Textbooks

CFA General
#1

Hi All,

This is my first post and I am new to the forum.

Thanks in advance for your help with this. I will be taking CFA Level 1 exam in December. I am still not sure what approach I will be taking in order to prepare myself for my very first exam. I could enroll in one of those third party courses (eg. Kaplan).

In any case, I was wondering if you recommend buying thoese textbooks mentioned in LOS. Is it too time consuming to read all of the recommened books? Should I just go to the libaray and look them up as necessary?

I’m sorry for sounding very confused but, I’d really like you to point me in the right direciton.

Thank you.

Jay

#2

You will have enough time to use the CFAI text if you start now. Some people opt for kaplan schweser notes, some don’t. You will never geta clear or correct answer as to which will prepare you better, as you will soon find out on thsi forum.

Best of luck

#3

Hi dwheats,

Thanks for your reply. I appreciate it.

Is there any particular CFAI text(s) you are referring to or are they just the ones mentioned in LOS?

I am leaning towards Kaplan as this will cut down many hours of reading textbooks=).

Thanks again.

Jay

#4

For level 1, read the schweser books. Do the end of chapter quesitons from the CFA material and do Qbank from schweser.

Stay on this forum and see what your other L1 buddies are doing.

Forget about all other books. And personally I wouldn’t bother with the CFAI material for L1…there is far too much in them.

#5

Hi Pokhim,

Thanks for your insight into this. Yes, I will be opting for Kaplan and keep reading posts on this forum. I see many of previous year materials being sold online. If I happen to buy second-hand Schweser materials (say 2013 or 2014), would it put me at disadvantage (although I doubt much have been changed from year to year)?

Once again, thanks for your help.

Jay

#6

There is usually someone who takes the time to compare the LOS for the current year to last year’s LOS. Search for that on here and then you can judge for yourself if the changes are minimal enough to use last year’s 3rd party study materials. The official CFAI materials are included in your registration fee (unless that has changed), so definitely don’t buy last year’s.

#7

Hi Higgmond,

Thanks for your sound advice. I will do some investigatiing on my own then.

Have a good day.

Jay