mep_cfa10 Schweser is a shortcut and CFAI doesn’t like Throughout this threads retakes including myself discourage using only schweser. reading CFAI is a must, I promise CFAI will test where Stalla and and Schweser are weak. They want people to read the curriculum. That’s just my opinion but when I failed I saw a lot of comments after test results around this. Schweaser is a “supplement” not a “substitute” to the CFAI books
L2 is a heartbreaker and the CFAI is a money maker
Guille_GE Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > mep_cfa10 Schweser is a shortcut and CFAI doesn’t > like > > Throughout this threads retakes including myself > discourage using only schweser. reading CFAI is a > must, I promise CFAI will test where Stalla and > and Schweser are weak. They want people to read > the curriculum. > > That’s just my opinion but when I failed I saw a > lot of comments after test results around this. > Schweaser is a “supplement” not a “substitute” to > the CFAI books Ugh, I was planning on just supplementing my weak areas with the CFAI material. I’m a really slow reader so I don’t time to read the CFAI, then Schweser, then complete EOC questions, then Q-bank. I don’t follow the CFAI readings anywhere near as well. Schweser does a lot better job of getting the point across. I may have to find some time to read more of the CFAI material after doing my initial 1 or 2 read of the Schweser material first. Thanks for the advice.
I don’t think you have to read all CFAI material, but you should be doing all the EOC and in chapter examples. This way you dont miss any topics. Its not so much that you will miss a topic, I am yet to see Schweser flat out skip an LOS, its that CFAI asks certain types of questions that you need to practice with their materials. Schweser tells you how to do these questions, but CFAI lets you practice them. I can imagine after reading CFAI EOC and Schweser tests the nightmare that candidates who focused on Schweser went through. Mep - your study plan looks good, but instead of doing Schweser questions over and over again, I suggest doing CFAI questions over and over. Again focusing on the CFAI materials instead of Schweser. The people that suggest reading CFAI as a must - are you saying to know how to do the problems and examples or are you saying that you need to READ every paragraph of the curriculum. If you are saying the latter, I seriously doubt that CFAI will test you on some obscure paragraph word for word. They are more about concepts which are generally repeated over and over in the text and examples so they are hard to miss. And I doubt they will put an entire vignette on a topic they didn’t even touch as an example problem. To say that you have to read every paragraph, and more importantly, to REMEMBER every paragraph is not a reasonable assumption to make.
Starbuk, Thanks for the advice!
Starbuck, There were definately some obscure conceptual questions asked on level 1 that required you to DEEPLY read each and every paragraph (almost word for word). Not all questions are that way, but if you are shooting for a 70+ in every section, then you better be prepared…
Jay I appreciate the advice, however I could not distinguish between the problems you had to delve deep into to understand and the ones I flat out didn’t know how to do. My point being that you are gonna miss some problems anyway. If you have a good study plan and you are able to retain all the material that you do go over, that is better than just skimming over 3,500 pages. Anyway each person studies their own way, but I just want to stress that a solid study plan which involves reviewing previous topics and covering many problems is more important than saying you read all 6 CFAI books. mep - no problem. that is what I am doing and I feel much more confident that just doing Schweser problems. I still do the Schweser ones as well, but just as an add-on. Going through the CFAI examples and EOC stuff I feel like the material gets covered pretty well.
The thing which is missed again and again and again in all these posts is the conditions under which a candidate prepares, some of them are… -Academic Background / Work Experience -Working Conditions: Works full time / Part time / Student / FREEEEE -Personal Conditions: Married etc etc -Motivation : Love for finance / Career Goals / etc etc Now CFA itself is a self study program. So OFCOURSE ! we should expect this detailed and thick books because all candidates do not have masters / bachelor in finance. Plus, CFAI tests us on LOSs which are again based on command words and again from LOS we can see to what extent do we need to know a topic and where we will be tested. If for example we are not supposed to calculate forward rates, WE WONT HAVE TO in the exam. Now Schweser gets very focused on LOSs. What I have concluded after reading 100’s and 100’s of posts, is that: For people who have experience or a finance background can survive using schweser (+EOC Problems) . For others CFAI readings will do a better job explaining the big picture of the concept. Though I can be potentially wrong on any of this.
