Hello all, just passed level 1 and going to take level 2, what book you recommend for level 2? I used Elan for level 1 and love it. Elan is good for level 2 as well?
if you are starting this early it wont hurt to read CFAI. however for the purpose of passing the exam, Schweser is good enough. I never tried Elan, but I am not sure how can they be as good as Schweser since they have not been around for very long.
I just used the CFA curriculum for L1, which was not too difficult to digest and I passed. But I don’t think you want to read the curriculum for L2… those 500 page monsters will put you to sleep before you know it. I suggest the Schweser notes for L2. I passed thanks to the notes. However, I think it’s not enough to just use the notes for sections on portfolio management and commodities on alt inv. The notes didn’t cover the most important materials on those two sections. So read the curriculum on those and do the practice questions at the end of the chapters. I never used Elan for L2 so I don’t know. To be safe, you might want to use the notes (Schweser or Elan) and try to do all the practice questions on the CFA curriculum to get a solid hold of the material (this is what I did). One last thing, start early on your study for L2. It’s a totally different animal compared to L1.
planning to start early on L2 coz dont know what might come up later/ work load like . Used schweser for L1 primarily & CFAI text for certain parts. Intend to stick to this method. Checked on schweser website but not sure the books are already available if I order now. Anyone knows when they’d available?
schweser notes will be available around November 
Would it make sense to start studying from the Schweser notes for this past June’s Level II test? How much do the books change from one year to the next?
Thanks!
I used Elan for Level 1 in Dec 2010 and loved it as well! Had to use Schweser for Level 2 and just failed miserably. I wouldn’t blame Schweser for this but definitely like Elan a lot better. The sad thing is just that Elan just now publishes their first round of Level 2 material and it won’t include practice questions for each chapter like it did for Level 1 which I thought were the best preparation ever. I think I’ll mainly use Schweser Notes to read and complement it with CFA books where I have difficulties. Will definitely order the Elan study notes and mock exams though once they become available.
Elan 11th hour is quite useful, but not as much as back in L1. Schweser Notes were my primary study materials.
since u are going to start early, you should read the curriculum. i do suggest to use both books (curriculum & Schweser) simultaneously just to make sure you cover all sections. Sometimes, Schweser explains certain sections better eg FRA, Equity and Derivatives. I used the curriculum most of the time, but if I find certain sections confusing/complicated, I read Schweser. skim the syllabus first since you are starting early just to get the hang of it. go full blas sometime in march.
since u are going to start early, you should read the curriculum. i do suggest to use both books (curriculum & Schweser) simultaneously just to make sure you cover all sections. Sometimes, Schweser explains certain sections better eg FRA, Equity and Derivatives. I used the curriculum most of the time, but if I find certain sections confusing/complicated, I read Schweser. skim the syllabus first since you are starting early just to get the hang of it. go full blast sometime in march.