I couldn’t disagree more on your point about the IS-LM framework. I used Elan for everything more or less apart from this and turned to Schweser because I found the Elan coverage of this area to be quite difficult to understand.
Funny how everyone learns the concepts differently depending on how something is explained like that.
Wadddup fellow candidates!
I decided to go with elan. Just ordered yesterday actually, and have really been enjoying the video lectures. Peter Olinto is great. He’s engaging as hell!
Before deciding tho, I tried to research as much as I could. Deciding factor for me was great reviews from people online, peter olinto…and the price, its much more affordable than Schweser. I figure at the end of the day, regardless of which prep course I chooce, it’s gonna come down to how much I’ve absorbed the material anyways. Plus sounds like both schweser or elan are great prep courses, which is why the price played a bit of a factor for me.
Haven’t had a real study sesh with Basit Shajani yet. Any thoughts on him? From posts above, sounds like he’s a good instructor as well, but would enjoy more comments on him. Thanks!
To each his own… whatever works
My $0.02:
I’d give Elan a slight edge in study notes. When it comes to mock exams and practice questions, I think they represent the actual exam more closely than Schweser.
I didn’t use videos too much at Level I, but they have Peter Olinto now who is apparently the MacDaddy of CFA teaching.
I have only used Schweser. For those who don’t particularly like some of the Schweser videos:
Doug Van Eaton appeared very little in Level 2, and did not appear at all in Level 3.
Susan Lakatos dropped off the face of the earth after Level 1. (I did not like her at all.)
Jon Bone had an increased presence at Level 2. He covers a lot of the FRA material. He did not appear in Level 3. (FWIW–I thought he was pretty good.)
Marc Lefebvre also has an increased presence at Level 2, then again at Level 3.
Andy Holmes does a lot at Level 2, but only Ethics at Level 3. (I really like him.)
Greg Filbeck makes an appearance at Level 3, and does the majority of the videos. I think he is the most delightful of the instructors.
Bruce Kuhlman also appears in Level 3. In fact, he wrote the Level 3 Schweser Notes. The notes are great–but he is abysmal as a video lecturer.
I used both élan and Schweser. If I would do it over again I would buy elans notes, videos, questions, and mocks (you can make highly customizable orders) and i would also get Schwesers qbank and volume 1 mocks. Élan stressed theory and concepts while Schweser did a better job with plug and chug type questions. I thought elans questions and mocks were overly difficult but idk they may have helped in the end. I thought Schwesers mocks and qbank were closer to the real exam but its easy to get caught up in formula questions and not fully understand the concept. Qbank is a must IMO. I liked elans videos because it taught you from the ground up and you could just follow along and take notes - it wasn’t simply a review video. Some pet peeves I had with Élan though were occasional typos and the teacher’s cursive handwriting in the videos. Elan also has a ton of discounts if you find an applicable one. For level 1, time and money are substitutes.
THIS! +1000. Their videos are way better than the competition.
On another note: I thought the guy’s handwriting was amazing!
sir you can make a group of 4 person to make a discount in elan guide to get 25%
FYI: I think it’s 3 for the group discount.
He’s quite different from Peter Olinto. VERY thorough and covers everthing, but kind of slow. The good thing is you can do the EOCs straight after watching his videos, which is a huge help at Level II.
To the OP: My vote goes to Elan for better videos and better-priced.
Ok, I was initially considering Schweser now I feel like I might jump ships. As we all know time is valuable. What are the total video lengths/hours for each?
I think Schweser is like 50, Elan is closer to 80.
Personally, i think that unless you have no background in finance, you don’t need videos for Level I. At Level II however, I don’t know what I’d do without Elan’s videos.
I agree with this. Level 1 isn’t hard because it has heavy material, it’s hard because it covers such a broad base of concepts. Video’s are just overkill, and for the price not worth it. Stick with scwhesernotes and qbank and you’ll pass.
FWIW ive been using elan’s videos for a few months now and they are very useful. I’d rather watch a video than read, and their videos are very detailed and teach you from scratch 
I can no longer promote Elan Guides. The quality of the material is decent, but they consistently miss deadlines which I consider crucial for planning my schedule. The mocks were supposed to be released on the 1st, I bugged them the 8th because they still weren’t posted. I received an email saying they’d be posted up the 9th due to formatting etc. Fine. The only problem is that the #'s on the questions are so screwed up there’s no way to be sure you are grading your exam correctly making the whole process pointless.
I emailed them on the 8th as well about the mocks being released. They said they would be up the 9th which they were as well
Sens89…I downloaded the first mock, but haven’t had a chance to look at it. Are all 3 mocks screwy, or just the first? I planned on taking mock 1 this saturday as well. Could be a major kink in my plans if so.
I haven’t looked at the others so can’t say to be honest. They did tell me that they had uploaded the incorrect file and will be fixing it quickly, so just be sure to redownload it before you attempt it. There were multiple errors, but an easy one to check for is in the afternoon questions #99 is missing and theres a question with no number (around 4 I believe)
Hi Sens, thanks for the headsup! I redownloaded the file. What did you score? I got a 70 but my head hurts so bad! Scored 82 in AM and 86 in PM.
Just took the AM scored 80. I’ll do PM tomorrow morning.