First of all congrats for everyone who passed and hard luck for those who failed.
I passed L1 and 2 from first attempts in 2010 and 2011 respectively using only schweser. I walked to L3 and thought this beast was the same as others and I can definitely slay it since im the “honors list” type of guys… Guess what?
In 2012, L3 slammed my head against the wall and i failed band 2 after 5 months of hard preparation using Schweser only. I realized then that my ego got me destroyed.
In 2013, I failed band 6 with a REALLY BAD performance on the AM and even worse on the PM … I used schweser notes and CFAI eoc. Guess what? IT wasn’t enough for me, I failed and Yes I failed badly. This was when I realized that CFA exams are not about being smart or “quantitative” type of guys. I was wrong, I got the whole CFA exam wrong at that time and things started to be clear for me…
I opened both results, printed them out; hung them on the wall and looked at my weak points.
I used CFAI books, EOC, past mocks, past am sessions, created notes and even memorized the hell out of blue / gray boxes … It is true that I studied for 2.5 months due to the loss of my Father who i dedicated my pass to but it was 2.5 months of HARD SEVERE DEDICATION AND MILITARY style work. Hell I solved AM session more than 3 times for each year. I focused on key terms too.
Guess what? I also found AF really helpful because no matter how much you know, you are still vulnerable to some concepts and people on here such as SMAGICIAN and cpk really helped a lot.
Again for those who failed, if it’s your first time you fail; i’m sorry but that’s what CFA exams are about … It’s hard, it’s depressing but when you pass; believe me … it’s worth it :)!!! NEVER GIVE UP
I have to mention that some people use Schweser only and they pass. It didn’t work out for me at all! What’s better than using the institute’s books themselves! Never ever give up, hit the books hard and smash the exam; best of luck for June 2015!!!
Never give up. If you can make it to level 3 then you can pass. It’s a different test and it requires mastering a lot of the topics in the morning and being able to articulate. You really need to know what each question is asking for and the form of the answer that will get you points. Do as many AM exams as possible and review key words and terms that they use in the answers because those will get you points. It takes work and practice but it can be done
I’ve just come back to the forum to check if you passed. So happy that you did. I was rooting for you man. Thanks for all those issues that we tried to figure out together. I also managed to pass. All the best for your future career :).
You feel so nice as a person, when so many people (both L3 and l2) wish you personally through email/text messages. In fact an AFer from Israel has been a constant encouragement even though his family context didnt let him take up the exam this year. He keeps emailing every now and then wishing me luck.
I passed L3 yes, more importantly I have made a few good friends professionally as well.
Good luck to everyone who is going to take L3 next year. I am no big expert - but suggest that you please start early.
Second of all, I would like to express my strong and high degree of disapproval with anyone who states that schweser is not helpful for any level: Schweser is the ONLY helpful book to pass level 1,2 and 3 and i passed three levels using ONLY schweser. it has everything you need.
The only benefits of CFA books are: 1) if one concept is not clear in Schweser, you will find its detailed desciption in actual books (for my case it was mostly AI, and most specifically the backwardation contango thing which was not very clear in Schweser for example) and 2) EOC questions.
And please dont dare telling me that most of the concepts in Schweser are not understandable and need to be elaborated. 90%-95% of what is mentioned in Shcweser is enough, understandable and just what u need for the exam.
It’s just that u can pass the exam knowing 95-99% of the material using 1000 pages or try to go and cover 100% of the material using 3000 pages and ending up only getting 30% of concepts. But again, that’s my opinion.
Thanks man! Mabrouk elak kamen! As I’ve mentioned in my post, Schweser was not enough for me and some people pull it out using Schweser alone; but if people are worried Schweser is not enough then why risk it? Go for the CFA bible itself! At the end of the road, no one should give up no matter how desperate they get because believe me after failing twice; depression controlled me for +3 months but then I gathered my strength, got the right mindset going and smashed the books all over again.
