How does quality of Schewser for LIII compare with LII and LI?

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Justin Case

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I have used Schweser exclusively for Level 1, and almost exclusively for Level 2 (only did EOCs from CFAI books), and found that to be sufficient. Given that Level 3 follows a different format, how useful is Schweser for this one? I remember last year people saying that Schweser was useless for Level 2 and that you need to read CFAI, but I felt that with enough practice & review, Schweser did the trick.
How does that compare with Level 3? What’s the strategy for this one?
FYI - I apologize if this has been posted already…
Thanks
 
I liked the Schweser mock exams, but I found the rest to be insufficient. It’s not bad as an initial review, but dig down into the CFAI text also.
 
I’m of the exact opposite sentiment of CF-eh’s. I thought the Schweser notes were great and their practice tests were awful (specifically, i thought the a.m. portion of their practice tests were awful).
 
Schweser + CFAI EOCs/BBs + 6 timed Past AM (each 2~3 times) + 6 Schweser/CFAI PM Mocks
Dont be afraid to open the books as I found the readings to be extremely helpful in getting a perspective on how CFAI approaches each topic. I think I ended up reading all books because they were short & very well written.
The goal for the AM paper is to practice the use of bullet points in a timed environment to improve efficiency.
 
I was happy with the material for all 3 levels. 3 is more involved so you have to go above and beyond just the schweser material however.
Notes:
1. In probably a handful of situations, I wanted more information than they provided. This is when I referenced the actual CFAI material and s2kmagician’s website.
2. Along with Schweser’s notes and practice exams, I also used their question bank and can’t recommend it enough. The question bank let me get a lot more practice, actually test my knowledge, and go back and reread what I still needed to learn.
3. Practice as many exams as you can and do whatever works for you. Time management was not an issue for me and so I simply focused on content. I would do a specific section, say Economics, from 5 different mock or past exams, rather than an entire mock exam at once. My focus was to learn the material and know what I didn’t know so I could review it.
In short: It’s all about the practice. Reading is key, but you already know that after doing level 1 and 2, so keep doing it, and practice more. Level 3 is more difficult of a test. I’m very happy to have passed it and all the work was worth it… plus using half of my year’s vacation days in addition to the time off that my employer provided.
 
Used Schweser for all 3 levels, including the 3 day review with the Q&A book which was gold for all 3 levels.
Q Bank was great for L1, but a waste for L3. Mocks and Old exams are best for L3. Schweser Practice Exams were ok, not the best though.
Only used CFAI Ethics book and read Standards of Professional Conduct Book a few times.
GIPS is awful - a million pages to read for such a tiny section. hated it.
 
Schweser served me well for all three levels.
In terms of practice, start writing answers from day one.
 
How about the videos? and which packages include the videos? It’s not immediately clear to me what exaclty is included in each package.
 
I also got a lot of mileage out of Kaplan’s Secret Sauce - as a supplement not a replacement to focused studying. I read it cover to cover several times, using it as my on the go/train reader from Feb/March to test day.
 
is secret sauce the laminated fold out? i remember i used that years ago for level 1 and it was useful
 
Liked Schweser for L1 and actually loved it for L2, but wasn’t a huge fan at L3. I think it does matter who the editor is and how their learning style jives with your own. I liked Hetherington as he was a good conversationalist, but it seemed like he emphasized absolutely every little point as being “critical on exam day” which made it tough for me to follow what in the material I needed to focus on.
CFAI notes were more specific than other levels, but still has a lot of excess. I used Schweser Notes pretty exclusively and CFAI if I really had a hard time with a concept. Would work a few EOC Qs out of CFAI text for each subject. Biggest key to me passing was the mock exams.. I probably didn’t know as much as everyone else, but I felt extremely prepared for the format unlike some. Did all Six Schweser mocks and last three years CFA exams twice. Had a good idea of what to focus on the most after doing one round of exams which will boost your confidence a bit. Good luck.
 
Schweser PM books 1 and 2 were great. Didn’t touch their am though.
 
They were very good.. used them in all Levels but you need to dig deep and go back to CFAI books when needed especially for L3.
 
I couldn’t agree more. Going back and redoing BB and EOC Qs on my weak areas was key to passing the exam.
 
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