Videos

Has anyone started using these yet? I’m stuck between Schweser and Elan. Used Schweser for L1, but hear that Elan is much more thorough and detailed (and cheaper), which would be very helpful for L2; however, Elan doesn’t provide lecture notes for Olinto’s covered SS. Wondering if this is a disadvantage as I found it very helpful for L1 to have Schweser PPT slides to take notes in the margin. Anyone used any of these providers - any advice?

Hey CFAfatso,

I’m going for Elan videos purely because of Olinto. I didn’t use videos at all for L1.

I’m not sure I’ll actually get around to viewing the videos though, I’m just not sure if it’s an effective method of studying for me.

The thing I wanted to say though is you can buy the Elan videos individually. I’m for sure not going to have time for all the videos so in the end I’ll probably only have time (if at all) to pay and view maybe $150 of videos at the individual video price (inlcuding the free ones already available) instead of $400 for the complete set. So you might also want to consider this when considering the cost/benefit.

The videos seem to be pretty good, just the small issue of being able to view them.

CleverCFA - actually I loved videos for L1 so def going for the whole pack, regardless of Schweser or Elan. Are you reading Schweser notes and then doing Elan videos? Why the mix rather than all Schweser, esp. if you’re using their notes?

Scorpion - that’s not very encouraging - I read your posts on other threads - hopefully it’s resolved soon.

What is the format of Elan’s video lecture notes? Are they detailed notes or PPT slides like Schweser’s? Also, do you have to print your own from their website or do they send you a book like Schweser? Looks like their free QM lecture notes have a few sentences on each pages - not sure if all notes are like this or only QM b/c it’s free? Thoughts?

Cfafatso,

My issues with elan seem to be resolved, it took a few weeks but all seems to be well. I will say this as someone who purchased schweser videos last year for level 1 I find these to be alot better. My only problem with the product was the delivery and that seems to have been rectified.

Cfafatso - I used the Level 2 instruction from SChweser for 2012 and found them very helpful. Especially with Pensions, International Investments, and Derivates.

If you’re interested in purchasing my set of videos, you can email me at aryehlemel@gmail.com

@Scorpion - I’ve spent about 20 minutes trying to navigate the Elan website to access their free Quant videos - NOT a good sign. What prep provide are you using for the notes? Wondering if it’s an issue with learning styles to use Schweser notes and Elan videos? Also, since I can’t figure out the site and don’t want to waste anymore time tonight, how do the “lecture notes” for the videos compare to Schweser’s video slides - more or less detailed? Looks like I’d have to print off each reading as there’s no hardcopy…

Planning to pull the trigger by this weekend!

How trying to navigate the Elan website makes you feel. You just go around in circles and circles and circles

Apparently it’s being overhauled pretty soon though.

Just sign up, log in, click dashboard, scroll down and you will see all the links to the QM and FRA stuff. It’s not the best UI for a website, but it’s not rocket science figuring it out either.

As for the slides, Basit Shajani teaches off slides that can be downloaded and printed. He adds a lot on the slides himself while teaching. Peter Olinto teaches from the study notes so no slides for his videos.

Are the Schweser Level 2 videos up to the difficulty standards? What I observed in Level 1 was that they didn’t really go into any depth and made the topics seem pretty much easy. Ofcourse things turned around whenever I used to switch to questions, especially EOC’s of the curriculum.

@Bright Star - do you mean Basit adds lots of slides that the viewer doesn’t have access to (as part of the initial deck)?

@CleverCFA - Did you know/care that Olinto doesn’t have slides? He’s probably going to rely on Elan readings, but I thought I read somewhere that you were using Schweser notes.

@Ayesha - good ?

Yeah, either way, I’m not committing buying the whole set anyway, I’m buying them individually, and quite a few are free demos too. If they don’t work for me, I’ll just stop purchasing the individual ones from the Elan website. It’s like $5-$20 a pop so nothing really lost if they don’t work for me. I’m only really interested in the videos for FRA and maybe a few other subjects anyway. I don’t see mysel sitting through 60 1.5 hour videos if I’m honest with myself. I just don’t see it as an efficient use of my study time.

I’m sure they’d be negotiable, so if you bought 4-5 videos and tried them out, I’m sure you could negotiate to have that fee reimbursed when/if you buy the whole set. I’d ask for a discount too, tell them that you’ve bought from many suppliers, etc, that you’re broke, etc. They’re negotiable like car salesmen as far as I can see. I got 30% off Finquiz QBank just by asking for a discount.

cfafatso

Im not sure about there notes I didnt buy them. I’m only using cfai materials and the elan videos. All I can say about the schweser videos for L1 is that i found them to be very boring, holmes was the only guy that I could stand to watch. The elan videos to me do seem worth the purchase especially because of Olinto.

If you don’t want to make the commitment to spend a couple hundered on the videos, I can sell my entire set for $100 even. Let me know…

Uchiknow - Do you also have the related PPT slide workbook? I haven’t purchased yet, but I’m pretty positive that I’m going to go w/Elan - got a pretty good discount + their free samples convinced me how detailed the instructors are - hoping these videos + schweser notes will be enough to offset not reading the CFAI books…

Peter teaches from the study guides so his lectures fly by quicker. It’s possible to read the material in the guides off of the video screen but that isn’t ideal. You may need to buy their guides for Peter’s videos.

Basit adds a lot of stuff to the slides. You can download all the slides for free. You won’t need to buy the guides to follow his videos.

You can try samples by both of them for free is you create a new account on their website.