As a retaker, I decided to study with the curriculum this year. I failed last year, because, I think, Schweser notes did not help me to comprehend the most imporant areas. I am a little behind my schedule. Maybe not “a little”. Do you guys think that it is too late to start reading curriculum? I haven’t done anything yet. Just trying to be realistic.
LOL.
It’s not even February yet.
It will be June very soon 
Believe me…
I am done with one of the books and don’t feel pressured by the remaining readings.
The difference between your situation and my situation is not that different.
Just make a realistic assesment of what you need to do, make a plan, and stick with it.
I have been studying every day for a month now and did not drift once from my plan, so just do the same !
Agree with Viceroy. While it’s true that it will be June very soon, it is up to you to make the most of the time between January 29 and June 7 (4 months and a week). Don’t just “start studying”; set yourself a detailed plan of what you will do when, that is realistic, and stick to it within narrow margins. Don’t let more time slip away from you, otherwise what was once a realistic plan will start to fail to achieve your goal, which is to pass this thing.
when you say you studied schweser and failed, did you only just use schweser? or did you supplement it along with the curriculum?
Trust me, you will blink and it’s already June. Start asap.
Jennny…It depends on how much time you can devote to studying. If you can pound away 3-4 hours a night of reading…then go for CFAI.
- 2200 pages total 2. 75 days till mid april 3. 30 pages average each day 4. 3-4 hours of reading each night(without missing otherwise the avg goes up)
Because you don’t want to finish past mid april otherwise you wont have enough time to do the 6-8 practice exams that will be required to get you thru it.
Given your position you should strongly consider Schweser, as it’s only 1200 pages, total. You don’t want to get to mid-April, and then mid-May before you try your first practice exam. You’ll be toast if that happens.
I’m assuming you’re reading about 10 pages per hour, which is the standard textbook estimate for pages per hour.
storlab,
Good break down of the pages and 30 pages a day is a good target. Jenny said “I failed last year, because, I think, Schweser notes did not help me to comprehend the most imporant areas.” so I really don’t think you should re-recommend Schweser again. Possibly try another provider for notes but then risk failing again bc you’re not reading CFAI material.
Reading waterdown third party notes won’t cut it on L3 for the majority of people, why I think the pass rate is still so low for CFA exam “veterans” at this stage. Everybody is pretty smart, the difference is what you are studying and how hard you are studying it.
Jennny, Maybe you can start tonight reading book 2 of CFAI. Book 1 is the ethics portion and you’ve been there and done that. Book 2 is 520 pages, so it’ll probably take you a couple of weeks to get through it depending on how much time you have to commit. Book 2 is a heavy/core book. Can’t go wrong starting there…without delay…and assessing once you’re done.
But if you take more than 17 days to get through it…you’re already behind schedule. Schweser can probably satisfice for ethics and GIPS. That’s pretty straightforward stuff that doesn’t require depth.
Thank you for all your comments and recommendations.
The reason, I think Schweser was not good enough for me is that, Level 3 essay section requires a very different strategy. We all know that.
I read the Schweser notes, did all the gray boxes and end of chapter questions in the curriculum, reviewed the all material from the beginning one more time, attacked my weak areas, prepared an equation sheet, memorized it the last week, did so many mock exams (I don’t remember exactly when). So far so good.
My problem was with the essay section. I just could not able to manage my time which is not pardonable. For the questions I know well, I spent too much time to emphazise my answer. That was a BIG mistake and I realized that there are so many other questions with sub questions. Well, anyways, I believe that the curriculum will prepare me well. Because when answering the tough questions in the essay section, I felt like I have lack of knowledge/ inability to make interpretation. If I had more time, maybe I could have gotten some credit The riskless way to pass the exam is with the curriculum. It does not mean that Schweser is not enough. There are so many people who pass with the notes. It just did not work for me. I did Schweser, because my finance professor, who is also teaching CFA L1,2,3, recommended the notes.
Right now I am just thinking that, studying with the curriculum is so long and boring but it is definitely easier than failing and studying all the material from the beginning. Anyways, thanks again for all the comments. I will do the 30pages/day plan starting from today. Today is the best day to start. Good luck to everyone (to 1st and multiple takers)
If it can motivate you, at times I find that CFAI notes actually make it more interesting to study.
I studied for level I and II with Schweser and one attempt at level III like 3 years ago.
This time around I did start early with a CFAI marathon instead of a 5 weeks Schweser sprint, and while I just want to shoot myself when reading GIPS from the CFAI, some other areas are actually more interesting with the CFAI.
Viceroy, did you already finish the CFAI?
No
Well “Jennny from the Block”, did you get in your 30 pages? Or are you already behind?
I hope you made it!!!
and i lost my book 2 paperpack i cant remember where the last time I read it two weeks ago and i hate reading on ipad trying to do curriculum this time as last time, the ones i scored well were subjects i read from curriculum. those i rely solely on schweser… pretty measly
Some of the replies in this thread are actually very motivating. I am very paranoid that the Shweser notes are inadequate and sketching out even more about my ability to finish the curriculum readings in time.
I’ve asked everyone I know that passed if they are adequate. One of my co-workers who wrote/passed last year said he just watched the videos twice and did a ton of practice writing IPS and practice exams and did well. Most of them studied with Shweser and passed (granted they all did Windsor Week or another solid prep course). That said, they all recommended doing the blue-box questions from CFAI.
Schweser notes are fine. If you put forth the same effort with Schweser as you would with the CFAI texts you shouldn’t run into trouble. People make the mistake of thinking of Schweser as a shortcut and not studying as much.