June 2016 Schweser vs Elan/Wiley - Which package to buy

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Joe_83

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Hi everybody, just passed Level 1 with Schweser and original text book. I really thought the CFA material were harder then Schweser and don’t know if Wiley/Elan would be better to go. The packages I am looking at are below. Everybody talks about Elan’s videos, but to be honest I used no video for prep in Level 1…Just a lot of re-reading, flashcards, and practice questions/mocks. I have dual degrees in Math and Finance - found accounting the hardest part of Level 1…
http://www.efficientlearning.com/wiley-cfa/products/level-2/platinum-cfa... - Elan Platinum $1245 with discount
Downside - 500 Test Question - 1500 Practice Questions
Upside - Better videos - better quality questions
http://www.schweser.com/cfa/level-2/study-packages - Would get the essential with the secret sauch total is about 800 and i can preorder
upside: More practice questions 3000 and 6 tests, can preorder and expense immediately
downside: Well not that happy with the prep materials for level 1 when I got to the last month and looked at cfa questions and compared against schweser just seemed like CFA material was harder - I do not know if this is the same for Wiley/Elan but considering switching as I know CFA Level 2 is harder…
I called Wiley/Elan and pretty disappointed because I couldn’t preorder. I was ready to pull the trigger but I can’t even preorder…At my company it looks better to submit the exam cost and the study materials together to expense.
Any idea on which of these products would be better to go with? And what materials you used? Is it better to wait it out until I can pre-order the elan package and expense CFA on 1 ticket? -Or preorder Schweser and sign up for CFA. This way I could get the books sooner from the original text.
Any insight, greatly appreciated.
 
I passed L1 with schweser only.
I failed L2 last year (band 7) doing schweser only.
This year I passed using Elan videos + schweser notes. Looking at the videos, you might not really need the Wiley notes, unless you prefer to have the book also.
I can honestly say with confidence that Elan videos watched twice and doing the practice problems as they do them in the video, with Peter or Basit will result in a pass.
A major exception is the new guy on there. He might be a good instructor, but I guess my learning style and his teaching style are perfectly negatively correlated.
This is all I did. Actually, I almost watched them once and seldom did the problems with them while they were doing it (Peter & Basit).
The ones I watched were quant, CF, FRA, Equity, Derivatives, FI (I regretted watching these videos because they were done by the new guy), and PM. The rest I remembered from last year’s schweser notes, and glanced over schweser notes this year for all the sections I watched the video to).
This obviously reflects on my score:
>70 on FRA, Equity, Econ & PM
51-70 on CF and FI
<50 in Ethics (surprised), derivatives, alt inv, and quant.
I think with your educational background, just buy wiley video package.
 
I had already read the first thread and some others on the internet. The second link is good too, but still on the fence.
Need for info before charge more for the prep materials then the test fee.
 
I know we can register for the exam tomorrow but I don’t think CFAI releases study materials until September? If so, there is no rush to register just yet. …
Personally, I opted for Wiley for Level II because I felt I struggled too much w/ Schweser for Level I. It could be that I hadn’t been adequately broken in just yet. LOL. I’d check both product availability schedules if you’d like or need to get a hop on your studies. Wiley has historically had a later release date.
The Elan vids that were produced in earlier years were awesome. Their newer vids were… lame. It doesn’t sound like you’re into videos much. Neither am I. I wouldn’t make the vids your deciding factor unless Peter Olinto is covering FRA. Wiley will post who’s covering each topic on their website. I’m a CPA so FRA is my strongest section but I still think he rocked. Since you said FRA is challenging for you then access to Peter Olinto is reason enough to go with Wiley.
I’d also spring for the Wiley 11th Hour Guide over Secret Sauce anyday of the week.
On the other hand, if you learn by doing then access to Schweser’s Qbank is a definite plus. Also, it seems that Schweser’s mocks are “almost” a must have. CFAI does release a number of practice vignettes + a full mock (AM/PM), so Schweser mocks are an extra, if you have time. I should have done Wiley’s mock and qbank, but I didn’t. Too pressed for time. I read somewhere that you had to do Wiley’s mock online, which I would have found annoying since I find marking up vignettes/problems on paper like I would on exams helpful.
Other candidates will swear by Schweser.
 
lammy wrote:
I know we can register for the exam tomorrow but I don’t think CFAI releases study materials until September? If so, there is no rush to register just yet. …
Personally, I opted for Wiley for Level II because I felt I struggled too much w/ Schweser for Level I. It could be that I hadn’t been adequately broken in just yet. LOL. I’d check both product availability schedules if you’d like or need to get a hop on your studies. Wiley has historically had a later release date.
The Elan vids that were produced in earlier years were awesome. Their newer vids were… lame. It doesn’t sound like you’re into videos much. Neither am I. I wouldn’t make the vids your deciding factor unless Peter Olinto is covering FRA. Wiley will post who’s covering each topic on their website. I’m a CPA so FRA is my strongest section but I still think he rocked. Since you said FRA is challenging for you then access to Peter Olinto is reason enough to go with Wiley.
I’d also spring for the Wiley 11th Hour Guide over Secret Sauce anyday of the week.
On the other hand, if you learn by doing then access to Schweser’s Qbank is a definite plus. Also, it seems that Schweser’s mocks are “almost” a must have. CFAI does release a number of practice vignettes + a full mock (AM/PM), so Schweser mocks are an extra, if you have time. I should have done Wiley’s mock and qbank, but I didn’t. Too pressed for time. I read somewhere that you had to do Wiley’s mock online, which I would have found annoying since I find marking up vignettes/problems on paper like I would on exams helpful.
Other candidates will swear by Schweser.
Click to expand...
I think that Peter Olinto is teaching for Fitch Learning now. I got his videos too late in the game with their review course at Fitch. I think I’m going to call them and find out if they’ll be having Olinto teach Level II this year. I had no idea where he had gone, but that is where he is now.
 
