I did Schweser only for both L1 and L2. I tried to study CFAI text for L2 derivative but there was just too much information for each LOS - I couldn’t really concentrate on retaining just the most critical knowledge needed. So I did 2 read through for Schweser - once in detail reading in 2 months time , second round is a speed read through for the topics I can’t retain fully from my head for roughly 1 month - and I tried to link the entire curriculum up in a logical manner. The last month before the exam I did lots of Qbank - like 1200 of them? and I only do the difficult ones (no point getting a false comfort in scoring the easy questions, imo) , and spend lots of time reviewing each question I got wrong. 3 days before test all i did was mock and again heavy review of each question I got wrong - ended I only manage to do 2 full mocks - 1 CFAI and 1 Schweser mock.
But I barely passed - so it is quite dangerous to do only Schweser, imo. Another caveat - it seems that there are many more surprises in the L2 test compared to L1 - some concepts wasnt covered in detail in Schweser. Be mindful of that - so for you to just rely on Schweser - you have to be sure that whatever that’s covered in Schweser, you have to know it extremely well. Cant shortcut the text and shortcut the supplementary note. lol
On the background part - I have a maths degree with a focus in financial engineering - ermm… so derivative in cfa is actually more primitive than the one I’ve already learnt in univ. 2 years working exp in unrelated field - portoflio analytics in a bank…
Level I: I used Qbank almost exclusively. Read the LOS, then do the LOS questions (basic), then do the reading questions (intermediate) when finish all the LOS’s, and section questions (advanced) when finish the readings. For some topics (e.g. hypothesis test) I had to resort to curriculum/Sch notes/wiki/others because my work experience and previous study didn’t provide me the knowledge; other topics (e.g. technical analysis) I just totally ignored. Then I started creating tests and do ALL the Qbank questions (yes, around 3000+ questions), one section at a time. Then came practice exams and mocks, some 1500 questions more. Passed rather comfortably.
Level II: I pretty much repeat what I did for Level I. 2 things different this time around though: 1/ I read through the CFAI texts before doing a section; 2/ I don’t have as much time as Level I going straight from Dec to Jun, so I have to weight down certain sections. In the end, I failed those that I weighted down (AI, Econ) but did well on others, esp. Equity and FRA which with some luck help save the day.
Bottom line: for level I it’s a computationally intensive exam, so doing lots and lots and lots of practice will help you memorize the formulas and crush it easily. For Level II it’s still a computationally intensive exam; however the questions presented are no more “you are given a, b, c; now use a formula and get to the result”, instead they’re now “you are given a, b, c, noise, noise, x, y, z, more noise; now determine which goes where and get to the result”. I guess a lot of people fail at the “determine which goes where” part, which is where you need to pay attention to the most for level II.
Work experience: 5 years working as an actuary, with some actuarial exams under my belt that helps a lot in level I, but not so much in level II.
I used Schweser only and believe in the material definitely. In my opinion Schweser + S2000 Magician is all you need to pass. I used Schweser Notes (read it 4 times), did 5 practice mocks, 1 cfai mock and some ethic questions off Q bank for level II.
I kept track of my time on excel and I legitimately clocked in over 400+ hours (i didn’t count any breaks or anytime my mind wondered off)
It’s all about taking what you have and becoming a master at it. reading through CFAI and Schweser is just to much for me. So i focused on one resource and became great at it and it paid off. Also when I study i constantly ask myself why this why that. Every number/variable in an equation I try to understand why something is being used and not just accepting it because that’s what the formula says.
It takes a lot of digging and reading but it was all there in Schweser. Also people on the boards were really helpful and S2000 explained things very well too.
You can buy Elan, Schweser, classes, CFAI material but if you dont take the time to master any one of them than you’re going to be screwed because you spend all your time spread out and each one uses different language and methods and you end up getting confused.
Also my mock scores were in the 60s and I learned the most the very last week when I was going over mocks. (that’s the one thing I wish i spent more time doing) or reviewing the questions I got wrong…
But I plan to use Schweser only again for level III too.
hamada.smaili … buddy did you clear level 2 this time? I hope you did because I remember reading your post back in december where you said you have already covered the whole curriculum and you will be practicing from then on … I hope you did clear the exam.
