For all of you who took level III which did you find easier level II or III, and how much time did you spend studying for each level?
http://www.analystforum.com/phorums/read.php?13,815746 I guess you’re saving reading for CFAI volumes?
ya, this has been discussed. not sure what the link above tells ya, but basically don’t underestimate l3…different beast but definitly as hard as level II, but just as hard in a different way… it’ll make more sense as you start to study…
Zwei
IMHO Level II is easier than Level III. Especially if you have negligible relevant work experience(unfortunately I fell in that category). The L3 material is deceptively easier on the brains but in essence it is more complex. I completed the cfa levels during my mba so a lot of the subject matter was overlapping. Coming from an IT background had no prior knowledge of financial concepts. The CFA was something I heard at school for the first time. Spent 1 month for L1, 1 month for L2 and 2 months for L3. I was able to do the same because of the subject matter duplication from my mba. However in those months it was intensive learning of over 10 hours daily. Dec 06 to now was not a walk in the park but worth it. Its not like I cracked the exams but did enough to pass. Used only Schweser and nothing else. My CFAI L3 notes are yet in the brown box they sent it in! I guess I should now open the same 
Doh, sorry about that I missed the thread b/c of the title.
For myself, lvl 3 was much more difficult then lvl 2. Lvl 2 was actually the easiest among 3. I was from IT school without any finance knowledge and managed to pass 3 lvls in 18 months. My ranking for these 3 lvls are lvl 3 > lvl 1 > lvl2.
On a 1-10 difficulty scale: L1: 2 L2: 6 L3: 8
LIII was very different to prepare than other two levels…I am more a quantative person, therefore, I found LIII was more chanllenging than the other two levels. By no meaning, LIII is easier than LII (that is a myth); keep doing all the practice exam you can find should help.
I think the L3 exam is harder than the L2 exam, but the L2 material is harder than L3 material. It’s hard to imagine how that could be true until you get brutalized by the L3 AM section as you run out of time and have to deal with obscure minutiae questions. The L2 exam was fairly difficult, but at least it was straight forward.
L3 was tough for me just because it was different. It is much more subjective than the other two levels. The readings were more enjoyable and the material was easier to study, but don’t underestimate the thing. Make sure you do plenty of practice questions and IPS’s. It is very doable, but you have to think of it more as a final exam for the whole program as opposed to a continuation of the material like the jump from L1 to L2.
jrumph, so you passed. that’s awesome. i’m not stalking you or anything, dude, relax. i just remember you because last year when i asked if anyone failed level 1 once then passed level 2 on the first try, you were one of the guys that replied. (i think csk was another) that showed me it was doable with some hard work and got me more determined to pull it off. so here i am. level 3. hopefully i can pull it off next year as well. congrats again.
bromion Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I think the L3 exam is harder than the L2 exam, > but the L2 material is harder than L3 material. That is probably the best explanation I have heard. L2 material is hard but not a lot of tricks. L3 material is deceptively easy but is tested in a tricky manner.
bromion Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I think the L3 exam is harder than the L2 exam, > but the L2 material is harder than L3 material. > It’s hard to imagine how that could be true until > you get brutalized by the L3 AM section as you run > out of time and have to deal with obscure minutiae > questions. The L2 exam was fairly difficult, but > at least it was straight forward. Completely agree with this, also I think there is more lvl II material then lvl III but the minutiae, subjectivity, and time issue is big for lvl III well at least for the 08 exam. Lvl III was harder in my opinion, you’ll understand when you walk out of the AM session if it is anything like the 08 exam.
bromion Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I think the L3 exam is harder than the L2 exam, > but the L2 material is harder than L3 material. This is the definitive answer as far as I’m concerned.
Great. 
agree with bromion, i realized that when i did my first L3 practice exam
bromion Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I think the L3 exam is harder than the L2 exam, > but the L2 material is harder than L3 material. great… guess I better start studying soon
I think the L3 exam is just more random bromion hit it on the head
L3 is much harder to ace then L2, therefore you will be less confident walking out of test center. That i can guarantee you (unless you are mo34 or something like that :))