i am trying to prepare for the december exam…this question might have been asked before but i am new to this forum will studying the 5 different books of schwesser along with saucer and prep-questions be enough for the exam i have masters degree in economics and finance and have classroom exposure to statistics, econometrics, int finance, investement management, derivatives, among others… thanks
Yes it will be plenty.
it seems like you don’t really need to study anything but Ethics.
what about the five books that cfa sent me…are all of them covered in schwesser notes… it was 2 years since i took some of the classes so i aint sure about just studying ethics maratikus…but thanks for reply
CFAI should test for basic grammar.
The CFAI books are overkill. Schweser is plenty but don’t take areas for granted just because you have advanced degrees. It will definitely make things easier but there are things that you just haven’t gone over. My roomate has an econ degree from wharton and failed the econ part of level 1
given your background weirdo. I would just read ethics one or two days before exam day
Anyone who gives the advice that the CFAI books are overkill is sending you down a treacherous path… Read it all. Why leave anything to chance? Reading CFAI material followed by Schweser (Or Stalla in my opinion) and taking thorough notes is what it takes for the material to sink in for most people.
I have started reading the schweser notes and I find them really thin (for quantitative). There is hardly an explanation for some concepts. But perhaps it is because I don’t have a finance background. The emphasis seems to be on computation, is this the same for the CFA books?
The CFAI books are very detailed to the point of being exhausting. For example,the CFAI book for ethics/quant1 is over 500 pages itself. But you have to get them regardless.
My approach is to read Schweser, watch the respective video and then fill out the LOS flash cards. To make sure I have full comprehension I will then take the Schweser book test, the CFAI text end of reading questions, and lastly the timed Schweser questions online (gives you a good gauge of how fast you need to move). If there is something I struggle on or that took too long to compute I will go back and review the CFA text for that topic and drill in 20 or more questions to make sure I have it mastered before moving on. I equate it to going to the gym. The more reps (questions) I do, the better workout (study session) I will have.
First of all, CFAI should have sent you six books, not five. There are only five Schweser books though. I have read many threads related to your question and the general consensus seems to be that you should read ethics, quant, and FSA from the CFAI books and everything else from Schweser. I also recommend doing the do-it-yourself LOS cards because that really helps place it in your memory. I also agree with Chicagoist that you should just read everything. Why risk the time and effort and money, just to have to take it all over again because you were under prepared? I hear that many of the questions on the exam are taken directly from examples in the reading from CFAI. There are also many little topics in CFAI books that might not necessarily be on the exam (anything in hte text is fair game, but some things are just obviously not as important as others), but they are interesting to read nonetheless. I guess it just depends if you are just trying to pass the tests or if you actually want to be one of the best CFAs around once you pass the tests. I think a lot of the people who take the tests dont quite understand that its not just passing the tests that counts, but being able to apply the material in real life is what gets noticed the most.