I am, because I started late, and my eyes bleed as I look at CFAI books :O. But still I am trying to make my mind for ordeal with countless page borethon epic of CFAI. Anyone else shares the same pain ?
Im in a similar situation… but i think the more appropriate question is: where do ppl feel schweser is weak and time spent with the CFAi materials might pay dividends?
I share the pain, but I’m a Stalla guy. I am wondering the samething for the Stalla books. FRA seems to be more solid in the Stalla books. My eyes were bleeding as well going through the CFAI for Intercorporate Investments. It made way more sense in Stalla.
May be we can share what’s best in schweser and what’s best in stella, or what’s best in anywhere else then CFAI… and for worst case scenario if there’s really anything in CFAI which is must read or recommended. Let’s make our best effort guys, what you say, should we start a thread for this?
I’m in. I’m done with these CFAI books. Schweser all the way to victory baby
wellsee Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I’m in. I’m done with these CFAI books. Schweser > all the way to victory baby +1 Hail schweser, hail stella… all the way to the victory!
I am going to shift the focus of my studies to Schweser. I started with CFAI in September and so far have managed to get through FRA, Equity, Quant, Econ and SS 16 in Derivatives. I did not do any of the EOC questions (at least not yet), but I did read everything twice to get more comfortable with the material before moving on. Now, however, I feel that the clock is ticking louder, and I have no further time or patience to slog my way through these CFAI books. The derivatives section is what really got to me, with all of the involved derivations of formulas, confusing notation, etc. That section actually felt a lot worse than quant and was the point at which I understood that focusing exclusively on CFAI was wasting my time and holding me back. With the CFAI material, it has been hard to figure out what is important and what’s not. It’s also presented in overly academic style, which is a detriment to actually learning and retaining the material. In short, it’s time to adjust my game plan. From now on, during free time at work, I will continue to read the online version of the CFAI books. But at home, it will strictly be Schweser. The goal of course has always been to learn the material, but I also do want to pass the exam! I feel that sticking to principle and only doing CFAI would be a huge mistake come exam day. Would be interesting to hear from others how their original game plans have been playing out. With only about four and a half months left before the exam, now is certainly the time to ask some very hard and honest questions about how much time you’ve been putting in, and which materials have been yielding the most benefit.
I did L2 with Schweser only with no problems. Don’t believe those people who say that CFAI textbooks are the only good way to study for this test.
Hello Mister Walrus Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I did L2 with Schweser only with no problems. > Don’t believe those people who say that CFAI > textbooks are the only good way to study for this > test. You’re the man, my AF idol from now on :D!
Same boat as dapoopa - I’ve been reading CFAI text on and off the last few month, but its way too much information/detail. Will be switching over to Schweser this week. Dapoopa - Can you point me to where the online version of the CFAI text is?
I had coffee last week with a guy who studied Schweser (only) for 5 months, with no finance background, and he passed. anything is possible.
Of course you are going to have the people that pass using only Schweser. You would also have people that use only Allen and Pass, or Stalla, and pass. However, no educational provider asks the questions quite like the CFAI does. You can see for yourself if you study Schweser Derivatives and then try to complete the EOC CFAI questions on the same topic. I failed 8 band last year and primarily used Schweser. Only towards the end did I crack the CFAI text (after I felt I knew Schweser enough and was scoring consistently in high 80’s in QBank on only advanced and intermediate questions). I was surprised to see I could only average maybe a 65-70 consistently on the CFAI questions. There were also a handful of questions on the exam that Schweser completely left out (believe me I checked). After I got out of the exam, I ran to the CFAI text on the subject to see the exact same type of question I just saw on the exam (almost verbatim). I can see how it would be possible to pass using only Schweser, but don’t completely ignore the CFAI questions. My strategy this year is to read both CFAI Text and Schweser on Ethics, Equity, and FSA only. For everything else I will read only Schweser and supplement those readings with every CFAI EOC question (there really arent that many). Good luck to everyone! Just wanted to put in mah two sense.
skipe99 i am planning to read schweser only and do all cfai eoc questions and do schwerser pratice exams. what do you think about my strat?
I’m only reading Schweser, but I always check the CFAI text if I need any additional clarification, or if I feel like I didn’t get a specific concept quite well using Schweser. There is just no way I’m going to read the whole CFAI text. I tried, but no way. Just too much info. Although, I plan to review Ethics, Quant, Equity & FRA using the CFAI text. I’ve done all the EOC CFAI questions so far… up to the Equity section.
r-man Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I will use CFA materials only for the exam. That > is a personal choice as: > > (a) i like the academic language > (b) i like the real world examples - makes for > good conversation with old timer bankers etc > © prepares a solid foundation for the next level > III - > (d) I prepared level I entirely from the CFA text > and was able to give CAIA and FRM with easier > understanding of materials with proper context > > Having said this, I only used Scheweser for CAIA I > and FRM (as they didn’t have a succinct study > material of their own and Scheweser (or others) > were the only way to have all the knowledge in one > set of books) So you’re doing CFA, CAIA & FRM? You might become too over-qualified for a lot of positions. You might just have to kiss some butt so you can open your own hedge fund. haha!
BigRed08 Here is the link to the CFAI ebooks https://www.cfainstitute.org/cfaprog/private/curriculum_ebook.html
I do agree that a lot of the CFAI material is useful and even thorough. The problem is that the authors seemingly can’t resist the temptation to do things like derive formulas in too much detail and assume that the reader is following every nuance of their thought process in logical fashion. They simply lay it all out there and often get sidetracked with minutae. At times, I felt like I hit a brick wall, and there was no help in the text to pick me up and get me back on track. I ended up struggling to turn the page, reading and re-reading the same passage and staring at the same formulas, all of which took a lot of time and patience. I first got aggravated with the exchange rate stuff in the econ section, and then lost my patience with the derivatives material. The way some of that stuff is presented is simply opaque. Schweser, on the other hand, is like a deep breath of fresh air. Their whole purpose is to guide you through the thought process, eliminating all of the fluff and getting to the heart of what is important, particularly with regard to the exam. Time is becoming an issue at this point, and I cannot waste any more thanks to CFAI’s inability to produce a more readable curriculum. But I absolutely will study the EOC questions!
Dapoopa - Thanks for the link, appreciate it!
r-man Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I will use CFA materials only for the exam. That > is a personal choice as: > > (a) i like the academic language I don’t know if it’s just me who hates this option (a), it’s like digging a well for a penny.
well obviously the amount of time you have to spend studying on this exam should also play a role. if i had all the time in the world or didnt have to work 40 hrs per week I would use more CFAI. Schweez is a riskier shortcut.