Schweser still has his picture on their ads on their website 
Did the IFT videos and review session plus Marc’s LevelUp bootcamp and the curriculum of course. Schweser is a big NO for Level 3. IFT helped me understand a lot of the concepts i was not clear on plus it helped me cover all the blue box and white text examples, i didnt know about marc early on otherwise would have to decide between marc and IFT. I would highly recommend Marc’s bootcamp. If i pass this time, it would be due to IFT and Marc (LevelUp)!!
I find it strangely peculiar folks are already advocating for Mark before results have been released. I took Mark’s class, and here is my unbiased review. Mark does a great job pacing and trying to cover as much of the material as possible within the allotted time, however, this is both a positive and a negative, as he spends time covering some really low value areas in addition to easy concepts in which folks should already know this late in the game. Mark should spend more time covering more high value areas and areas in which most folks have a difficult time grasping. Mark spends a lot of time trying to be relatable and tying a lot of the material to his own personal life and occasionally jokes about his ex wife, I’d much rather Mark spend more time answering our questions than story telling. Mark spent very little time answering our questions and at times was very defensive in not wanting to be wrong or make a mistake. In our class specifically, he made a mistake in his discussion and someone came up to him during the break to point it out and Mark thanked him for not embarrassing him in front of the class. I’d much rather Mark own up to his mistakes and make sure the class got it right. Mark’s material is too cumbersome! Although, it is very detailed, with only a month left before the exam, Mark should spend more time creating an actual “boot camp” source that we can actually digest within the few weeks we have left. The material Mark uses for the bootcamp is the same material he uses in his weekly course, so if you didn’t take his weekly course you are surely to feel overwhelmed. Mark is still jaded from his experience with Schweser as they did not see him as a top instructor and he spends too much time trashing them, I actually like the Schweser material and I only took Mark’s class to hear the material presented from another perspective. All in all, you can tell Mark is trying his best to deliver a value added product, however, I wouldn’t go as far to say that he is the guru as some of you are advocating.
My Opinion - Long time lurker and not an active contributor (I wish I could contribute more). However I think this will help future L3 test takers who are deciding on how to approach L3.
This was my first time with L3 and before I commenced my studies, I looked through AF, Reddit, Blogs etc. and figured that I should rely on the actual CFAI material the most. For my L1/L2, I only relied on IFT/Schweser along with CFAI released topic tests and mocks.
I started with IFT (Arif is one of the few service providers out there who focuses on following the CFAi curriculum). In late March I started with essay mocks and I was doing a terrible job with IPS and other essay questions, both from a timing standpoint and quality of my answers. I was getting nervous with my preparedness and started looking around for answers/recommendations on AF.
This is when I came across LevelUp boot camp. I saw some sample videos and decided to sign up for the immediate available slot. I am based out of San Diego and flew to NY to attend his boot camp in the last week of April. I agree with footb1 that it was overwhelming but irrespective of the outcome, I owe it to Marc.
LevelUp prepares you for the L3 exam which is what we care the most. The way Marc showed us how to do the IPS helped save a good 10-15 minutes of the time I used to take to work it out. I was too wordy with my answers, especially with the chapter on behavioral bias. He taught us how to use key words (which is what the graders looks for) and keep the answer very short. I had very conveniently neglected those key words and he was the reason I started paying attention and I am sure it will make a difference.He also highlighted common mistakes that we make which will make us lose a point or two. (Criticality of writing USD or GBP if the questions specifically asks you to do so).
These are things that no other test provider highlights so effectively, as did Marc. I am not trying to patronize or pontificate, but they say, the 3 cardinal rules of teaching are, “repeat, repeat and repeat”. This is what he did with regards to common mistakes/traps and how to avoid them while taking the exam.
I left his boot camp with renewed vigor and changed/enhanced my test taking strategy in the last month. I was able to finish my am section with 3 minutes to spare (earlier I always left about 15-20 points where I did not even manage to read the question). Even while taking the exam, I could recollect the traps and also use the right key words where applicable.
In retrospect, I wish I had taken his entire course and not just the boot camp.
Marc was vocal about us recommending his boot camp to other fellow L3 test takers. It may seem odd to a few, but I take no offense in that. He is a professional running his business and needs to get the word out there. The best people who can get the word out there are people who took his course and either liked it or disliked it. I for sure was completely floored by his ken.
I owe it to AF for being my support system over the last 1.5 years and believe that my feedback will help people make a decision on their own.
Good luck to everyone on the results.
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As someone who has been teaching CFA review courses for more than a dozen years, I can assure you that for every candidate (such as yourself) who complains that Marc covers too many topics, there are ten candidates who would each scream ten times as loudly if Marc failed to cover even one topic.
I disagree. Marc knows why Schweser dismissed him; I know why they dismissed me. I’m pretty sure that it’s for the same reason: neither one of us parrots the party line. If Schweser has errors in their materials, Marc and I would each let them know what the errors were and advocate that they be corrected, but if they weren’t, we wouldn’t hesitate in our classes to say that the materials contained errors. I see this to this day, as there are classes I teach in which I have to use Schweser’s materials.
