Using strictly schweser or curriculum or both?

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sinan

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I was wondering the amount of people have passed or heard someone passed level 2 with just using the schweser material?
The reason I ask this is because I used only the schweser stuff for level 1 last year for 2 month and passed. Wondering if I can pull this off again.
 
I used Schweser for LI and passed but for LII its disappointing… I really had wished for it to be same value adding but several areas which require in depth understanding have scratched by schweser.
 
Still a L2 candidate myself, haven’t attempted the exam once yet, but from my experience (I’ve gone through the Schweser material once), it’s been very good. Also, I’ve spoke to several CFA charterholders / instructors / mentors from the CFALA review program, and I’ve always heard either:
I used strictly the Schweser texts for all 3 levels and did fine.
I used both the Schweser and CFA texts for all 3 levels and did fine.
What I have never heard from a CFA charterholder is, I strictly used the Schweser texts and was unable to pass.
 
can’t help myself here: classic survivorship bias… i assume CFA charterholders passed the exams, so you rarely hear them say they didn’t. lol
that said, I think Schweser material is quite condensed and it’s easy to skim without truly understanding. for level 1, a finance grad might pass anyways, but for level 2 it’s ok to use schweser, but make sure to understand every concept.
 
What I meant was, they all passed it on their first attempt with whatever method they suggested (either strictly Schweser or Schweser + CFA texts). I have not surveyed people who did not pass to see which texts they used to study.
Edit: I understand what you’re saying though. This is a survivorship bias. I have spoken to some colleagues who did not pass L1 and they simply said they did not study enough. I honestly think it doesn’t matter which material is used to study, as long as you put a lot of time in and are able to consistently score very high on practice tests (if you can get 80%+ you’ll be fine on exam day).
 
agree with you Clark. way too questions on this forum about which notes to use. just pick one and study hard.
 
I have spoken to a total of 7 people who have passed level 2 recently -
6 used exclusively Schweser
1 exclusively CFA text
0 used both
…. I don’t inquire with those who fail.
 
If you’re going to assess the value of Schweser-only study materials, I think you have to ask those who failed – not just those who passed.
I will say that I don’t hear to often about folks who read the entire curriculum and failed.
 
I used Schweser by itself, never opened the CFAI materials. Honestly, from all of those that I know who are charterholders, the information is readily available to all of us whether we use Kaplan, Stalla, CFAI. The trick is mastering it, which takes TIME TIME and more TIME. That is the only difference-maker that matters.
 
I used Schweser only for my first try at Level II, I failed miserably. Not only did I fail the exam but I fell into the trap of assuming I understood the material required to pass as I had understood the Schweser books quite well (which I had), when it came down to the final week I only then realised that my knowledge was so far short of the mark that I had no chance of passing. The night before the exam I was a mixture of emotions, between frustration at the perceived level of difficulty of the content examined, as well as anger at myself for not keeping the exam in mind. I gave my best shot on the day but I knew full well straight after taking the test that I had failed.
By no means is the official reading material perfect, and indeed it could be dramatically improved, I do believe though that you’d stand a better chance of passing by taking the extra time and using the official material as your starting point. Schweser would be a good tool for a 4 week review after going through the official readings. I retook Level II last year, using primarily the official texts, and although I failed it I was only a marginal fail. I felt that given my knowledge base at the time of examination, had I taken the exam 8 times, I’d have passed it 5 or 6 times out of the 8.
The lesson I understood after failing last year that although putting the hours in is important, I feel it’s far more important to work smart than work hard. Always keep the exam day in mind, the sort of questions that might be asked, paying particular attention to the LOS in play for each reading as well as the typical weights for each topic.
I’m quite confident of passing it this time around…..even if it is attempt number 3 :-)
 
here’s a question for those who failed using schweser materials - how many mock exams have you gone through, and have you gone through all the problem sets in the official materials?
 
Don’t make the mistake of using Schweser alone. I personally did not find much benefit in Schweser after level 1, as the exam is quite different from the QBank questions and/or practice exam.
Best is to use the original material, and then solve as many practice exams as possible.
 
Use Schweser plus EOC Questions. The thing about EOC questions is they teach you to look for that extra trick that is always thrown into CFA questions. Schweser material is more than fine for the actual concepts.
 
Curriculum guy here, although with Level II, Schweser helped me cut through some of the material in places.
I didn’t find that Schweser was all that much faster. This is because, often when doing EOCs, I realized that Schweser missed certain material and I had to spend a significant f time backtracking through CFAI material.
To me, the best approach for those who just don’t want to slog through CFAI text is to read Schweser while also following along in CFAI so as to make sure that nothing is missed.
 
Agree with Hank Moody. Read Schweser, but have the CFAI books open so that you can refer to them whenever the Schweser notes are not very detailed (which is often).
 
I used Schweser exclusively for L1 and passed relatively comfortably.
Personally fet I made a complete mistake by using the same strategy for L2. Material did not feel in-depth and the questions from the Schweser practice exam booklets did not feel representative of the exam. Schweser secret sauce should only be used as a reminder tool - you could carry that into the open book exam and will come out with the same marks.
Maybe I woke up on the wrong side of the bed for the day but I will definitely be relying on the CFA curriculum for this year. Even if means my back will be done in.
 
It’s all relative to your understanding of the material from your background (either university or preferably work experience)
If you lack any relevant knowledge from the entire curriculum in level 2, the CFA curriculum would probably suite you best….If you are a quick learner, or have a good background, Schweser is more than enough.
I used schweser 100% (no CFA books for anything) and passed (same with level 1)..It’s all subjective and different for anyone….just do what you feel is best, and don’t blame your failure on the decision of schweser vs cfa books
 
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