Did anyone pass CFA Level 1 with only study guides?

CFA Level II
#1

I was just wondering if anyone of you passed level 1 CFA just by using exclusively the study guide such as Schweser and not reading the curriculum.

#2

Yup…I did level 1 right before they required you to get the textbooks. I only purchased Schweser, and passed. I mostly read only Schweser for level 2, and dabbled a bit with the CFAI textbooks, in particular the chapter questions. But I felt a little underprepared this time. Not sure if it was the depth of the material or if was Schweser, but level 2 was far more daunting.

#3

I did pure Schweser for both - you put in the time, you’ll demolish the test with just Schweser (although AF doesn’t hurt as a secondary source, as you get both Stalla and CFAI questions posted for variety).

#4

Ny show on this forum did. I think CFAI text was a waste of time. I read them in april-june, so i prolly forgot what I red by decemebr. Studied schweser june-december and killed L1 (all above 70 and over an hour to spare). Didn’t bother with CFAI books for L2, we’ll see how that went. I think I passed but who knows, def not as confident as about L1. I think CFAI books are good read if you are really interested or need more info on the topic. If you understand what schweser is telling you, there is no reason to go to CFAI books.

#5

skillionaire Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I did pure Schweser for both - you put in the > time, you’ll demolish the test with just Schweser > (although AF doesn’t hurt as a secondary source, > as you get both Stalla and CFAI questions posted > for variety). Same for me.

#6

same with me for both.

#7

only for FSA. But for the most, I focused on Schweser. Did fairly well in L1. Same strategy did not work in L2. Last year, I did have some trouble in the pm section - but this year was new for me - in that I’ve never seen such a “weird” exam. I was guessing on most of the AM questions. Probably should have used the original texts too. Just hope I pass it by some weird luck.

#8

Schweser does a great job for level 1. I would highly recommend NOT reading the CFAI text. It’s a waste of time. You can pass L1 with Schweser notes and Qbank. That’s it!!!

#9

Slash Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Schweser does a great job for level 1. I would > highly recommend NOT reading the CFAI text. It’s a > waste of time. You can pass L1 with Schweser notes > and Qbank. That’s it!!! +1

#10

I give those who used CFAI exclusively lots of credit…towards the last few days before the exam, I told myself I would do EOC questions from the main text, but when I started flipping through the pages, it read more like a story and contained so much unnecessary crap that I just put the book down.

#11

Thanks guys for the tip~! Just reading the Ethical part took me 6 hours. So I was desperate. Thank you for the tip again!

#12

i only read schweser and passed with flying colors… not sure if that is true for L2. it seems they really test your fundamentals… anyhow, we will work together again for next year…

#13

+1