Congatulations to all Level 3 candidates who passed! Best study materials and what worked for you

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BandTen

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I would like to congratulate all Level 3 candidates who passed the exam, and to those who didn’t pass worry not as what doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger, and you will be much stronger next year and will kill that beast!
I would appreciate advice on what worked well for you, in terms of relying only on the Official CFAI Curriculum or only studying from other providers like Schweser, or a combination of both, etc. I have started with Behavioral Finance and find it very theoretical - seems like the AM portion will test our ability to recall all the theory.
Thanks!
 
Combo of both for reading. For practice: CFAI only… Schweser’s EOCs and Mocks didn’t really cut it. Find as many past CFAI AM papers as you can and remove the irrelevant stuff (shockingly there isn’t much that’s different from at least 2006 which is as far back as I went). Start them earlier than later in your studies. Grade yourself harshly as possible against the guideline answers so you identify areas that you need to improve on easier.
 
ltj wrote:
Combo of both for reading. For practice: CFAI only… Schweser’s EOCs and Mocks didn’t really cut it. Find as many past CFAI AM papers as you can and remove the irrelevant stuff (shockingly there isn’t much that’s different from at least 2006 which is as far back as I went). Start them earlier than later in your studies. Grade yourself harshly as possible against the guideline answers so you identify areas that you need to improve on easier.
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Thanks for your advice! For reading do you think its better to start off with CFA or Schweser, or read each reading from both as I go along?
 
Personally I read from Schweser, then skimmed the CFAI for blue boxes and did their EOCs. If something looked foreign (aka not covered by Schweser), I went back and read from the CFAI material so I could understand every BB/EOC asked.
 
im chiming in here but personally i needed a 3rd party provider, in this case schweser, to get me motivated to read again and found myself continuing on with them
 
Marc LeFebvre LevelUp BOOTCAMP. Wouldn’t have passed without him.
 
I used both CFA curriculum and 3rd party providers. This is my strategy for preparation.
1st round reading (to grab the concept and understanding): Use Schweser. (benefits : get to the point quickly). When I find difficulty in some particular areas or topics, I look up the curriculum and try to make the understanding out of it. After finishing each reading, do end-of-the-chapter questions. Move on to the next reading. Do this for all subjects.
2nd round reading (to memorize): Use FinQuiz notes (benefits: FinQuiz summary is concise hence makes it easy to memorize). Again, if I have any trouble understanding, look up the curriculum. Now, I do the end-of-the-chapter questions again and start doing the online questions provided on CFA website.
By now, I probably get an idea of what areas I am particularly weak and strong.
Then, I start doing MOCK exams as many as possible.
Then, 3rd round reading (to get familiar with examples). Read all blue boxes in the curriculum. And try to solve them.
Then, I go back to do more MOCK exams.
 
I bought the essential study package schweser also used them for level II. I failed level II once without using third party. I could not get through the massive amount of text with enough time for practice at the end the first go. I did well in equity/FRA which but failed too many other sections and ended up with a band 7. I’ve, never used a class or anything more than essential, it would hurt the ROI too much to be worth it for me.
If I had to do level III over again;I tried to cover CFA EOC this year but found myself running out of time. I made an adjustment and spent more time practicing AM mocks and past exams which turned out to be the right move as time management is key. I always finish ahead of time on every exam and I was writing all the way up until the called time and threw my pencil on the desk when I heard them say time as I was working all the way to the buzzer.
I passed, and I had a cushion but in retrospect I wish I would have used more CFA material for EOC questions and did AM’s earlier. I took a AM mock close to the exam and had a heart attack it turned out the was an especially hard AM year. The CFA PM mocks I thought were pretty tough and then I scored them and got 70+. There is just something about the wording of CFA questions that is harder than third party providers.
If I did not pass, what I would be doing for attempt 2 would be blowing through schweser earlier, prioritize CFA EOC questions no later than April, and spend all of May mock exams and revising. Don’t underestimate how long it takes to do a full mock exam, and revise properly it can take an entire Saturday which are tough to lose in May.
 
I studied from schweser and openned CFA books only when there is a concept i could not understand. Did EOC questions from CFA.
Apart from all this studying strategy, I want to give an important tip on writing AM. I failed last time only due to time management in AM. Had to leave complete 2 questions blank with high weightage points. I realized that I had not practiced enough AM exams. Although I skimmed many past AM exams. Trust me, you would know all the material well once you have read through and would complete AM with say 85% accuracy, if you had 4 hours to do. Challenge is to complete it in 3 hours.
Even this time, though I made a point doing completely timed AM and checking it the same day so that you tend to know the mistakes and learn from it, i found completing AM was a problem as it was becoming difficult to keep a track of time. The reason is the unequall distribution on marks in AM questions. There will be 10-12 questions in AM but all will NOT have equal marks. So if you have completed say 5 (out of 10) questions in 1.5 hours, there is no way to tell whether you are behind OR ahead of time.
For this, I thought of a simple solution which really worked for me in the exam. Now lets say you have got 11 questions in AM with distribution of marks as 22,15,14,18,20,11,14,24,10,22,10. What I used to do is while starting question 1, write 22 on top of sheet which will remind you that you need to complete the question by 22 minutes. When you start doing second question, write 37 (22+15) on top so that you know you need to complete the question by 37th minute on clock and similarly keep doing this. You can still do the questions in any order, though i always did it straight from 1 till last. This way when you are about to start 6th question, you will write 100 and you will immediately know that you need to complete the question before that time. Try not to be behind time by more than 4-5 minutes otherwise it is difficult to catch and you are bound to leave some part of AM blank.
Well, this is my small piece of advise for all level III candidates.
All the best for your preparation.
 
