As someone who tasted both I can say Schweser is way better. For June 08 level 2 I did study enough time (more than 250 hours) but my problem was that I finished preparation 2 months before the exam date and didnt study after that at all. Still if I were using schweser I would expect a fail with better results. Thats it. Stalla sucks.
I’m a huge believer in the Stalla passmaster - used Schweser for the study notes on LI and LII, but completed the passmaster twice before glancing at Schweser’s q-bank. The real estate questions this year were verbatim from Stalla questions.
I thought Stalla did a poor job in covering the real estate material. If it wasn’t for looking at Schweser notes i probably would not have been able to answer even one question on the exam. I truly believed in Stalla when i joined their course and by the middle i was totally disappointed. I dont think i lacked in my preparation but if you dont have the right preparation material than it doesn;t matter how well you prepare. I would honestly recommend schweser notes and cfai texts to anyone taking the exam next year if you want at least a shot at passing it.
shivster, I’d use CFA for any topics I had difficulty with from Schweser. I’d definitely looked at CFAI for Ethics and Portfolio (Schweser dropped the ball on Portfolio in 2007 from what I heard). I used CFAI texts for Ethics and ignored Schweser while I used both for Portfolio. I think I also used both for Quant because I could not get my head around Time Series Analysis. Finally, I looked at the CFAI for the FSA questions, just to get extra practice. You know you are going to get a question on equity investments/impact of different accounting methods, a question on pensions and the impact of adopting the new standard, a question on consolidating multinational ops. I just made sure I reviewed the questions and examples from CFAI on each.
I am 2 for 2 with Stalla. I passed Level 1 and 2 on the first try (Dec '07 and June '08). I didn’t attend the classes (I have a dog at home that I didn’t want to leave) and I stopped watching the videos after a few study sessions (I think my four hours could be better spent). The key though was that in May I took practice exams from Schweser, Stalla, and CFAI. I never opened my CFAI books (except for the old practice exam questions.)
Thanks laundrybj, I am not going with stalla even though they offer it for free the second time. I will implement your strategy.
I was very disappointed in Stalla this year. I used them for level 1 and I couldn’t have asked for a better program. It made the exam a piece of cake! For level 2 I thought that the morning section was fairly easy but the afternoon section was near impossible. I am thinking of going with another provider next year. The only thing that is holding me back though is that I think when Stalla hears that a lot of people failed level 2 this year that they will focus much more on fixing their materials for 2009…
I bought everything except Schweser video’s . I find Schweser is very to the point and stalla has more verbatim. I defeinitely prefer Scwheser Q bank over Stalla Passmaster. With Q bank you can sift questions by level of difficulty and browse questions. Stalla practice exams a complete waste !!! The CFAI I used them for ethics and FSA mainly. I didn’t do any questions from the back of the CFAI book. There is so much to remember, like I forgot how to calculate covariance (its in level 1), Balance of Payments was such a minor topic in econ and one of the equity questions, with H model…whatever. There are so many little areas they test !!! When did people start studying ??? and what were they getting in the practice exams before the real test. I wasn’t scoring 70% but 60 I spent so much money buying all the material !!! Don know what to do this year
I went through all of the Stalla videos, study guides, and Passmaster questions and failed in Level 5 band. I put A LOT of study time into this past June (pretty much covered everything end-to-end twice) and I’m a generally good test taker, so I’m still trying to figure out how I failed so badly. I still put most of the weight on myself, but maybe Stalla didn’t prepare us properly, who knows.
Judging by the despair and destruction of this thread, maybe Stalla was intentionally (mis-)named as a sick reference to “Estella” from Dickens’ Great Expectations.
Hello everyone, Passed L1 in Dec and failed L2 Band 3. I only used CFAI textbooks and 2 mock exams from CFAI to prepare. Finished all books except Book 6 of CFAI. Thus looking for new direction of how to tackle this one. Looking into either Qbank or Passmaster. I think I know now I will use the Qbank from Schweser after all those comments. Thanks! jojosf
thanks for the information
I used Stalla for Level 1 '07 and 2 '08 and passed. I don’t mean to brag, but it is possible. However, I could notice that L2 materials/classes/tests were kind of sucky. I’m not sure how I passed exactly, but I did every passmaster question, attended every lecture, (whether through CD or through the actual class), and did most of the practice tests. Taking your own notes is key, as well. But I will agree that by and large, Stalla isn’t as good for L2 as it is for L1. The other teachers pale in comparison to Peter Olinto and too much focus is put on topics that ultimately weren’t tested much. I don’t know whether to stick with Stalla for future ventures, but as the adage goes, “if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it.” For those who failed with Stalla, I’d go with Schweser. I’m kinda superstitious, so I may just stick with Stalla. Good luck.
Hi Jeks I took Level I last week - prepared exclusively with Stalla and liked it - quick question, does Peter Olinto also teach all/most of the Level II video sessions? Thanks.
CFAI
i took the Stalla course for level I and level II… Passed level 1, failed level 2. I recommend the CFAI text for Level 2 given the complexity of the material you are expected to understand. Stalla just barely skims the surface for Level 2 in my opinion.
@UWS - Olinto only teaches FSA and some of the Equity. Ben Jones is absolutely terrible. The other guy is okay; he apparently taught Olinto when he was a newbie. Jones teaches Economics, a lot of Fixed Income, and I think he teaches corporate finance. He basically reads from the notes, makes bad jokes, and tells you to refer to the study guide. Virtually no teaching. I hope that helps.
I used Stalla for both level I and II. Level II I only had 5 months to study for since I took level I in December. I think the videos and readings were pretty good and definitely helped me. I supplemented with Schweser Book 6 and 7 of sample exams, as well as Secret Sauce and Qbank. That and the CFAI mocks and samples - along with a ton of studying and I felt prepared. I didnt read as much of the Stalla material as I should have, for portfolio management and fixed income but at the end of the day caught most of it in the sample questions. Overall I think I probably got in the high 70’s low 80’s on the exam and am pretty sure I passed.
I passed L1 using Stalla, and used them again for L2. I did use a little bit of Schweser notes for L1 and didn’t like them. Stalla study guides are super. They are not very short but they explain most of the concepts in a very powerful way. I didn’t like the videos much except for Hetherington… He is a true teacher. Olinto is popular but he has this horrible habit of repeating himsel about 10 tmes every minute, drove me insane, and I couldn’t take it. Many people here didn’t mind that and felt that repetition helps with reinforcing ideas. Stalla for me is the study guides. Should I fail, I would go with Scheweser only for the variety and for a different view of the topics.
Will not know for sure until results are posted in August but I felt pretty good when I left the exam on Saturday. I only used the Stalla Study Guides and Passmaster, did not watch any of the videos. Ran through all the question in Passmaster twice. I also supplemented my studies with the Schweser practice exams and Secret Sauce. I did all of the Schweser Volume 1 exams and all of the Stalla Exams, along with a couple CFAI Samples and their mocks. I felt that everything that was on the test was covered in at least one of the Schweser Volume 1 exams or the Stalla Exams.