Hi, I am still debating whether to sit for Level II or not. I gave Level 1 in June and cleared in first attempt with good scores across the board. However, it was lot of reading and and huge time investment. (May be because I didn’t know what to expect and how prioritize and study). Mostly used the official CFA guides but also refereed to Elan guides later. I want to take up level 2 but I don’t want to spend too much time. I am wondering what is the path of least resistance for successfully completing level 2? If I sign up for Stalla Guides with the instructor led weekend courses, will that make the reading material and time investment more mangeable (like 4 months). Any insights or thoughts on this? Cheers, RedKnight
What do you consider a “huge” time investment? Anyway, if you want efficiency, cross CFAI textbooks off immediately. Don’t even open the box. Get Schweser or some other supplementary notes. Focus on the summary tables. Not sure about the classes. Maybe it helps (?). From my experience, L2 material is all about memorizing accounting rules though. I don’t think I would have benefited from going through it with an instructor. Everyone is different though.
If you could make such huge investment of time and passed the L1 in one sitting, don’t you think that to be on the safer side, it pays to summon courage and put an equivalent amount of time if not more and get through L2? I also passed L1 in one sitting and I put in a lot of time for it and having gone through suggestions and advise from L2 passers, L2 appears to be far more difficult than L1, therefore I have resolved to even study more. It pays to push to the limit and give the best shot than to regret it after. I advise you not to look for short cuts, try within your limit to put in the best. CFA texts still remain the best study tools if one has the time, other study guides should be used as supplementary materials.
If you thought L1 was a huge time commitment, L2 will be an even bigger time commitment. I think most people agree that the most time efficient method is to use Schweser and supplement with CFAI for obscure topics and EOC questions.
I second Thommo77’s statement def look into the schweser practice exam booklets, i used those heavily for the month before my level 1 and i def think i owe my pass to those two books.
I agree with thommo77. Also, u need a lot of practice to get through the L2 exam. The volume is huge and it needs a lot more effort for L2 prep compared to L1.
Thank you all for your comments. I agree there is alternative to hardwork and there are no shortcuts. At least the topics in Level II are of my interest (I haven’t seen the books yet)