All “bootcamps” or review courses are overwhelming and very fast paced. I’ve been to 2 review courses for each level including Windsor Week twice. I agree with s2000magician about there are plenty of candidates who would complain if he skipped “low value” topics people should know. You’re in the minorit I’d imagine. If you are prepared and have been through the material in depth with a couple mocks under your belt, as I was, his Bootcamp is not overwhelming or too fast paced. It’s a review course to get things flowing through your head again and to learn a few tricks. Someone mentioned things as silly as labeling answer right. People who took the 2015 AM exam and failed, whom also attended his Bootcamp this year admittedly said they wrote the answer to that IPS calculation with a $ sign in front of it rather than USD. For anyone who was band 10 very well could have passed that test with three silly letters in that answer. I for one found his course coupled with the weekly videos very helpful. But you cannot rely on one instructor. He can point you in the right direction but it always comes to self discipline and being able to hit the books on your own. Besides, tell me where you can find an instructor who give you his personal cell phone number and ALWAYS be willing to help. Oh, and he would do it even if you didn’t buy his products. He was helping me before I gave him a dime. His commitment, dedication and willingness to help me is told me he actually cared.
I think my review was pretty balanced, you folks responding to my critiques just proves the bias that is rampant in this thread, not everyone will have all positive comments.
In the bootcamp class, Marc stated that Schweser didn’t view him as the “A” team when he asked to teach Windsor. So this wasn’t my own comment or something I made up.
You have every right to your opinion but you’re missing the point. We’ve stated how his class has benefited us. Regardless of how I score on the exam I know that having sat through the level-up class, working the old AM exam questions in the binder and practicing in the IPS book helped me do better on the exam than I would have without the bootcamp resources.
My (subjective and biased) opinion (aren’t they all??) is that Marc and his class were incredibly helpful and will recommend it to anyone I know taking L3.
what question are you referring to? They honestly would not give points for $ rather than USD when they effectively communicate the exact same thing? also, assuming the question only deals with USD, does USD actually need to be written out?
It was the return calculation for the endowment I believe. The question specifically said something “calculate the endowments required return (in USD) to meet their spending needs.”
Many, as I, are so naive as to believe the sign is synonymous to the USD but it's also used as the Canadian or the Australian . I understand people typically associate the sign with the USD but CFAI doesn’t apparently, it’s a global exam. Marc told us that as a former grader he knows points would be deducted because CFAI specifically asked for the answer in USD.
Correct, but if the question were to deal only with EUR and USD and not CAD or AUD, and you wrote , it should count in my mind as would imply USD. But let’s say the question solely provides USD inputs. If you calculate the return using the inputs, you will have calculated it in USD. Surely stating USD is redundant?
No it is not, answers should be labeled correctly. Schweser also points that out. Heatherington keeps saying label your work in the currency. I for one followed that advice religiously and labelled everything.
So you have to buy Schweser or another service to know that they are grading whether or not you arbitrarily label something that really doesn’t need to be based on the way the question was asked? They ask to calculate it in USD, not to label it in USD. You can correctly calculate something in USD without labeling it as such. There needs to be more transparency with respect to grading if that is the case. Grading in that manner does not effectively judge my knowledge or grasp of the concept but solely whether or not I managed to write USD.
That they would be docked for writing “$” instead of “USD” seems incredibly unlikely. I’ll e-mail CFA Institute and ask about that one.
When I read a question that asks you to compute the return in USD, I understand it to mean, “. . . as opposed to computing the return as a percentage.”
Please do email them. I’m only restating what I was told through my instruction. I too, found it ridiculous. As someone else said, it has nothing to do with my knowledge. It’s a completely unfair way to result in a fail. I’d be upset but that’s why I labeled everything super carefully.
Done.
Now . . . we wait.
There is a reason there is an expectation to get the label correctly and write INR, PLN, USD, GBP etc. if that is what the question asks.
We assume that USD and $ sign are one and the same (which is true theoretically) and if the question is all about calculations in USD.
Here is how I reasoned it
We need to keep in mind that every currency have their own symbols. (Japanese Yen ¥, Indian Rupee ₹ etc.). If the question asks you to calculate in INR, the solution expects the label INR and not the symbol ₹.
There was a 2011 am essay question that asked us to calculate VAR (in PLN). I believe that the expectation was to label it as PLN and not zł which is the symbol for Polish Zloty.
I never bothered investigating till I started seeing comments on this thread. Anyways, it would be good to get a clarification from CFAI and Bill will let us know the findings.
What would be interesting, is to find out why they specifically ask us in parentheses to calculate/label in a given format. If CFAI is agnostic to us labeling as $ or USD then why bother asking the question, “calculate (in USD) …”
I agree with the comment that if you are a borderline 10, these small things could make a difference if they are relevant.
\m/
You must have misunderstood Marc.
I think he means to label the answer with USD or $ rather than leaving the answer (number) unlabeled.
e.g if the answer is fifty thousands, write it $50,000 or USD 50,000 rather than 50,000
Good luck!
Nope. It was very clear what he said to us. It was clarified exactly what he meant.