L3 prep provider, who is best? IFT, Mark Meldrum, others?

CFA Level III
#32

Mark Meldrum quite clearly knows his stuff inside out, but I can’t stand his video slides and find that his videos tend to ramble a lot. I think that’s why many people like David Hetherington and IFT, they slice straight through to the point.

#33

Absolutely agree with your observation about Options.

#34

Retaker here, band 8 last year. Completely bombed CAPE and Alts and missed so many of the potholes that are on the exam (read the entire question carefully, the titles of tables, labels etc…).

My company paid for Kaplan this year. A new coworker came on board with CFA (2016) and told me after his friend got band 10 he was too scared of that and went with both Kaplan and LevelUp. He said hands down go with LevelUp/Marc… so I took the plunge and paid out of pocket.

The difference is amazing.Here’s why:

  • Past exam book. Every RELEVANT exam question going back to 2000 categorized by subject (for mental filing). This thing is massive and the best tool for the AM session.
  • IPS workshop. The IPS calc is a curve ball every year but you learn how to systematically attack for max points in min time.
  • Slide book - he covers all the details in the color coded slide book. Red = give answer in CFA lingo, Green = tested before, Blue = not yet tested. The last week it’s so much easier to flip to the slide book page for say - the rules of immunizing a portfolio of multiple liabilities - than tracking down those 3 rules in the book. A great way to review the entire curriculum
    • Going through the curriculum and slide book with Marc he will point out:
      • Likely exam questions based on the past
      • Likely exam questions based on “perfect storms” where curriculum subjects overlap
      • Stuff that is tucked away in the white text they haven’t tested yet but THEY WILL so be ready
  • Last but not least Marc himself. I emailed him so many times and he responds back to you with an answer. The guy taught Swiss bankers CFA level 3 (the Swiss take banking pretty seriously) and has been specializing in level 3 for 20 something years. He knows anything and everything about:
    • grading
    • how to answer IPS/ Behavioral /Individual / Institutional to make sure you get max points
    • how the exam writers think, etc, etc, etc
  • He teaches out of the actual material and motivates your butt to work hard and earn those 3 letters. Invaluable.

Seemed like an obvious choice based on the guy’s experience.

Glad I did. I was so much better prepared than last year and hands down my score is higher because of the LevelUp prep - and that is what you pay for.

#35

I agree…the stuff that I saw from him was absolutely worth it. I had some of his lectures back when he was with schweser. All the topics that were current from back then, I looked at his video first and then did IFT. Marc gives a lot of tips and tricks that you don’t get with other instructors. IFT was good because after looking at the lectures, you could be confident that you got 95% of the curriculum from the videos alone, including most of the testable blue boxes. I got his lecture notes for the fixed income chapters and they were a perfect substitute for reading the curriculum.

LevelUp was just a little out of my budget, otherwise I would definitely go with him.

#36

I took a Kaplan class last year and didn’t enjoy it much (failed Band 9). It was from 6-9pm after work, which was tough to focus listening to a lecture after a full work day. They didn’t really teach how to take the AM, they just went over the material.

This year I used Level Up and thought it was beneficial. Marc highlighted the right areas of the material and used the CFA curriculum, no cutting corners. I didn’t do the bootcamp, but thought the materials provided were enough. I’d definitely recommend Marc. bA ton of people love Meldrum so he’d be a great option too. The only provider I’m hesitant to recommend would be IFT only due to their Level 3 relevancy sheet. They marked most Fixed Income sections irrelevant this year and I thought some sections actually were relevant.

#37

I don’t know IFT because I used Schweser, but I agree with you on this point. Not only on Fixed Income, but also other topics where marked as irrelevant but they were!

#38

Recent Level 2 taker here and already thinking ahead to Level 3 - seems like Level Up sounds compelling. I used Schweser for Level 1 and 2 and felt well prepared both times, but Level 3 sounds like a whole different type of test. One thing I like about Schweser is that I can get through the material in about 1/2 - 2/3 of the time and don’t feel like I missed much by not reading the actual curriculum. I’ve seen people have used Schweser for 1 and 2 but not for 3. I have a full time job, my wife has a full time job, and we will have 2 kids under 2.5, so for me what’s most important in Level 3 provider is 1) is it effective and 2) is it efficient given my time constraints. Cost is less of an issue since my employer will pick up most or all of the tab. Sounds like Kaplan + LevelUp may be the way to go?

#39

I’ve only had the chance to see some videos of Schweser’s David Heatherington for revision instead of reading through the books and I really found him very helpful. Highly recommended for retakers.

