smartpants
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- Jan 28, 2011
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which providers did best this year? Schweser or Elan or CFAI? who should i used for next year?
which providers did best this year? Schweser or Elan or CFAI?
- Thread starter smartpants
- Start date
I used elan both level 1 & 2 and despite elan failing to meet deadlines on providing notes for level 2 and failing to provide mocks or a question bank i found them really amazing. For level 1 I dont think anything can come close to it it was amazing… Passed level 1 first try in december 2011 and now level 2 first try jun 2012 (>70% in all sections for level 1 and >70% for all sections but ethics, PM and derivatives for Level 2)
smartpants
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- Jan 28, 2011
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I used Elan for level 1 as well, it was the best for level1. But i am very disappointed of Elan this year for level 2, i may switch to others for next year exam, and if they come out of mock exam, i may use that only.
crackthecfa
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- May 26, 2011
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CFA books are the best if you have can devote the time.
yabbadabbadoo
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- Jan 26, 2011
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i failed in 2011, band 10. i passed this year.
difference in materials? in both years i relied on schweser as the main study material. however when it came to review time, i used elan’s 11 th hour review or whatever it was called. i gave it a try after reading such good reviews about it for L1. big mistake… i found myself constantly checking their site’s errata section because there were so many mistakes. i honestly thought the only section that was good was quant, where they had the flow chart for applying different methodologies and how to get around any issues.
this time around, i used schweser’s videos/powerpoint for review. i think they have 3 instructors but the main one is great, he really teaches in a way that’s easy to understand and throws in a lot of humor to keep you engaged. me personally, there were certain sections that always gave me issue no matter how many times i read the book, but the videos help you focus on what you need to know, and just that.
also in 2011, i relied on qbank for review material. that worked horribly. not only are the difficulty of questions not nearly as close as the exam, but the very fact they have such few vignettes and all random one-offs, it doesn’t translate well when it comes to preparing for the exam. qbank worked great for level 1, but for 2… not so much. this time around i used stalla’s passmaster. i found this to be much more thorough and systematic.
cliff notes: 2011 used schweser study guide (main) + elan 11th hour (final review) + qbank (practice) = band 10
2012: used same schweser guide (main) + schweser videos (final review) + passmater (practice) = PASS
difference in materials? in both years i relied on schweser as the main study material. however when it came to review time, i used elan’s 11 th hour review or whatever it was called. i gave it a try after reading such good reviews about it for L1. big mistake… i found myself constantly checking their site’s errata section because there were so many mistakes. i honestly thought the only section that was good was quant, where they had the flow chart for applying different methodologies and how to get around any issues.
this time around, i used schweser’s videos/powerpoint for review. i think they have 3 instructors but the main one is great, he really teaches in a way that’s easy to understand and throws in a lot of humor to keep you engaged. me personally, there were certain sections that always gave me issue no matter how many times i read the book, but the videos help you focus on what you need to know, and just that.
also in 2011, i relied on qbank for review material. that worked horribly. not only are the difficulty of questions not nearly as close as the exam, but the very fact they have such few vignettes and all random one-offs, it doesn’t translate well when it comes to preparing for the exam. qbank worked great for level 1, but for 2… not so much. this time around i used stalla’s passmaster. i found this to be much more thorough and systematic.
cliff notes: 2011 used schweser study guide (main) + elan 11th hour (final review) + qbank (practice) = band 10
2012: used same schweser guide (main) + schweser videos (final review) + passmater (practice) = PASS
I failed band 6 in 2010 (not good enough effort at all), band 10 last year - both using exclusively Schweser. This year I went almost exclusively CFAI text and it really helped me grasp the material. It’s wordy, but it digs so much deeper than anything else I’ve seen that it’s worth the time. In the past, by the time it came to review time, I looked at the CFAI end of chapter questions and felt like a lost puppy. This year it was all very familiar. (Not to discount the fact that it was my 3rd time seeing the material, but you definitely forget a lot over the course of the 9 months off.)
I used only Schweser for both level 1 and level 2. My basic approach was to watch the videos and read the notes for each of the 18 sections, one per week. Then do all the Schweser problems at the end of the chapters for the section I just read. If I got one wrong then I’d read the answer and then try to do the problem again.
Lots of people say qbank is worthless for level 2 but I disagree. It’s great for drilling topics in your head and repetition. I’d do some qbank every day with recent topics and then try to do some questions at least once a week of all the topics I’d covered up until that point. I used the ongoing scoring percentages to help me decide what to review when it came to review time. Going over them again and again I probably did 3000-4000 qbank questions total, with a couple thousand of those in the last month before the exam.
I ended up doing 3 practice exams: Schweser in-person mock, CFAI mock, and 2 Schweser online exams. I thought they were good, especially the ones I did with a few weeks left before the exam. They show you what you really don’t know and give you a chance to work on it.
Lots of people say qbank is worthless for level 2 but I disagree. It’s great for drilling topics in your head and repetition. I’d do some qbank every day with recent topics and then try to do some questions at least once a week of all the topics I’d covered up until that point. I used the ongoing scoring percentages to help me decide what to review when it came to review time. Going over them again and again I probably did 3000-4000 qbank questions total, with a couple thousand of those in the last month before the exam.
I ended up doing 3 practice exams: Schweser in-person mock, CFAI mock, and 2 Schweser online exams. I thought they were good, especially the ones I did with a few weeks left before the exam. They show you what you really don’t know and give you a chance to work on it.