I used Elan Guides exclusively for level II. Their delivery schedules are haywire but thats about their only flaw IMO.I used only CFAI for ethics for the rest it was Elan.
The notes were comprehensive, in depth and very well written. Almost all areas and subtopics were well covered by them. After reading their notes i found i could solve almost all CFAI EOCs.None of the topics were skipped or skimmed over.Pensions for example was beautifully explained. Overall the notes were comprehensive and covered the material well.
their videos i used sparingly for lack of time. one video i remember was for Portman. long but very good. i had tried to read it from the text but couldnt get it. After watching the video i found i could grasp most of the chapter.
their practice questions were not in the item set format but good.
sadly mocks came very late. did manage to solve both in the last week. would have liked them earlier. they were hard and focussed on areas i thought weren’t that important.
Overall a good experience with them except for delivery schedule which they should sort out this year.
A few people have mentioned the Elan materials are great, but the delivery schedules are haywire. Can anyone who has used Elan comment on when materials were promised and when you actually got them? Thanks.
They were late in releasing practice questions for some subjects and the second mock exam. However, I think 2013 was their first year doing Level II. Since most of the material is the same this year, I’d expect them to release their stuff much sooner this time around. Their materials really are excellent. If I were you I would email them and ask for assurances that they will release on time. Tell them that you will expect a refund if they don’t meet their commitments…simple as that.
I got their printed books by Dec or Jan i think. They releases practice questions in stages and not for all readings. the questions were not in item set format. they released 2 mocks.the 2 nd mock the week before the exam.
their notes are very good. so are their videos. their delivery schedules are haywire. their schedules should be much better this year as most of the material is the same as last year. Their mocks were hard maybe i found them because i was a bundle of nerves in may after miserably bombing CFAI mock.
As I registered after getting my dec exam result, within a week of ordering I got 3 books, the rest two was In early April. I can’t remember when I got eleventh hour.
The mock was very late. The last one was a week before exam. However, I have to say I like élan much better than schweser’s notes (I have access to both as my boss gave me his schweser as he hadn’t touched it by April and felt he won’t be able to finish reading bye exam day). Elan’s books were more comprehensive. Élan mocks were better than schweser. I cud get 65-70 with schweser, with élan I got 50-55. A bit depressing I know, but thanks to reading elan’s answer, rewatch élan pm, fra videos, did élan pqs, I managed to bump these two section from 0/6 to 2/6 correct, in cfai and élan mocks to 50-70 range in the exam. Last 3 days prior to exam, I read eleventh hour prolly 3 times.
I know I passed by a whisker. I had less than 4 months to study (that subtracted by 3 weeks when I was ill so was only 3 months of study), I have to say elan’s mcks and 11th hour summary book really bumped me to the passing zone. Everyone who knew I was sick and managed to pass with only 3 months of study was amazed. I actually was so pessimistic of passing as my score never went above 70 with schweser and never above 60 w élan or cfai.
As this will be elan’s second year of providing level 2, am sure their delivery will not be as bad as the first batch. If you like schweser notes, it’s not bad, it is more direct than élan who explain everyting very detailed (some may not like the obsessive deriving stuffs). Just get élan mocks.
Now as I was elan’s lab rat for level 2, will I buy their level 3 vids, mocks ( no notes) knowing release dates will be unpreditable? 95 pct chance I will ( if I have extra dough when they release price of the vid-mocks-11th hour for L3, that is)
I got my videos on a USB stick, and I was allowed to install the player and transfer all the videos onto my PC. I don’t think a regular DVD player would work but you should ask them.
Sheikh79: The folks at Elan said the videos would be sent on a USB stick, and viewable on a computer. I’m not sure what format they’re in. I just thought it would be nice to watch the videos on a TV / bigger screen.
I bought their equity book as soft copy but they wont send it out til August - contacted them about release dates and whether I could have the last version to kick it off but they just ignored it…they are a bit overwhelmed I guess…
2013 was their first year doing LII. Since more of the material from last year has carried over into the 2014 curriculum, I can’t imagine them having similar issues again. No doubt that their materials are better than the competition.