You’re too kind.
IMHO The level 2 wiley bond lecture videos are Terrible, Darren does a poor job of diving into the material and assumes you already have mastered the the learning outcomes. FRA videos w/ Olinto and Basit are very well done and help you dive into the understanding of the material and help you grasp the material even further with constructed examples.
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After my trial session last time I was promptly kicked out of wiley s slack app withput any explanation and prior tp reverting if I d continue with them which was very disappointing . I have now decided to definitely drop wiley. I am a big fan of Darren but discounts etc don’t make up for other problems .
I liked last week’s class a lot better than the one the week before that. I have high hopes for coming Saturday: the instructor is on record for claiming pensions are easy. Judging by the number of text colours used, the Wiley study guide author thinks differently.
Despite the involvement of billion dollar firms such as Bloomberg and Wiley, steep prices, and precious-metal named study packs, this CFA prep business seems a cottage industry really. It has all the related flaws and charms: the wildly varying teaching approaches, the delays, the WordPerfect 5.1 study guide layout, the video production values from Betamax days. However in those days, Wiley’s books at least had the appearance of being carefully edited records of scientific progress.
I think a lot of it comes down to learning styles. I learn best from hearing/watching so the Wiley videos and lectures work great for me.
While I was waiting for my L1 results, someone loaned me their Schweser L2 books from last year. I could barely get through the quant readings; not because I didn’t understand it but rather because it just seemed really condensed. However, I can see how Schweser would work great for someone who learns best by reading and doing practice questions.
Each provider has strengths and weaknesses and while it’s expensive, I think it helps to use more than one provider i.e. Wiley for the lectures and Schweser for practice questions/mock exams.
The New Jersey wiseguy impersonator teaches the examples straight from the textbook. The other one basically teaches to the blind, as he reads out every sentence in the book. Then the guy with the haircut just gives a few pointers for studying the text by yourself. All these approaches have their virtues. I am sure it is great for work satisfaction that Wiley lets the instructors do whatever they like best. I am glad the study guide has a more consistent approach.
Whew!
You’re sure that I wasn’t kidding?
Hi Bill
I had taken a trial for Saturday and wasn’t convinced yet because the approach is very math-logical for me. I need a more text/rule approach as when I get nervous my mathematical thinking is not always reliable.
whilst pondering what to do I noticed that Wiley had kicked me off the slack app without any prior notice. No email, no message, no nothing.
I was taken aback by that kind of treatment, especially since I had previously fully paid the wiley gold course and only asked for a refund after the first lecture, then went back for a trial after our exchanges (which I even offered to pay for!!). then nothing. just get kicked off.
Not very nice
Isabella:
In fairness, behind the scenes, people at Wiley were debating whether you had officially dropped or not; if you had, dropping you from Slack would have been appropriate, of course.
One of the team missed the debate and removed you thinking that you had officially dropped.
It’s not an excuse, of course, but it definitely wasn’t intended maliciously. Right hand, left hand stuff.
By the way, I realize that Darren’s approach and mine are different: I’m a mathematician; Darren’s not.
Perhaps a better approach on your part would be to post in Slack that you didn’t follow some of my explanations. I’m teaching accounting in addition to CFA reviews, so I’m aware that some students don’t follow the short, mathematically efficient approach. I would be happy to try to find an approach that meets your needs.
Hi Bill… true it would have been an option had you not taken me off slack on the very next day after the lecture without telling me or even asking what I wanted to do … … I learned from a fellow student who contacted me to ask why I had disappeared that I had been deleted.
anyway, it is what it is
Just to be clear: I didn’t take you off Slack; I learned of it in an e-mail.
CFA level 2 is very mathcentric in my opinion. It deals a lot with pricing and valution. It deals a lot with statistics. It has a lot of formulae
Sure there are many rules/theory in the curiculum as well but I’m not sure how theory/text/rule approach alone can help.
I think the next question you might want to ask yourself is what are you trying to achieve taking the CFA.
And . . . ?