To the guys who passed, many many congratulation. To the guys who didnt, try harder next year and beat it!
Just need help in deciding who to join , Marc or Nathan. ALL COMMENTS & EXPERIENCES are welcomed here , from the guys who passed and failed as well.
Help me decide.
Definitely Marc. I took his LevelUp bootcamp in April and never looked at Kaplan again. Passed by a big margin. You still need to put the time, no silver bullet here, but he will tell you How to use it. I largely attribute my success to him. If I stayed with Kaplan, I would not have passed. Cannot talk about Nathan, but he seems to be an offspring and a simulation of what Marc is doing. Marc is the real deal.
@1olita - is it possible to attend only the bootcamp from Mark or one has to enrol for the whole thing ( bootcamp + lectures )
This is a repost from another AF thread:
I used LevelUp online videos and Bootcamp. The good: I thought the online videos and accompanying slide book were well done and very helpful. The slide book is one of the best study tools I’ve seen across the three levels and the videos are excellent. The bad/needs improvement: The Bootcamp was not what I would call a CFA Bootcamp at all, it’s more like death by PowerPoint with a surprisingly small amount of interaction (almost none outside of IPS). Except for the IPS review, he basically just reads through the slides for four days during the Bootcamp, insults other providers/brags (taking away from time that could be teaching the material), and tells you how much hard work you must do before the exam. I get it, it’s 4 days to cover the entire curriculum so you basically must fly through the material (e.g. read through the slides), but that doesn’t make it helpful or a good use of time, in my opinion. That said, the IPS review is excellent.
I think LevelUp would be better off modeling the rest of the review session/Bootcamp off the IPS review – cover a handful of highly testable topics in depth and actually work problems. I think this is much “stickier” learning versus passively listening to someone read through PowerPoint Slides. I think Schweser may do this at their 3 and 5-day Bootcamps but I didn’t attend one, so I am not sure. You can’t do it all in 4 days and when you try to its too watered down and turns into the instructor reading from the slide deck with almost no interaction (aka death by PowerPoint).
I was also very surprised at the near constant self-promotion and Schweser/Mark Meldrum put-downs at the Bootcamp. Beyond just wasting class/study time (which is bad enough during crunch time) it came across as unprofessional to me. Aside from the IPS workshop and book of old exams sorted by topic, the bootcamp wasn’t a good use of my time – I can read the slide deck on my own since that’s basically what he does. Maybe other folks learn best by passively listening to 4 days of someone reading from PowerPoint for hours on end, but not me.
That said, I passed as a first timer and its largely because of his videos and slide deck are great for learning the curriculum – you see the big picture and also understand the minutiae (which is tested).
Also, if you do LevelUp, I’d make sure you save a couple months at the end for mock exams. My suggestions are CFAI (obviously), Schweser has a couple good ones – the downloadable/electronic ones where you can input your scores online after you take the paper test – and some lousy ones (the ones in their book of practice tests), and Mark Meldrum’s exams were top notch, I highly recommend those.
Everyone has his/her preferences, and these are my observations.
I’m reposting as well: LevelUp over Ronen. I used Ronen for Level II and Level III. He helped me pass 2, I failed with him on 3.
As a 5 year vet of the CFA program, I wasn’t planning on promoting LevelUp. I’d rather keep it a secret. But if it wasn’t for the outpouring of promotion on AF in 2018 I wouldn’t have seen all the comments saying it was amazing.
I can’t bash Ronen because he is solid. He tells you to use the institute material (correct), and guides you through a good amount of the strategy. Ronen is available if you need to text him or call him and he responds. I have more than a handful of colleagues that have passed using Ronen. I just think that if you want to pass Level 3 on the first try you have the best shot with Marc as you won’t need to do as much of the grueling work yourself (of reading between the lines). Ronen did miss a good amount of the detail in Level 3. I didn’t realize this until I went to see Marc.
