After reading through the CFAI section on a topic and then taking both the CFAI EOC questions and Schweser EOC questions, the CFAI questions are much harder and seem to reiterate certain formulas or concepts again and again. Schweser EOC questions seem elementary after reading through CFAI text. I started at a 50/50 CFAI/Schweser ratio, but as time is progressing I am feeling more confident that study time is best spent on CFAI. Hard for me to say this considering my buddy passed L3 last year using ONLY schweser so you schweser-only kats can take comfort in that. I just dont trust em for some reason.
My experience has been that Schweser gets progressively worse as you go from Level I to III. I purchased Schweser, but have not touched the books. I am finding the CFA books relatively easy to get through for this level. There is not that much extra reading (except for Book 5 which is 541 pages).
book 5 and 6 also seem to be filled with the meat and potatoes, and for various reasons I am unable to get past book 3. any time I read a chapter - though - it does seem BRAND NEW!!!.. No hope for me this time round!
I hear you CP, same with me
SkipE99 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I started at a 50/50 CFAI/Schweser > ratio, but as time is progressing I am feeling > more confident that study time is best spent on > CFAI…I just dont trust em for some reason. Regrettably liking the Schweser matl’s for lvl 3 less and less. Greg Filbeck dominates the video segments and he is about the worst professor I’ve seen from them. Also agree with the question comment made by Thommo; the Qbank seems weaker this time round. For reference, I thought both the L1 and L2 mat’l were solid.
The Schweseer EOC questions can be quite weak. But some of the CFAI EOC questions stink also. They are all worth something in their own way. Just do them both. Three times. L3 is a drag. Must…keep…pushing. So…painful…
Schweser is all I have used for the previous 2…and I dont think I have time to read both materials. However, I dont think the book review is really what helped me in the past. Get a pass through it and do as many problems you have time for. It is all about timing and learning how to take the test for me.
Losing faith eh …for level 3 you should never have had faith in schweser to begin with…I learnt this the hard way last year even after someone who went through the same siutuation advised me… level 3 is painful indeed
I am currently using 80% CFA text itself and the rest Schweser. I discovered Schweser to be deficient some time ago already. However, the CFA textbooks are very hard to read with so much materials to remember. I am currently at Reading 45 but I have forgotten Reading 44 and before. I really am quite scare of this exam this time round without useful tools like Schweser.
Same here…Schweser’s EOC are way too simple when compared to CFAI. I think best strategy (for me) will be reading Schweser…doing both EOCs (Schweser + CFAI)…and support the reading with CFAI text if I noticed that Schweser barely touched that topic…
Its completely dependent on how you learn and what you can pick up on in the materials. I’ve used Schweser pretty much exclusively for LI and LII with the exception of CFAI EOC questions and a few chapter readings and passed just fine.
My strategy going through the readings is this. For every chapter: 1. Read Schweser completely. 2. Reread Schweser while also reading comparable sections from the required readings. For areas Schweser cover’s well I will skip RR explanation. For areas that Schweser doesnt cover in depth I’ll spend more time reading RR. 3. Take notes from both Schweser and RR’s. 4. Do questions from both. 5. Move to next chapter.
i finished schweser and i’m currently doing the CFAI EOC questions. Lets just say if the essays resemble the ECO q’s, i’m screwed. And the lack of qbank questions (a bunch of sessions have like what, 60 questions in qbank?) really sucks. Qbank should cost less at L3, because they’ve put in about 1/2 the effort
I am a big fan of Schweser but Question No. 3 (Liability mimicking) on 2010 Essay Exam makes me wonder if “Schweser text only” is the right approach for Level 3.
An excel sheet can help in understanding payoffs of all option strategies. Each row representing a strategy like bull call, bear call, etc. and each column representing max. gain, max loss, break even price etc.