Many thanks dudes, I wish you all the luck on this June 2009 level 2 exam. I am hopeful to write level 2 next year, and I want to start my prep now! Please can someone shed light on what Schweser book 6 and the Schweser Secret sauce are?
Book 6 is a practice exam & Secret Sauce is a 180 - 200 page summary of all the MAJOR topics (just enough to scratch the surface). My 2 cents on the initial question: Schweser was pretty good at summarizing everything, but it did miss out on some of the little nuances that the CFAI is so good at testing. While many find it to be enough to pass, I felt that it fell short in some ways. Everyone has different ways of learning so really, “to each his own.” If I have to retake L2, I will probably still use some study notes, but might study more straight out of the books (time permitting). Good luck.
No Shit ? Aren’t u self-righteous or just s??? tops123 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Schweser is better and anyone who thinks > differently is wrong. However, you are entitled > to your wrong opinion
I really tried to read through the CFAI curriculum, but the problem is there are so many topics in there that should really be marked “optional” that are not. I wish they did the same thing as Schweser and would organize the topics by LOS so you have them in front of you as your reading. Some of the CFAI questions were much more involved than anything you’d see on the exam, but were important to go through in order to understand the material. I made it through the econ with only CFAI books until I realized I was wasting my time by studying things like moving average times series and the asset market approach, which were not in the LOS. Here’s what I did. Schweser notes and end of chapter summaries John Harris FSA course CFAI book ethics, quant, FSA, PM CFAI and Schweser end of chapter questions All practice exams I could get my hands on Just use secret sauce to see if you know the material. Do NOT rely too much on it as the exam likes to test details.
I read through the CFAI curriculum, then the Schweser Material. I go January to April with CFA material. Take 3 weeks to go over everything in schweser. The last week in May and 1st week in april is taking practice exams, lots of Q-bank, and going through Shweser to get the details.
I’m not sure if I will pass on 18th Aug, but I used: - CFAI texts and did their end of chapter questions. - Schweser video to get the overview of the materials, when I was lazy to read, and for the lecturers’ jokes. - did 60% of Qbank -> don’t rely too much on this. - CFAI mock and sample exams. - Schweser mocks (didn’t finish part 2, I wish I had). - Schweser Quicksheet to help memorize the formulas and trends (good to read an hour before exam and in between exams).
I used nothing but the CFAI Text… I felt like I had a pretty solid grasp of about 95% of the material going into the test. Just sucks donkey balls that there happened to be 2 item sets in the AM section on the 5% that I didn’t know that well. If you’re cheap like me and you have the time, CFAI works. If you have extra cash, supplement the CFAI text with one of the others. That being said, I’d take my chances with only knowing 95% again… lightning can’t strike twice right?
Schweser is garbage, had the notes for 1 2 & 3 and did not even touch at 2 and 3. I used only CFAi for 2 and 3 and was very prepared with just that. if you want to waste your money then yea use schweser and stalla.
Schweser is all you need to pass. I used it for levels I & II and got through both exams on my first attempt. Level III pending. Bottom line, if you have a decent brain and use schweser, you will do just fine.
I think Schweser & others just give insights to clear the exam (which i think is not enough). If you have time, like people starting preparation now, can very easily rely on the CFAI material, which will clear your concepts not only from the exam point of view, but also for your profession. But you should take care to allocate atleast a month to review the CFA material at last, as they are quite vast. Sufficing this with the schweser Mocks and Secret Sauce, would be brilliantly enough for the exams.
I stuck with Schweser and CFAI (mostly the latter about 95% of the time except for QBank and Video CD’s). If you stick exclusively with Stalla or Schweser that’s fine, but don’t complain after the exam that CFAI tested obscure topics and made the exam totally unfair. They are meant to be supplements.
CFAMetal Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I stuck with Schweser and CFAI (mostly the latter > about 95% of the time except for QBank and Video > CD’s). If you stick exclusively with Stalla or > Schweser that’s fine, but don’t complain after the > exam that CFAI tested obscure topics and made the > exam totally unfair. They are meant to be > supplements. I used Stalla exclusively and with the exception of the AI section, there was not anything covered on the exam that I did not see in the Stalla guides. I ran through PassMaster twice, the second time being a month before the exam and worked the topics I was weak on. All was pretty fresh in my head when I sat for the exam. The only reason AI was the exception was because I basically skipped this section and gambled (and lost) that there would be question about real estate.
Many ppl many opinios, but what i can infer is that Schweser has the most pole. I liked “passionforcfa” thoughts, you need to understand what is the goal? pass or learn. & believe me most of the time it is to pass… it is a simple psychology - at the end of the day what matters is the result! of course CFAI wants us to achieve those results in the ethical and professional manners and as far as there is no restrictions to use study notes providers be my guest and use whatever means necessary to achieve your goals, no one will care whether you used shwer, stalla or shulman just do it!!! You may enhance your knowledge by reading on your own time CFA exam is all about the results!! that is my view. For myself I used CFAI 6 pack did all the questions+mock exam/sample exam and used Q-Bank from swhcer, not very impressed with Q-bank but it was helpful. anyhoo see ya guys next year on Level III forum Regards Mikhail
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CFA curriculum material is good enough.