OK, I haven’t yet bought the L3 material. I am debating whether I will take L3 this year or next year (lots of stuff happening right now). So, can I get an opinion on how much material there is in relation to L2. For example, the L2 CFAI test were 6 big books, is that the same for L3? I am trying to decide if I have the time to do it this year. Thanks for any help. Of course, smart@ss answers that are funny are also appreciated.
There is less material, but studying for L3 takes MUCH more time from my experience. Practice exams, EOC questions for IPS and practice essays are very important for L3 and take up a LOT of time. It’s basically like you’re preparing for 2 separate exams: the AM (essay) and PM (vignette).
There is less material and it’s seemingly of less difficulty… until you look at the pass rates. You’ll see that you’ll go through the material much quicker. On the other hand, you have to have a greater level of understanding compared to L2 as half of the exam is written. However the most significant factor is that only a few topics transfer over from L2 to L3, which makes a year long break feasible. If you just took L1 and was considering a year long break, I would advise against it.
Definitely less reading and less math. Some (or a lot depending how much you remember) repetition. New stuff about portfolio, behavioral finance,… I think what throws people off is the new format where you need to answer instead of selecting the readily served answers where you have to argue as well as discuss nuances. Practice exams, EOC,… takes same amount of time, if you also did practice exams and EOC for level II. Bottom line: Still take a lot of time to study (and more to pass :-)), so don’t underestimate, so if you don’t have time, do not do it.