main instructor is excellent, although the reason I am supplementing with Élan is because they have a secondary instructor who can cure insomnia.
Look, at the end of the day the decision on which prep provider to use is a tiny part of the equation of whether you pass, relative to time invested, luck on the specific questions asked, etc. I think the forum in General is way over-analyzing it.
Because with Schweser I’d already have the books in my hands. I’m losing precious time wondering whether Elan will ever ship the remaining books. I don’t want to study from or print pdf files.
I have been trying to figure out if Elan gives discounts to individuals who work for specific companies. I got 30% off on my Schweser material for level 1 thanks to my company but Elan will not get back to me. Any ideas? Thank you.
Really want to pull the trigger on Elan due to Peter Olinto’s videos but wow their customer service horrendous… (the emails I send gets kicked back too, lol)
Holding books 3 and 4 in my hands. At last! Book 4 has typo on its edge: “Corporate Finance, Portfolio Management, Equity” when it should be: “Alternative Investments & Fixed Income”. The LOS 45 on “Credit Analysis Models” is still missing and will be published with book 5.
Great news! I emailed them last week and they mentioned they should be shipping everything this past weekend. I haven’t received them yet, but hopefully by the time I get home from work today haha.
I have received mine, anyone know how to activate the code for the video via thumb drive? emailed them, slow reply…also is there anyway to speed up the video clip 2x 3x in vlc or some other software?..
Did anyone (residing in Canada) had to pay an import duty for receiving Elan Volume 3 & 4 plus the USB keys from DHL? I ended up paying 20$ (not that I care…the amount is too small to complain), however realizing that we still have to receive the remaining items from Elan, DHL advised me that I could end up paying more duties!
I should have just supplemented the curriculum with Schweser…sighh…
