What will be your level 3 approach?

CFA Level II
#21

This is what was said about level II for level I as well… good marketing if you actually buy into this statement.

#22

https://www.analystforum.com/forums/cfa-forums/cfa-level-iii-forum/91353347?page=1

I will most probably do the following:

  • read Schweser notes, but do not do any EOC Schweser questions

  • carefully do all blue boxes and EOC questions from CFAI

  • do Schweser Mocks + CFAI mocks

#23

I don’t think in that particular video he was actually encouraging you to buy anything. Nonetheless, I recognise there are differences between Level 1, 2, and 3, with or without his commentary. Surely the effort levels will be the same if not greater, I just think the suggestion is that how that effort is applied may need to be slightly different for level 3 (ie Level 1 defo has a large focus on regurgitation). Wether that boils down to “strategy” or something else, I guess it doesn’t really matter as everyone’s approach is going to be slightly different depending on circumstance, academic background, and a host of other variables… I’m going to approach level 3 with the same mindset as level 2, and for that matter level 1, which is I want to nail it first time, I want to know the material inside out and to finish the course of study with confidence.

#24

Same basic idea as level 2. Start early with videos and reading the CFA text. Once just to skim through, then a much more thorough reading with all of the BB/EOCs. That should take me to about mid-late January. Then mocks followed by review, topic tests followed by review, BB/EOCs again followed by review. Wash, rinse, repeat.

I did really well on level 2, but I still could have been better prepared. I plan on doing at least 10 mocks twice, all BB/EOCs and topic tests at least three times.

#25

probably my approach will be to study until I know the material

#26

Hi, Level 3 candidate waiting for my results here. So take my advice with a grain of salt. Schweser became frustrating for me in Level 3. I used it in Levels 1 & 2 but referred more and more to the CFAI curriculum in level 3.

One of the reasons I got frustrated with it is that it tried its best to explain concepts without formulas. I guess this is understandable since they wanted us to see the underlying logic. This worked in reverse for me… I understood relationships from an equation better than half a page of written explanations. I also hated how the concepts were arranged in a more flowing manner than a structured outline. The CFAI was better structured IMO.

I would say, still go for Schweser but treat it like Sparknotes. You’ll probably find yourself looking into the official curriculum more and more for other details. Then jump into the EOCs, CFAI topic tests, and past year exams. The EOCs and topic tests will make you realize how much info were missed in Schweser.

If I could do anything differently, I’d not spend too much time reading Schweser, jump to the topic tests and EOCs of CFAI after every chapter, do and redo a lot of past years exams + CFAI topic tests + Schweser mock PMs. I didn’t have a good experience with Schweser AMs. Besides, you have the actual past AMs already, why settle for a derivative of those AMs?

#27

Oh. And past CFAI exams, past CFAI exams, past CFAI exams. Do, revise, and redo. Print them out, correct them one by one (write out the correct answers), and set aside to redo them in the future.

Structured response CAN be finished within the time allocated if practiced well.

#28

I heard schweser is crap for Level 3 from many people, so probably will stick with CFAI materials as usual.

probably will buy Secret Sauce and Wiley’s 11th hour Guide again, for revision on final months.

thankfully most concepts can be googled and studied from many sources as long as they are in tandem of the LOSes

#29

as everyone knows. i live and die with schweser. I am springing for the 1100 package (think its the one with the videos?) and calling it a day. they have taken me this far…

also, disappointed to hear the video guy isnt gonna be Andy Holmes? Darn

#30

Andy “Welllll!!!” Holmes was great for L2… had him in the 3-day KS review.

#31

I will be reading from the CFAI this time around, after using Schweser for a majority of my studying in level 2. Personally, there were some iffy parts in Schweser this year and for level 3, I don’t want to take any risks with quality control.

I signed up with Marc Lefebvre for his videos and the bootcamp in the spring. I chose his program because I can follow his videos while I study the texts, he gets you to understand the process of the AM, but most importantly, this guy focuses entirely on the level 3 curriculum. Yes, there will be more reading compared to Schweser’s condensed notes, but from the research that I’ve done, most test providers put little effort into their level 3 curriculum, as all the money is made in their level 1 and 2 packages. Something to think about…

#32

CFAI books + KS

#33

I plan to just focus on CFAI material and thrash the past papers as much as possible.

I supplemented with Kaplan for Level 2 the first time around and failed (mainly due to lack of study, not the quality of KS) and then just used CFAI material for the repeat and found it completely manageable, and overall a better learning experience.

NYSSA - Has anybody got an experience with their videos? I am considering sigining up for their video lectures, just to focus on the AM section and getting that right. I thought the summary video was pretty good… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLe8xRozo9Q

#34

NYSSA is meant to be good with Nathan Ronen - heard good things.

My approach is to blitz through the Schweser books by year end. Then do all the IFT videos which follow the curriculum and he works through all blue boxes too.

#35

Going through all of the curriculum…zzzzzzzzz

#36

+1

#37

IFT videos seem to be excellent, so I will definitely have a look.