CFA Readings or Schweser materials

Guys who took (pass or fail) level 3 last June, please advise? I am having touble deciding

Absolutely both. Passed last year. Did not pass the previous year when I depended solely on CFA Readings.

I used only Schweser … passed… but I had a tough time during the test… I hated myself for using only schweser… there was so much stuff in exam that I had never seen in schweser… so both wud be a better option…

Hi, I’m a L3 retaker. Did only Schweser last time around and I agree with niena - much of what was on test was not covered by Scheweser. I have been doing the CFAI readings since the beginning of September and many (underscore many) of the examples provided in the readings are dead on what you would see on the test. I say this having already read Fixed Income, Alternative Investments and Risk Management/Derivatives (Equity will be next…). Also, pls. note that I have found the answer to questions on last year’s exam that I remember I couldn’t answer, in the footnotes of the readings.

I am a L3 retaker. I read the candidate readings last year too. Its really important to read them and do the problems in CFAI readings. Scheweser can be a useful revision tool to reinforce knowledge.

thanks guys…I appreciate…the mood is that I will go with CFAI Readings…although the contents seems much more bulky than Scheweser…I passed L1&2 using Scheweser, thats why I did not want to betray them…however I did some comparison between the books and my impression is that if you really want to learn the CFA stuff…there is no alternative than the CFAI readings… Thanks again

little_lulu Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > much of what was on test was not covered by Scheweser (sic) This couldn’t be any further away from the truth, and isn’t fair to people who may take your advice.

> This couldn’t be any further away from the truth, > and isn’t fair to people who may take your advice. That’s what I’m trying to figure out. How can schweser possibly miss so much if they’re selling a product which is to cover material?

As far as I remember the core material was covered in Scheweser, but the minutae which was tested extensively required specific knowledge from the CFAI readings. Probably when the essay exam and answers are released in November people will discuss specifics of it.

------------------------------------------------------- > little_lulu Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > much of what was on test was not covered by > Scheweser (sic) > > I have to disagree… I passed (barely) but did poorly on the portions of Scweser where I had not fully ubderstood the Schweser notes. I thought that Schweser covered everything that was on the exam in Jun 2007.

Well than thats the thing. If you are going to use Schweser, then you must know it extremely well. I really don’t know how I will retain all the minutae from the CFA readings. There’s just so much to remember. Case in point…the Portfolio Management on the L2 last June. Everyone was up in arms on Schweser over the Treynor-Black. However, it was covered indeed by Schweser. Actually, they devoted a 1 1/2 page to it. Lesson learned…whatever source you use, know it well!

Hi - I posted something along these lines a month ago - I registered for the exam last week and got all the books today - 2k+ of pages I think - no idea what schweser will be. I have decided to go with CFAI this time as opposed to Schweser which got me through 1+2 ( although the Traynor omission on schweser for level 2 was not good) Reasons to use CFAI You have to pay for the readings this year when registering - so you will get them anyway. You have all the info they can possibly ask - its all there - no omissions !!! You have all the info you need - now - not coming through in a piecemeal basis its level 3 - from what I can see a lot of people recognise they follow the curriculum more closely so using the official material is better. They use pretty colours As I will continue on my signoffs - come on people lets get this under our belts!!! good luck to those starting to study now - take the pressure off post christmas

By buying the CFAI readings your buying additional practice questions. Almost each chapter has practice questions. Moreover, CFAI loves to dwell on how Schweser notes are insufficient - so its in their interest to tie those practice questions to actual exam day questions to underscore their point.

i was thinking of buying the ’ 07 schweser notes on Ebay to supplement the CFAI readings. I didn’t want to buy the '08 readings because of the price. Are the changes so vast so as to necessitate buying the '08 notes? Should I just focus on the CFAi readings exclusively? I was thinking just taking insane notes and only using the schweser practice /sample exam books. But won’t start for another few weeks until my inlaws are done visiting…

use both. Schweser is great in that every year they sit down and look at the LOS’s and come up with a synopsis of the answer. Schweser isn’t great in that it sometimes doesn’t go into depth on the LOS. Plus, where Shweser might give you one example question on a subject, the CFAI books will give you 10 questions of increasing difficulty. You will also find that many of the schweser questions are softball questons. The questions on the exam are 10x worse than the CFAI or Schweser questions, yet if everyone is studying the same material…and most are studying either the schweser or cfai material, then you have a leg up on them by studying both. So, do both. Make your own study cards. Sign up for the schweser class and/or an analyst’s class in your city. Don’t start until December else you will get burnt out. Exercise. It is way more expensive (opportunity cost included) to retake this test. You want to pass it on the first try. Time and expense should not be an issue in spring 2008. Purchase everything you need. It is still cheaper than retaking in 2009. Plus, retakers are not guaranteed to pass the next time.

I’ve been using schweser only for all three levels and I have to retake level 3 next year. If level 3 were multiple choice questions, Schweser would be a good choice. My recommendation is use CAFI readings or both.

JacksonSF, You make some f$%^&*in fantastic points! How about this option? Schweser and Stalla Cons: I know, if you use a 2nd source why not CFAI Pros: Both guides are easier to use than CFAI, and one picks up points where the other doesn’t vs. Schweser and CFAI

If you’re taking L3 for the second time, don’t do notecards. Its a huge timesaver to avoid it - just do sample exams over and and over…

CFAI questions are unquestionably better prep than the sometimes laughably easy Schweser stuff. Skews your expectations doing easy Schweser questions.

I actually think that you should use both the schweser and the cfai readings. I just started reading the cfai readings and one thing you will realize is that they are actually quite interesting. The schweser is so boring and bullet pointed. I am going to try and do both because it will be easier to remember it that way by seeing in note format and the entire article as presentd by cfa. Although schweser did get me through the first two exams on the first try I agree with earlier points made at how the essay format should increase our interest in reading the cfa material. I do not think that the shweser questions are easy at all. The ones at the end of the chapter are easy but not in the practice book. In fact i though they were so hard that they were depressing me seeing a score consistently in the 50’s. I stopped taking those exams.