#40

Second time L3 taker (Band 8 last year). I used Schweser for every level. For L3, I feel like you need to do everything Schweser offers (read the notes, EOC questions, video lessons and weekly online or in person class, plus all 6 mocks) to really be prepared. Additionally, when I went through my review after the initial read through, I had to refer a lot to the CFA curriculum. There were a few topics that Schweser didn’t cover at all, or barely covered that luckily I saw come up on some CFAI topic tests and I reviewed in the CFA curriculum. I don’t think you can pass just reading the Schweser notes and doing mocks. What I like about their notes is they’re a lot more concise than the CFA text and much easier to read, but obviously that means some areas are covered less, or not at all. Also, I really feel like its necessary to do all 6 of their mocks. They can be infuriating because the wording of the questions and vignettes can be so bad (including a lot of typos) but if you do, and review, all of them, you end up covering basically all of the material all over again. I wasn’t a huge fan of the people they have doing video lessons aside from David Heatherington, but he does at least 3/4 of the videos so it’s not that bad.

#41

Thanks. This was pretty much my experience for Level 1 and 2 with Schweser as well, but I didn’t do anything else other than CFA mocks and CFA Qbank. Just sounds like only Schweser might not be enough for Level 3.

#42

I tried relying only on Schweser for the most part last year and it got me close, but wasn’t good enough. This year I did a first read with Schweser Notes (plus videos and weekly online classes) but do my review with CFA material as much as I could. Also, their QBank for Level 3 is useless. Just do CFAI EOCs and blue boxes and the CFAI topic tests instead.

#43

I would say Qbank is only really helpful with L1, barely helpful for L2, and almost unnecessary at L3.

#44

Dear All,

Hope many have received good news today. I have learnt extremely useful insights in studying CFA via this forum especially this thread for the Level 3 prep. Getting ready to sign up for Level 3 exam.

Would you still recommend IFT, Mark Meldrum (MM) or others this year to prepare for level 3? Read through the pros and cons and comments in this thread. @schneid, @mskhan91, @S2000Magican, @Rexthedog, @financialstudent, @technicalPOV, @Sam, @Youndman24 and everyone.

  • MM: Love a few videos I watched for Level 2 that helped me understand some weak spots I had. Though, MM plans to enable his video lectures in podcast for Level 3. I.e. less visual dependent and MM thinks that would be fine. I am a bit concern being the guinea pig…

  • LevelUp: Seems awesome and highly recommended by many. Viewed a video and found the screen very busy and could be hard to keep concentration for some of the 2.5 hours videos… He speaks clearly and easy to listen to. Would you still recommend LevelUp if I can’t attend the bootcamp? Expecting a new child in the family early next year and cannot fly to any bootcamp cities…

  • IFT: Like a few Level 3 sample videos watched. Perhaps Level 3 focus more on qualitative than quantitative compare to Level 2. Hence, can’t make a clear comparison.

  • Wiley: Below average Level 3 reviews in the forum and Darren Miller had left. Wiley still have great instructors. I used Wiley Level 2 videos and study calendar that helped me pass level 2 this year. I would love to stay with Wiley, but the below average reviews here and the new LOS for Level 3 this year concerns me about the release of the updated LOS videos.

Really appreciate your feedbacks.

sun

#45

His course is super expensive! Any other recommendation that comes close in quality?

#46

Actually, I did LevelUp after 2 failed with Shweser. Marc is definitely a better instructor- assuming you have his videos. No I have 800+ AF point under my belt. i have been here for over a century. Okay, maybe I am exaggerating my time.

1 Like
#47

Hello, did you do both Level Up videos and the boot camp or just the videos? I was told that at even at the premium price point LU holds back some content for those who join bootcamp?

#48

Pak did you pass? I recall you had to study very late due to family reasons…You have been a great contributor, I hope you got through… let us know…

#49

Malee - You get a few extra items during the BootCamp:

  • past AM exams sorted by topic

  • IPS workbook - to use during your IPS workshop

#50

Can you please elaborate more? I used LevelUp (BootCamp and videos) this year and failed. I am thinking about the IFT package for 2019.

Overall, I am happy with LU (videos and slides), but want to consider other options.

#51

I only did the Qbank because of the pass guarantee, but agree it was useless got over 90% in all of it but now at least I get a free new schweser package as if you don 50% of the questions with over 80% mark you get the pass guarantee… I think this year if I do decide to write again will focus on re watching the videos and weekly online classes and combine it with more EOC and re doing all TTs few times instead of Qbank.