Hey all, I have just registered for level 2. I passed Level 1 on June 08 only using Schweser. The question is, for L2, should i even bother opening the CFAI books or can i depend solely on Schweser. I have found out that the materials don’t change much, and I have access to 2008 L2 books if I want to. I tried opening the CFAI books and before I finish 1 chapter I found the same old feeling which made me threw away all my CFAI level 1 books - too boring, not straightforward, no focus, and all. Please, need your opinions.
I read half of Quant and that was the end of that last year. I failed by the way. But I was a band 10, and I failed due to my effort not the material. I will read ethics and maybe PM and maybe more. Who knows? I’ll have to wait and see how I feel. I totally agree with the books being boring and hard to focus on.
I strictly followed CFAI books for my prep. No complaints. Passed this year.
My take on CFAI materials were the same as yours, wihardjo - what I did was to do one reading of CFAI, do as many problem sets at the back of the chapters, then used Schweser/Stalla/John Harris FSA materials for the remainder of the study season. I found that combo to have sufficient coverage, much more readable, and in a form that I could understand and practice. That was my pathway - there are other successful ones as well.
I read CFAI book, started my studying in March. Read certain SS over and over again ( some never got tested e.g DCF methods, Time Series, International CAPM etc). I used book 6 (Schweser) and took the CFAI samples. Found the books interesting actually. Passed on first try.
CFAI books are absolutely critical. There were a number of questions that were straight out of the books–PO and IO strips, and others right out of the problems at the end of the chapters. And if you think that reading 6 big books is not worth it only because you might get 5-6 easy questions, then ask those who ended up in band 10. I think they’ll beg to differ.
what is band 10?
At least do the concept checkers at the end of each SS! There are definitely great examples in the CFAI material that I couldn’t grasp in Schweser.
Kevinf12, band 10 means that for those who failed, they are in the top 10% of all the people who failed – so that’s the closest you can get to passing without actally passing
Thanks for the reply guys. Some opinions saying that there are some critical information about the exam which can only be found in CFAI books convinced me enough not to abandon them.
I would highly recommend them for Derivatives, PM, and Quant, you MUST use them for PM, where schweser is notoriously light. I have always used CFAI solely for prep, I find them very interesting and love the breadth and format. I am obviously a unique case. There are alot of different strategies to pass, I went 2/2, the important thing is just to find the one that suites you best.
soxboys21 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > At least do the concept checkers at the end of > each SS! > > There are definitely great examples in the CFAI > material that I couldn’t grasp in Schweser. This is something that I had planned to do last year, but I got lazy. Will do it this year for sure. “the important thing is just to find the one that suites you best.” I totally agree. Find what you feel most comfortable with and work your ass off.
I was fortunate to pass first time. My prep was almost entirely CFAI books. I would work the example questions in the readings as I went through the readings and then do the end of chapter problems (of course, not all readings have these…). For the last month, I got a hold of 2007 Schweser books to help me do a fast review. I liked Schweser for the review and CFAI for the learning. However, I would spend the money to get the current Schweser (instead of being an eBay cheapie like I was) as being able to accurately cross-reference between the two sets of books, and not having to sort out what LOSs were new or dropped would have been nice at that (frantic) stage. I had read the CFAI alternative investments very early in my studying, and never touched it again, mistake as I did suck on that last item set in the AM, luckily everything else was OK.
The CFAI books are so voluminous from what date do most people start reading to finish them completely ??? After you start reading my problem has been that I forgot everything I read the first time !!!
VanTrini Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > The CFAI books are so voluminous from what date do > most people start reading to finish them > completely ??? After you start reading my problem > has been that I forgot everything I read the first > time !!! That is a very good question. For level 2, I started seriously reading in September. Yeah, it took me that long… I also found that it was critical for me to work the example problems in the reading and make notes as I went. Just reading would not do it for me. I also found that I really needed to be fresh in my mind, especially for the more complicated stuff like some of the PM. Working long hours, and with family demands like many here, that made it hard to always be in the right frame of mind to read the books effectively. Admittedly I went through some hours of “garbage” studying where it seemed none of what I was reading was retained. I have just received my level 3 books and, you guessed it, I’ve started reading. Amongst CFA candidates, I am sure I’m far from the sharpest knife in the drawer, and although “burn-out” is a concern, I think I need to spread the reading out over a long time to get through it. I am trying to organize my note-taking into a more LOS-orientated fashion this time around. I have put the LOSs for level 3 into a powerpoint and am intending to summarize my notes from each reading onto the slides as bullets sorted on a LOS-basis. I guess this is the same idea as the flashcards I hear about.
I think it would be a mistake not reading the curriculum.
This might also depend on how you find the material and if you have any background knowledge in the material. I read ethics (and maybe flipped through CFA notes a LITTLE bit) and used Schweser [and passed]. You’ll probably know after starting to read Schweser if you need to read CFA also. If you don’t get Schweser, maybe you can read some CFA, otherwise not… wihardjo Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Hey all, I have just registered for level 2. I > passed Level 1 on June 08 only using Schweser. The > question is, for L2, should i even bother opening > the CFAI books or can i depend solely on Schweser. > I have found out that the materials don’t change > much, and I have access to 2008 L2 books if I want > to. I tried opening the CFAI books and before I > finish 1 chapter I found the same old feeling > which made me threw away all my CFAI level 1 books > - too boring, not straightforward, no focus, and > all. Please, need your opinions.
Hello Folks, One question for you ? Those of you who read CFAI Curriculum, there are topics, which is not part of LOS however it is still not marked as optional , so what did you guy ended up doing ? will those material still can be tested ? what was your statagy in this kind of scenario ? did u read through this kind of topics ? As I found out, some of those topic, which is not marked as optional and which is not part of LOS, did not make it to schweser material, so what should I do ? Suggestion will be gratly appericiated. -Regards,
Dude… the question is whether or not to read the CFAI books. To me … no questions asked, i wont be reading the so called “optional segments” in CFAI even if I had all the time in the world hahaa…
I didn’t read the CFAI books but did most of the end-of-chapter questions.