I think since Marc only does Level 3 he is able to comb through the material like no other provider. His attention to the detail is unparalleled. And if you think you only need to know the 70% that other providers say you need to, I would respond by saying that I was not surprised by a single question on this year’s exam. I definitely missed a few equations because I figured they wouldn’t test the math of level 2.5 of a 10 level topic, but I was able to scratch down half or 75% of it.
Lol sure shell out thousands for no good reason. I’m gonna give it to you straight, read Kaplan books, watch Mark Meldrum Videos (review videos are gold and he goes over almost all the curriculum EOC problems), and lastly buy 3-4 AM practices with Bill Campbell @ FinancialExamHelp123.com Total Mock Exams with Kaplan and MM should be 8, in addition to doing all relevant problems in the AM section for CFAI mock exams 2010-2019. USE IFT test cheat sheet to see which are still relevant. This will get you the 90% and superior returns you’re looking for. Total Cost: A little more than what you pay for just Level Up Videos.
You can talk to CEO10K… he used Ronen and was a big advocate for his program… the guy barely passed!!! like 1% above MPS…
Do you want to barely pass?.. but actually, maybe the program pushed CEO over and without Ronen he would have been below the MPS?..
LOL im giving ceo a hard time… 
I remember him saying he crushed the AM with flying colors and turns out he got a 49% in the AM. Idk about this Ronen dude lol but glad CEO passed nonetheless!!
just read CFAI text and get Mark Meldrum videos and you will be fine. No need to spend thousands on prep provider.
Why so mean? lol. You are both charter-holders now, doesn’t matter how far you were above the MPS line, CFAI thinks that you both deserve the charter given your performance, all that matters. At the end of the day, performance on exam doesn’t really indicate higher likelihood of success in a real work environment.
@Engee - yes, possible. I did only the bootcamp. I know people who did only the video lectures, and who did both. And they passed, but they worked hard. I would say you need at Least one of the two, and bootcamp is probably higher value. But most of all you need to read all the material BEFORE you show up for the bootcamp. Good luck!
I passed both AM and PM way above the MPS, and I attribute my success to (i) very hard work and starting early, few months ahead of others, (ii) studying only from CFAI material, and (iii) Marc’s bootcamp.
He and I know each other. So, with rapport comes the ability to shit talk.
but okay dudes - y’all are a mess. Just because I didn’t pass above the 90th percentile you think it’s somehow Nathan’s fault and not my own? Mind you I still passed…
if you think me not scoring above the 90th percentile has more to do with Nathan than it does me, you ought to drop out of this program right now. Your critical thinking skills lack what it takes for you to be successful in finance.
does Nathan actually teach from the curriculum directly? In other words, does he walk thru examples, etc in the book? Or does he simply talk about it with no visuals? Just curious as to his style. Thx
yes he teaches directly from the curriculum. Yes he uses visuals - alongside actual real world examples THAT YOU WILL LEARN FEOM. He doesn’t inundate you with visuals, it’s not a slide based course.
I’ve said this many times over the last few weeks, but you have your best chance of passing by starting early and working both hard and effectively and focus on the curriculum. If you do that and use Marc’s videos, other materials, come prepared to his boot camp (which was a great refresher of ALL of the material) and follow his advice - which is to work hard and learn the curriculum - you should do well since he will help you focus your hard work effectively to help you pass the first time. I passed the first time and credit Marc for helping me spend my time effectively.
I watched one Nathan Ronin video for Level II where he made a sexist joke and would never give him any of my money after that. That one video was otherwise okay, but not stellar and I can’t judge his knowledge of the Level III curriculum, whereas no one doubts that Marc knows it inside and out.
Good luck to you!
I used both Nathan(2018 Fail) and Marc(2019 Pass). Nathan was great for structuring your AM paper, while Marc knew the material better. Nathan’s workshop would be good if you have trouble structuring your AM answers, but Marc knows the material inside and out which really helped.