As for me, I didnt. I’ll be taking the exam again next year
1st Try: Only schweser books (Band 6)…was unprepared
2nd Try: Scheweser Books+Schweser Practise Exams+CFAI Mock (Band 10)…worked hard this time…but…less than 50% in FRA
3rd Try: Schewser Books+Schewser Practise Exams+ CFAI Mock+ CFAI EOCs…Paasssss…above 70% in FRA
Hope above helps…
If you don’t want to (laziness or time constraint) cover CFAI EOCs completely…I would suggest doing it religiously for FRA & Equity…it would help a lot…
it is very difficult to pick yourself up after a demoralizing failure like this. I hope, however, to do just that and come back strongly next year.
I will make sure that I do all the EOC this time. I did EOC for FRA and Equities and ended up doing good in those areas. I will make sure that I do every single EOC question of every single subject. I thankfully have most of the concepts on my finger tips and hope not to repeat my mistakes.
I used mainly Schweser Notes+QBank+the Live mock exam. I also read the summaries in CFAI and did EOC questions in CFAI for a couple of study sessions (2-3). Summary: 95% of the study time with Schweser, 5% with CFAI. It worked. I think the most useful parts was the Schweser mock exams and the Qbank.
My background is Computer Science and Electrical Engineering.
I used only Schweser for bot hlevels, but it feels like level II requires more than Schweser, e.g. the official CFA mock revealed many areas that were missing in Schweser. Such topics as ethics, economics and as it turned out derivatives were not properly covered in Schweser Qbank was amazing for level I, but not that valuable for level II, at least in my opinion, mostly due to the question format in Qbank.
For level III I am going to make notes from the original curriculum and practice with questions from Schweser.
The topics which weigh more need more time and practice.
Study the material twice.
Practice the tests at the end of study session twice.
Topics/Subjects I am comfortable with need to be studied at the end.
While studying ‘study session’ i made short (but very important like formulas or relationships of key variables) notes.
After studying 5th study session, I came back to the 1st study session to see if I still remember the formulas, key points. This helps in both retaining the material in head and helps practice recall the concepts and formula.
For the second reading of the material, I targeted 50 pages of material to read / practice questions each day.
Week before exam, I revised my key notes and very important topics of FRA (pensions specially and inventory), Equity Investments (DD valuation, FCF valuation and residual income approach) and some key formula and topics of other subjects.
I practiced from time to time the end of study session questions of schewser notes without looking at the material. Before exam, i practiced these questions from important study sessions.
Unfortunately, I did not practice any mock exams or any mock exams provided by Scheweser or from any other source. Though, I would highly recommend you to do that. Not only practice mock exams at the end but also when you are half way through the material. This will definitely give you a feel of new material you still have to study/cover/practice. You will definitely know where you stand and how much more effort you need to put before sitting in the actual exam.
I started with Schweser only approach but was not feeling confident when I started solving EOCs
So when youre done with Schweser, you can also skim through the CFAI text before solving EOC’s…it won’t take time… Also there are some chapters(very few) where it is best to directly start for CFAI as you may not get conceptual clarity from schweser …
So I feel Schweser + CFAI EOCs + box examples inside CFAI books is sufficient. Some box examples can be quite useful. So dont just do the EOCs.
And then the obvious …CFAI mocks and some other mocks like schweser for confidence.
This could be useful for those who dont directly like studying from a big book. like the CFAI texts…
Simply relying on only shweser for level 2 could be risky. You can still pass but risky.
Are you good at deductive reasoning? Did you score well on SAT and GMAT? If so, Schweser will probably be all you need for Level 2. Just be careful to make sure you fully understand everything that is covered by Schweser because remember that Schweser is providing you a skimmed down version already…
Remember that you are only trying to get a passing score and not a perfect score. A passing score is what Schweser prepares you for and is not about getting an “A” on the test…
I knew Schweser in and out and for the Level II exam and 95% of the material was covered by Schweser. I can’t understand the people on here who jump around from Elan, CFAI, Schweser, Practice Mocks, etc. That’s way too of a scattered study plan for me but each person needs to determine their own study plan that works best for them.
but good way to put it though. I believe becoming a master at schweser will help you pass vs doing a litle of schweser, elan, cfai, etc etc. never opened a cfai book and don’t plan to.
I only used schweser and CFAI EOC and it was enough on the first trial. someone up said that Schweser only cover 85% of the material I don’t agree…15% not cover is too high…
