Hi all, So I am just posting this question mostly because I am feeling like I simply won’t have the time to finish all of the material before my level 1 test in June. I am using the books provided by CFA, but I am finding that they take quite some time to read. My overall comprehension of the material is pretty solid, but I am thinking that if I switch to using my Kaplan Schweiser books, then I will be able to move through the material faster while not sacrifcing comprehension. Therefore, my main question is this: Is it safe for me to use the Kaplan Shweiser books for my preperation rather than the books provided by CFA Institute? Thanks
First of all, if you have sufficient time you shoud read the official CFA curriculum and solve as many practice questions, either from Mock and Sample exams provided by CFA Institute or from practice questions data bases provided by prep providers (like Schweser qbank or similar). If you read the official curriculum, you will be sure that you have covered 100% of the prescribed curriculum. If you don’t know will you make it on time or not, I suggest using some time management tools like TimePrep apps, or at least Excel. In my opinion TimePrep is great beacuse it is so flexible, and with it you can be sure about your progress. On the other hand, if you don’t have enough time or you feel time pressured, it may be convenient to buy study notes from prep providers. Study notes are shorter than official curriculum and are focused on most important topics. Official curriculum is very often repetitive and you might lose a lot of time reading the same concepts over and over again during the process. Furthermore, if you have financial or economic background, the shorter curriculum may be just enough for your preparation. Prep providers make sure that they cover the most important topics in study notes. The main thing here is to know yourself - if you can read the abbreviated curriculum where almost everything is important, and you can remember it all - than Schweser is great choice. After all, many people pass their exam using Schweser. My biggest advice would be to grind through practice problems (QBank) as much as you can, as it is the best way to prepare for the exam.
I passed all three levels using only Schweser and the EOC questions.