Sorry to take your time up, but I am currently a Level 2er and was wondering if anyone passed using only Schweser or a majority Schweser with minimal CFAI text. I have a feeling the institute will somehow reward CFAI studyers over Schweser only, but am wondering how much I should crack the CFAI books. My thinking right now is to run through the CFAI for Ethics FSA and Equity ONLY. Wont even touch em for any other topics. I did a similar strategy for Level 1, but am gettin worried about 2. Any advice? Thanks in advance.
I used schweser for everything except ethics and some PM. The spines on the other CFAI books are completely seamless. Many have passed with only schweser…you will too Skip.
I used the same strategy as mwvt9 - have used solely CFAI texts for ethics at LI and LII. Also used CFAI for the Porter material in equities, which really helped on one of the item sets. Schweser is totally sufficient. Good luck Skippy.
do the end of the chapter CFAI questions at a minimum. I know for a fact I picked up a lot of points last year because I did that.
Followed schweser exept for Fixed Income and ethics. Did item sets from CFAI.Did Schweser pro. Passed comfortably.
budfox427 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > do the end of the chapter CFAI questions at a > minimum. I know for a fact I picked up a lot of > points last year because I did that. yup. all schweser, but did all the multiple choice and vignettes in the cfai curriculum.
passed using only Schweser and the John Harris class. I will clarify that my use of Schweser included 1) All study notes 2) Video CD’s 3) 3 day live seminar 4) All Practice exams 5) All 3000 questions in the QBank 6) The final review pack online seminar 7) Secret Sauce 8) Quicksheet
Schweser only, didn’t crack the CFA text. I highly recommend the secret sauce.
i definitely think that you can pass with just the schweser, but you will definitely see stuff on the exam where you are like “what the F, i never heard of that!” last year i did 50/50 text/schweser, and i had a number of friends who ONLY did schweser and after the exam there were a few questions they had to totally guess on cause they never saw them, but i at least was somewhat familiar with the concept from the texts. but most of my friends still passed anyway, you dont need to get 100% on the test to pass
Schweser, Qbank, Secret Sauce, and a crapload of questions and practice tests. Worked just fine.
For Level II I used the CFAI Ethics material and the Schweser notes for the rest. I didn’t purchase any additional study products. With that said, last years PM was a freightrain that I felt totally unprepared for.
Don’t bother reading the CFAI text for equity. As important as it is, Schweser does a good job. It’s a waste of time. Use the CFAI text for ethics, PM, derivatives (end of chapter Qs), and MAYBE fixed income. You will do poorly on these sections if you rely only on Schweser.
cfasf1 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > budfox427 Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > do the end of the chapter CFAI questions at a > > minimum. I know for a fact I picked up a lot > of > > points last year because I did that. > > > yup. all schweser, but did all the multiple choice > and vignettes in the cfai curriculum. So, do you gurus recommend doing only multiple choice and vignettes in the cfai curriculum? Some questions are long and they indeed reinforce the concept but is it worth doing them? Many thanks S
solarpower03 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > cfasf1 Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > budfox427 Wrote: > > > -------------------------------------------------- > > > ----- > > > do the end of the chapter CFAI questions at a > > > minimum. I know for a fact I picked up a lot > > of > > > points last year because I did that. > > > > > > yup. all schweser, but did all the multiple > choice > > and vignettes in the cfai curriculum. > > > So, do you gurus recommend doing only multiple > choice and vignettes in the cfai curriculum? > Some questions are long and they indeed reinforce > the concept but is it worth doing them? > Many thanks > S I only did the multiple choice and vignettes. it would have taken too long to do all of the open ended ones. your time is probably better spent pounding out as many practice tests as you can versus writing out essay answers.
Great post. I’m on two myself and i’ve only been using schweser. There’s been some talk on the lev2 board the past couple days on the panic over discrepancies. One dude on my desk passed two last year only using Schweser as well. I don’t even think he opened the package the CFAI books came in. LOL.
Just study and quit worrying about it.
Oh, I’m studying. That is not the problem, but qualitative information is very helpful to a person like me. You say just study, but if you “just study,” you find yourself spending 24 hours trying to understand the complexities of Valuation in Emerging Markets or Private Equity Valuation by reading 140 pgs. of CFAI small-print text/thick ass book/no hot chick on the cover material that you could have spent on condensed FSA or Equity material in Schweser. I definitely see your point, don’t get me wrong, but I just really wanted to verify the effectiveness of Schweser more than anything else. I am pretty much betting the farm on Schweser and if that is the case, I would want to make sure I hear posts like I did above.