Wiley or Schweser for Level II

josh_16 · September 9, 2016, 1:44pm

Let me start off with this… I know this topic gets old and asked all the time… I’m just looking for an updated/recent answer.

I purchased the self study course with Schweser and thought it was very helpful. However, I thought their Q-bank questions were helpful to reinforce concepts but overall pretty poor/different than actual test questions were.

I got free access to Wiley Qbank questions later in the year and thought they were significantly better/tougher questions. I really struggled on them and it made me go back to my studying and focus way more on the “concepts” instead of the plug and chug formula questions in Schweser. I really think that I probably wouldn’t have passed if I didn’t come to this realization with the Wiley Q-bank.

For this reason I’m really thinking about purchasing Wiley instead of Schweser this year for the Level II exam. But…as you all know these third party providers are not cheap at all and I really like to do my due diligence before making such a large purchase.

Any thoughts/opinions/past experiences would be much appreciated. Thank you in advance!

Rob_84 · September 9, 2016, 3:31pm

Sat level 2 in 2015 and passed using just the Schweser essentials package and the CFA mock (didn’t work for me with level 3 in 2016…). I’d recommend Schweser for level 2 (although note I have never used Wiley), from my experience compared to the CFAI material it is a lot more readable and digestable and the mock exams although tough set you up well for the real thing. I would say that (in my opinion) the questionbank is weakest for level 2, as I think the material for level 2 is the least suited to be tested in that way (level 1 it matches the format and level 3 it felt like the questions served the learning process better). Everyone has their own views, but if someone asked me whether I would recommend Schweser I definitely would for all three levels with the caveats that I think the questionbank is the weakest in level 2 and that for level 3 you need to supplement with the CFAI material.