Anybody here used ""Schweser"" for L3 and passed?

radicaldreamer wrote:
Hello,
I’ve been reading tons of threads on how to pass L3, including the great post from trimonious2. I get that the exam format is different and needs practice to master. I also get that doing tons of practice questions are essential to passing. I’m pretty sure this will cover it for the PM session, but it seems that a lot less has been said for the AM section. A lot of people who failed yesterday due to a bad AM session claimed having a solid knowledge of the material walking into the exam, and even a feeling of confidence walking out. This indicates to me that it is still unclear what the graders are looking for in the essay/short answer questions. My question is, would “a ton of practice problems (CFAI/Schweser)” also help you better understand and prepare for the essay/short answer responses? Do you guys think Schweser has a good grip of what CFAI is looking for?
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That’s a fair point.
In addition to all the usual revision stuff before - I wrote down maybe 5 or 6 pages with key formulae (last couple of chapter especially), but also with key words and phrases. I also photocopied bits of schweser I found useful - eg. summary of IPS - which I added a few things to - and attribution.
I think another post mentioned it, but I think it’s important to use key CFA jargon wherever you can. eg. “Generate a return sufficient to…” or “using a discount rate determined from asset-liability matching studies”. These sort of phrases you can pick up from CFA and Schweser and I think it helps to compile these types of phrases as you go through questions and read good answers. I would flick over these few pages every day for about 15 mins in the last week or two and it meant when I came to answer AM questions, I had a few choices phrases I would be able to drop in here and there. Aside from sounding clear and like a solid answer, it probably helped me with timing…. I suffered badly with regards to timing in the exam (despite this usually not being a problem for me) and the fact that I had a ready made sentence (or part of) certainly helped me.
 
zen123 wrote:
This is a useful discussion. I too would be writing my level-3 next year.
If someone could add:
Despite using Schweser, which sections MUST be read from CFAI books?
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None for me. Everyone is different, though.
“There are no eternal facts, as there are no absolute truths.”
 
Schweser is not of much use. CFA Materials only. I read it twice atleast.
 
Used Schweser for Level 3. They provide an immense amount of information (aside from their notes, they have additional videos, slides, notes and a nice level 1&2 refresher book).
Also the faculty / staff wil respond to technical questions you have as well.
Will it work for you? well no it depends on you. The size of the schweser books comes pretty close to 2/3rds the size of the CFA texts themselves, but I found it at least did focus me a bit more on specific topics. Yes the CFA texts probably provide a better education overall but unless if you are not working time is an issue, Schweser helped me a lot (even though I still ended up puting over 400 hours in).
1/2/3 done! Don’t recommend starting L1 in dec and L2 in June… most stressful year of my life.
 
I used following strategy for the exam:
- Schweser notes for going through the material: It is not perfect and if you have time, stay away from it and use the actual CFAI material. My problem was that I started too late to use CFAI entirely
- Made detailed personal notes, sometimes going over 10-15 pages per study session: Very imp, these notes are the only thing I referenced back to in the last week or so.
- Schweser 13 week online course taught by Marc LaFabre: Very helpful in keeping you on track, and Marc will help you get your arms around any material that doesn’t look intuitive to you
- CFAI EOC and Blue Boxes(Very Imp): Crucial piece of material
- Creighton Bootcamp-Priceless, best 4 days of CFA prep
Also, one more point, I got the e-book version of the CFAI material, in hindsight, paper is the way to go. It is much easier to go through the blue boxes etc. with the paper books
 
Relied only on Schweser Notes for all 3.
For L3 I watched a few Schweser videos as well and they do help to a certain extent.
Also doing the past exams AM section is a MUST for all L3 takers (available for free for all L3 candidates on their website). If you do those and review your answers with the ones CFAI accepted, you won’t have trouble answering the AM portion.
PM = LII part 2.
 
I used Schweser for L3, and like other have mentioned, I typed my own notes based on the Schweser readings, specifying each LOS. Then I’d do the EOC and blue box problems from CFAI text. I didn’t really start studying in earnest until March, so I simply didn’t have the time to read through the CFAI text. Granted, I think I barely passed, but I think Schweser was pretty useful. I wish I had spent a little more time on the CFAI mock/practice exams to get a better feel for how the AM session is graded.
 
Schweser 7 times reading
+ Curriculum book example question 2 ~ 3 times + chapter end question 70%
+ Curriculum contents (the one seems important) reading
I did and paased
I think Schweser has the most of necessary things
& The curriculum books are the one CFAI makes
You can learn gist of theories with Schweser and re-check and get used to the theroies again with confidence that ‘I did with CFAI material’ with Curriculum books. Especially concentrated on doing questions.
 
Yes. I used Schweser but only the notes. I still looked at the text as I needed to and studies some parts the old fashion way by referencing the text. The Schweser Notes were used primrily to go over stuff I already know and use at work. For brand new concepts or something completely foreign, I had to read the text and do problems.
I don’t like Schweser tests. Unnecessarily hard and somewhat detailed and focused on a single area. But CFA questions are also very hard but cover many concepts and LOS at once in a single question.
Schweser doesn’t help you synthesize. CFA wants you to synthesize and think about many LOS at once.
 
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