$827.95 total for w/ hardcover books baby! Let’s get it!
Darn, we have no choice. I will do that latter today. but Guys you gotta keep me inspired cause Bank 10 is SUCK! 
On top of that, I file for divorce with Schweser and I am going to try to date LevelUp . That ring is starting at $1,269.
I spent over 5k USD on study material, well my employer did. I literally bought everything and did all of it lol. Overkill, but why not? Started 2nd week in October and studied 6 days a week only for about 2 hrs a day. I like short study sessions over a longer period of time. It’s less stressful, focus easier and burn out is rare. By June I was over 700 hours.
do it bro study till you drop
Agree, it funny that ended paying that much for my CPA using Becker. They are the only study prep folks I found that to not over sell their promise. IF you study their material, you shall pass. Even with that band, I am still planning to start on 09/01/17.
Good and reasonable post and I would add a recommendation to have someone knowledgeable to review the AM session. I have used NYSSA workshop for this purpose and it really helped. Its hard to say whether you write enough/answer the question/too much. Writing too much is a shot in the leg - takes precious time and by doing extra mistakes, people lose points on that.
I think another person feedback and 11 am mock exams with proper analysis were a key for my passing this year.
I agree. As a non native English speaker, I was worried about the AM section a lot, but it did not turn out to be a disaster (2/2/6). I did think about taking some classes but finally decided to try it on my own. I only used Kaplan notes and the CFA books for sections I felt uncleared in the Kaplan notes. And I did the CFA books questions for each section. I wished I could practice more timed mock but like in the previous two levels, I didn’t have enough time to do that after I went over the materials twice. But I did have a good understanding of the concepts. I guess that help in the AM section since I only managed to practice AM section back to 2010. Also, time management is important. Don’t write too much for each question.
Good luck with everyone. The key is never give up!
Retakers who failed again the following year, did you put in more hours than you did the first time? I put in well over 600 hours and failed band 9. I was kinda hoping all those hours might make it a bit easier if I decide to retake, or am I wrong? I don’t think I can face spending another 600 hours of my life on this…
Definitely going for LevelUp - this will be my first attempt at III. I’d rather just cover as much of everything as possible and not rely on the short cuts.
I passed level 3 with using solely schweiser material. What has worked for me for all three levels was a tonne of practice questions. As many as I could. The one thing I would really recommend with the schweiser materials is they produce a series of videos that go over the answers to the past available exams. Give some insights intoi what they would be looking for. Best of luck to everyone trying again.
I will add my two cents as well. I passed level I on my first try pretty much on Schweser alone, level II took me two tries with a combo of Schweser and CFAI. Level III is a completely different animal that I managed to pass on my first attempt. I did my initial reading and review with Schweser from October to December and from January onward it was only CFAI material. I put together a tabbed notebook by topic area and I took notes, lots of notes, and kept adding to those notes. I made flashcards as I went along and reviewed a handful of them every night before bed. I did all of the previous years exams from 2009-2016…3 or 4 times each. Overkill? Maybe but I found it to be very helpful. Finally I signed up for and attended the LevelUp Bootcamp which was very beneficial. I feel I narrowly passed as my matrix was 5/2/3 and 1/2/6 and I think the bootcamp may have made the difference…whether it was the time savings on the IPS calculations (I finished the AM exam with only 4-5 minutes to spare) or the knowledge Marc had of what hasn’t been tested in awhile and what might appear this year…a few things which he was spot on about. IMO you need to cover all the material prior to LevelUp because Marc moves quickly. His bootcamp should not be in lieu of your own studying, it should be used as a supplement. In total I probably spent 450-500 hours preparing for the exam.
That sound like a very good plan.
Sorry AlmostDoneIII- is this for sure?? that Schweser (David Heather) suggesting not to use BB or EOC questions for Level 3.
I believe i m hearing this for the first time…
Thanks
Don’t forget the CFAI online tests to nail the PM. I didn’t spend enough time on them last year and did them several times this year (found them quite hard) and it definitely helped me. Last year and this year i was both time confident on AM but results were not as good as expected. PM is the key to “catch back”. Of course i don’t mean to not focus on AM but don’t assume AM prep means PM will be a piece of cake. Good luck to al of you. i was a retaker and was ready to do it again. You will make it
I believe me and a co-worker were watching his weekly online seminar course. And at the end someone asked about it and he specifically said he wouldn’t do it and that it was overboard. So I was like…TRUE…and out goes the CFA book out the window LOL. But to be fair, he said if you did all the schweser material and if you had enough time, that going back was a good idea to do CFA material. I just didn’t have time afterwards going through all 6 mocks, Qbanks, Schweser EOC’s, etc etc.
My suggestion:
CFA books is your friend, EOC, BB are very very good primers. Second, online multiple choice is helpful to prep for PM. I believe too many people focus on AM (yes believe it or not) and forsake points on the PM.
Ethics, read it multiple times the two months before, so many points, why give up “easy” points.
I stop using Schweser after Level 1, later levels not enough.
Buy and work with Mark for LevelUp… he is absolutely worth it. I believe he helped get me over the bubble.
to my recollection he never says not to use it but says you don’t have to because the schweser material Books + on demand videos were enough to teach you the concepts. Which in my opinion was true because I would sometimes read something in the notes and had a question then I would watch the on demand video and he covered it. so I was lke son of B… he read my mind. He does say that he believes last 3 years CFAI mocks are best, then schweser mocks, then older CFAI mocks. He ranks old old CFAI mocks last because not all questions all applicable and the answer keys don’t cover all possible answers because CFAI has revised certain topics over the years. He does point those out if you watch his videos going over the older CFAI exams. In my opinion EOC in schweser were similar to EOC in CFAI. However Schweser Mocks were easier in the sense that they don’t feed you much useless info in the vignette. Also Volume II of Schweser mocks are filled with questions they believe could be asked based on the taught CFAI material. Funny thing is 1 of the questions in Volume II was actually on the 2017 exam.
When i retook i actually spent less hours then the 1st time. Key for me was to get a headstart with expectations (how exams should be graded) and really practice my process. 2nd time I spent like 400 hours I think But i started really early doing a few hours a day. you probably know the material but just need to practice doing it the right way. That was my issue the 1st time.
Thanks AlmostDonell. ‘Really early’ is like how early?’ Bearing in mind I did 600ish this year and will have a 2 week zero-study period in first half April. Do I need to start NOW?..omfg…not sure I could handle that…