Hmm so from what I gather in respect to my question earlier regarding the exam questions tested on material outside the LOS’s,… what is the conclusion…?
supersunny138 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > The thing which is missed again and again and > again in all these posts is the conditions under > which a candidate prepares, some of them are… > > -Academic Background / Work Experience > -Working Conditions: Works full time / Part > time / Student / FREEEEE > -Personal Conditions: Married etc etc > -Motivation : Love for finance / Career Goals > / etc etc > > Now CFA itself is a self study program. So > OFCOURSE ! we should expect this detailed and > thick books because all candidates do not have > masters / bachelor in finance. Plus, CFAI tests > us on LOSs which are again based on command words > and again from LOS we can see to what extent do we > need to know a topic and where we will be tested. > If for example we are not supposed to calculate > forward rates, WE WONT HAVE TO in the exam. > > Now Schweser gets very focused on LOSs. What I > have concluded after reading 100’s and 100’s of > posts, is that: For people who have experience or > a finance background can survive using schweser > (+EOC Problems) . For others CFAI readings will do > a better job explaining the big picture of the > concept. Though I can be potentially wrong on any > of this. supersunny138, I think you are spot on when it comes to reading CFAI books or shwesser/stalla exclusively. It all depends on your circumstances & academic history. mep_cfa’10, I am also a slow reader so what I decied to do was to start early (September last year), hopefully I will be through by March, then I start on scheser & EOC questions. Hope this make the difference.
Great points, In my case I got burned out right before the exam due to 3 to 4 hours of sleep a day for more than six months. Missed very narrowly, and I knew that while I couldn’t write any thing during easy second half. Take plenty of rest. Take one or two day breaks in a week .
I am going through at minimum one study session per week, and reading each reading in excruciating detail at minimum twice before i do the EOC’s slowly. The benefit is that the EOCs go by much faster after you’ve read the chapter 2-3 times.
supersunny138 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > The thing which is missed again and again and > again in all these posts is the conditions under > which a candidate prepares, some of them are… > > -Academic Background / Work Experience > -Working Conditions: Works full time / Part > time / Student / FREEEEE > -Personal Conditions: Married etc etc > -Motivation : Love for finance / Career Goals > / etc etc > > Now CFA itself is a self study program. So > OFCOURSE ! we should expect this detailed and > thick books because all candidates do not have > masters / bachelor in finance. Plus, CFAI tests > us on LOSs which are again based on command words > and again from LOS we can see to what extent do we > need to know a topic and where we will be tested. > If for example we are not supposed to calculate > forward rates, WE WONT HAVE TO in the exam. > > Now Schweser gets very focused on LOSs. What I > have concluded after reading 100’s and 100’s of > posts, is that: For people who have experience or > a finance background can survive using schweser > (+EOC Problems) . For others CFAI readings will do > a better job explaining the big picture of the > concept. Though I can be potentially wrong on any > of this. I have no finance background and I passed level I on my first try using Schweser alone (+ EOC problems). Are you referring to level II specifically when you say that those with no background would be better off reading the CFAI texts? Just wondering if it is your opinion that Schweser does an inferior job in teaching level II as compared to level I.
Is repeating EOC questions going to help me with the exam? Repeating as in doing all the EOC questions at least 3 times.
yes, I’m planning on redoing them over and over. In fact, practice not only the item sets but also the questions embedded within each chapter as that’s where you will find things that are testable and might not be in a EOC question
Hi Guille, Is this your first time taking level II? Yeah I should focus on in chapter examples as well. I have been doing only the EOC questions. These questions are tough. I get about half right. haha