fullset wrote:
I passed L1 with schweser only.
I failed L2 last year (band 7) doing schweser only.
This year I passed using Elan videos + schweser notes. Looking at the videos, you might not really need the Wiley notes, unless you prefer to have the book also.
I can honestly say with confidence that Elan videos watched twice and doing the practice problems as they do them in the video, with Peter or Basit will result in a pass.
A major exception is the new guy on there. He might be a good instructor, but I guess my learning style and his teaching style are perfectly negatively correlated.
This is all I did. Actually, I almost watched them once and seldom did the problems with them while they were doing it (Peter & Basit).
The ones I watched were quant, CF, FRA, Equity, Derivatives, FI (I regretted watching these videos because they were done by the new guy), and PM. The rest I remembered from last year’s schweser notes, and glanced over schweser notes this year for all the sections I watched the video to).
This obviously reflects on my score:
>70 on FRA, Equity, Econ & PM
51-70 on CF and FI
<50 in Ethics (surprised), derivatives, alt inv, and quant.
I think with your educational background, just buy wiley video package.
Click to expand...
Totally agree, failed band 8 (level 2) last year using only schweser. Passed this year with Elan.
 
Wiley hands down but avoid completely non Olinto and non Basit video lectures and online classes. I’d say buy notes, old school videos with Olinto/Basit but claiming discount from platinum package. Just count % of old materisls and pay only for them. This is fair deal.
 
mbsgal85 wrote:
I think that Peter Olinto is teaching for Fitch Learning now. I got his videos too late in the game with their review course at Fitch. I think I’m going to call them and find out if they’ll be having Olinto teach Level II this year. I had no idea where he had gone, but that is where he is now.
Click to expand...
still list Olinto with Elan under the Wiley Top instructions section…
http://www.efficientlearning.com/wiley-cfa/5-reasons-use-cfa-exam-review/
 
passed Level 1, too.
I’m not interested in watching videos. Just want to read and do pratice questions. Would you recommend Schweser or Wiley for that?
 
Schweser all the way. And go and have a break until December - you will have plenty of time in 2016 to study.
 
NutsAM wrote:
passed Level 1, too.
I’m not interested in watching videos. Just want to read and do pratice questions. Would you recommend Schweser or Wiley for that?
Click to expand...
Wiley has superb notes. Passed L2. Still recomend reading CFAI curriculum 1st to get academic understanding (also super important for example to read practice questions for swaps as they show short formulas for exam calculation), then Wiley notes to sum everything up, do mock and overview reading of Wiley notes plus focus reading pf hard for you topics plus Wiley formula sheet. This should lead you to pass. Wiley notes from my opinio is absolute must have because it’s hard for normal man to sum up 3k pages for an exam (only Wiley formula sheet will save you tons of time).
 
I used Wiley and referred to the CFAI books when I thought I needed some additional information or explanation. I can strongly recommend the Wiley books for Level 2. Good to understand, good price and good examples.
I also used the 11th Hour Guide which is perfect for the final weeks - it’s very condensed and it’s printed.
But there few things that I didn’t like with Wiley:
  • It took them until February to deliver all Readings and they weren’t able to their own time table. The initial indication was completion of all Readings until December.
  • There are no practice questions in the book; for this they offer another book for 150 USD that contains many, many questions. But the format is different to the CFAI format and I didn’t use quite often. I wouldn’t buy it again and would therefore concentrate on the EOCs.
  • It took them weeks (or even months) to allow you to print more than two(!) pages at a time.
  • You have to buy the printed books seperately and they were available in February or March. And if you live in Europe you have to buy some 150 USD for shipping alone! I didn’t do this, because I had printed out most of the stuff before.
Apart from these points (and may be they will get better in sticking to their time tables) I can really recommend Wiley.
I can’t say anything about the videos. I have never watched any CFA video as I don’t think that I can learn from videos. I prefer to “read and learn”. But that is just the case for me and evereyone should decide for him-/herself what the best “learning channel” is.
 
I used Schweser notes for L1 last year and same thing for L2 this year, passed both. I did all the examples in the Schweser notes and practice questions, and then the next day I would do the CFAI EOC questions to make sure I grasped the concepts. No QBank and no videos. The last month was dedicated to practice exams and review.
 
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