2 recommendations
1 - Use schewser videos for the derivatives - saves you from memorizing all the unnecessary formulas!
2- revise all the materials 2 weeks before the exams, when i say all the materials, i mean reread all the chapters and resolve all the EOC, and do at least 2 mocks
 
2 recommendations
1 - Use schewser videos for the derivatives - saves you from memorizing all the unnecessary formulas!
2- revise all the materials 2 weeks before the exams, when i say all the materials, i mean reread all the chapters and resolve all the EOC, and do at least 2 mocks
 
I really like the Schweser on demand videos. Saved me a lot of time from reading the textbooks.
 
I used Smart Summary and Curriculum.
Smart summary is great and concise material
 
I guess a lot of the strategy depends on your background.
I passed lvl 3 first try this year. I am a corporate bond research analyst with sell side and buy side experience. Also an MBA, master of finance, and undergrad in finance.
I read the CFAI curriculum from December to March, slowly. I only did blue boxes. After that I read it again but quickly, creating flash cards, doing EOC questions. After that I tried 2013’s CFAI exams, tried 2014’s CFAI exams, reread the sections where I was weak and updated my flash cards, tried 2015’s CFAI exams, tweaked my flash cards further, tried 2016’s CFAI exams, and ended up just dipping into the CFAI material and flash cards before the exam.
Start the mocks 1 month before the exam, at least.
I never touched Schweser, I assumed it would lack many details.
 
Bulk of the material - Schweser readings
Schweser Videos - I can not stress how useful they are for level 3. They give you a lot of exam writing tips especially what’s important and what is not. This is more NB for level 3 because the written section has parts which come up every year and preparation is key and the videos will show you how to go about writing the answers to the written questions. Half the game on level is exam technique.
Questions - Schweser Questions. (Do these but I wouldn’t rely on them)
- CFAI end of chapter questions. (Don’t get hung up on long answers as the back of the book will show, because they won’t expect these kind of answers that are given for their questions which are very detailed. Focus more on the multiple choice questions and use the mock exams and schweser exams for your predominantly written practice.
Exams - The CFA mocks (4 of them) and 6 schweser exams are imperative (maybe even do them twice if you feel. Everyone does badly in the AM and comparatively I’d say the multiple choice is easier than other years so focus on the AM and study sections 4 and 5 where the bulk comes from.
The Schweser Quicksheet has its uses as well I suppose.
That’s it!
 
Personally, I would say it depends on how many different sources you want to use. I used Schweser for Level I, passed, but felt the notes were far too high level. After all, we’re also doing this exam to learn new analysis techniques and develop critical thinking. For Level II & III, I used the CFAI Materials.. Sure the complaints of them being drawn out a bit are true but some of the case studies and additional information really help to understand and digest the content you are learning.
For Mocks & Practice Tests, I used CFAI AM Past Papers, Topic Tests on CFAI Website and supplimented with some Wiley questions but didnt really get much value from them.
For the record, I started studying in February for Level II & Level III and found the CFAI content more than manageable… Best of luck next year. I’m Audi 5000
 
What I did
1) CFA Curriculum (Studying + 2 revisions, Blue Box solved twice, EOC Qs incl. Essays twice)
2) Also used Finstructor Videos for (Fixed Income, Derivatives, Rebalancing & Monitoring, Attribution etc.)
3) Solved Schweser Mocks Nos 6 : Avg. Score ~65% (AM self scored very very conservatively)
4) Solved Konvexity Mocks Nos.3 : Avg. Score ~65% (AM self scored very very conservatively)
5) Studied with Arif Videos while travelling
6) Created a Formula sheet (2 days before the exam, i was only looking at this and mentally thinking about the questions that can be asked, and how i will solve using formula)
7) Solved 2010-15 CFA AM Actual Exams, avoided the PM Mock of CFAI deliberately, however solved their Topic based tests
8) Started early in October
What I did not do
1) I purchased Finquiz mocks somewhere in May, I solved one and found them ridiculously difficult. Stopped and never solved one again
2) I resisted the temptation to revise the curriculum multiple times, instead concentrated on solving mocks. So what if our first attempt is useless, humans learn from mistakes.
3) I took 15 days off from work and studied at home whenever i could. I am in IB, and its difficult to find time. I used to get up at 5 to study in the morning.
The Actual Test
It was difficult for me compared to the mocks i was giving, but i had a safe margin, though i was never sure about AM.
I ended up scoring adequately on both AM and PM
 
I used only CFA books , CFA online mocks and past AM exams. I can’t say it is the most efficient way since i never tried any other provider but i can say that it is enough to pass (3/3 with the same strategy)
 
well done to all who passed, keep fighting for those who didn’t.
  1. CFAI curriculum almost a waste of time
  2. Use Schweser for everything and then supplement it with blue boxes from CFAI
  3. Use Schweser Qbank as light concept checker
  4. Use last month to go over Schweser mocks (all six) and CFAI essay questions and
  5. Use last 2 week to go over papers again including CFAI mock at least twice!
 
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