Hi,
I just cleared Level I, and would like to plan for my Level II study.
Please tell me if Schweser alone will do the trick?
If not, how do you advise that I go about it?
A bit about your background in finance could coplement the picture too.
Thanks, and congratulations to those who passed, good luck next time around to those who didn’t.
In Level I it will for most people.
In Level II it will not for most people - there is another recent thread here that discusses this. I used it but HAD TO complement it with CFAI EOC and LOS and Bluebox examples to pass. No background in finance here.
In my experience, Schweser is fine for Levels I and II. I never opened a single CFAI book for those two levels. I do, however, have many years of buy-side experience.
Schweser + CFAI book EOC questions will do the job
No finance background or experience. Schweser only was fine for me.
long may your chimney smoke…a scottish blessing apparently…
This is definitely true.
I strongly believe that anyone who cannot pass using Schweser will have an extremely hard time using CFAI and passing. Reason being if you can’t retain the information in Schweser there is no way you can retain all of the info in CFAI. I would keep the CFAI texts around to refer to anything that you do not think is explained well in Schweser but I would not suggest using the CFAI as a primary source of study.
Good Luck
Schweser + EOC + EOC for a second time will do it.
Agreed that the best formula is Schweser + EOC, but Schweser wasn’t as complete as I had hoped it would be. Curriculum is a tough read in derivatives and fixed income, I’m certainly glad I had Schweser to get me throught that.
Schweser mocks are a must, and are pretty good. CFAI mock for 2013 was extremely hard, I got a 63% with less than a week to go for the exam, but I passed.
You don’t have to read the CFAI texts cover to cover to pass…
Having Schweser in your toolbox is fine BUT don’t depend 100% on it.
Do the CFAI EOCs and mocks at a minimum.
I used strictly Schweser for Level 1 and passed on first attempt.
I used strictly Schweser for Level 2, did about 1800 Qbank questions, 6 full schweser mocks and a cfai mock and ended up with a band 5. I studied for 6 months, and did well over “300 hours”, but they were apparently not the right kind of hours. _ Practice does not make perfect, only perfect practice makes perfect _. I did not do anything in CFAI text, which in my case appears to be a huge mistake. I spent too much time memorizing facts and formulas versus actually putting a pencil to paper and working practice problems. IMO Qbank will prepare you for the easy questions, but not the more challenging ones. For 2014, I will be focusing on working a ton of CFAI Blue Boxes and EOC, only referring to Schweser or the text when I am stuck. All the reading I did was useless as I retained very little.
Side note: the note cards I purchased from Schweser aren’t worth a god damn. Foolish purchase.
I work as a financial advisor at a brokerage. My experience is more in financial planning.
Here’s what i think, CFAI covers 100% of the material you need to know (of course!) and let’s say Schweser covers 85% of the CFAI, but you understand EVERYTHING on teh 85%, your chance of passing is still very high because the actual exam will probably take materials from the 85% (most testable topics) rather than the 15% that Schweser leaves out.
But if you struggle reading the CFAI texts and you may end up only understanding 60-70% of the material, then you are no better off because you are 1) not focusing on the most testable material, and 2) you are stuck on the overwhelming length instead of spend your studying hours more productively, ie questions and reviewing of answers.
I feel the same way regarding your point about comprehending CFAI. I still don’t plan on reading that text unless I’m stuck on a topic. I will most definitely be hammering Blue Boxes and EOC like a maniac.
used Schweser dedicatedly for level 1 and level 2…it is quite comprehensive and gives a firm grasp of the conceptsin a concise manner…THOUGH a few questions on L2 this time caught me offguard…better to religiously follow schweser mocks and practice exams for concept clarity BUT also make sure to go through the CFAI texts, just to be on the safe side!
i passed L1 perfectly (all As), L2 quite perfectly…
my strategy has always been: use only schweser books, only use CFAI books as reference (when something’s not clear in schweser notes), study time: from Jan - day before test (about 2 hours per day, some days are self-made holidays)
all the best
People say schweser + eoc does the trick. Problem I have with this is for some subjects like fixed income you can’t even answer the eoc with schweser. So you end up basically reading cfa text for those subjects of complementing with élan.
Remember that just because some people pass only using schweser does not mean you will to. Definitely possible but think you should be comfortable as possible since failing means you have to wait another year.
Posted this in another thread Also did Level 1 Dec 2012 and Passed Level 2 in June 2013Only used Schweser Notes with Econ/PM < 50%, Ethics 50-70, rest 70+ Did 5 mocks total, first 4 Schweser mocks and the official CFAI mock, got around 75% in all the mocks Highly recommend getting schwesser, studied around 250 hours. Started studying in Feb and finished Schweser notes by the 2nd week in April, 2 weeks of review of all the materials, and then a mock every weekend until the exam
Passed lvl 1 easily, and lvl 2 wih a ton of abysmal doubt but still passed with 2 <50 and 2 midrange.
A different strategy for the original poster: ask yourself at the beginning which of the ten topics you find the easiest. Fra, equity maybe? Use Schweser for those. For the rest, use BOTH CFAI and Schweser. BOTH. And as others have provided, work on tons of Schweser and CFAI mock tests. I did about a total of 10 practice sets (1 set = am + pm sessions), took the horrible Schweser live mock which I very much recommend (I got a 58% which gave me a wake up call, WHICH is all I needed.), all EOC questions in CFAI.
I placed the word doubt at the beginning due to the ethics section. Get as much practice on this. You will never feel confident on ethics level 2, unlike in level 1.
4yrs working exp in finance: 2 in valuations and modelling and 2 in funds monitoring.
Me.
1st attempt Level 1 on Dec 2012, pass.
1st attempt Level 2 on Jun 2013, pass.
I barely looked at CFAI cirrucumlum because I just didn’t have time.
I have computer science background. No finance related background.
Here is my 2 cents.
Schweser+EOC+mock will make you fine. (only my own experience)
Schweser: read in very detail. Figure out any possible confusion. Also, read and think. If you know the calculation/defination, try to explain why but not only how.
EOC: If you did the first step, you can probably beat most of the EOC questions. However, you may still see very few that are not explained clearly or even never appeared in Schweser. Here, you need to go back to the textbook and read that part. (go over those you did wrong before exam).
Mock: Do it just before the real exam (maybe 1 week or 2). This is for practice and mimic the real exam. If possible, do at least 4 comprehensive mock before exam to make every topic familar.