CFA® materials: Do they need to be current?

Almost two years ago I torrented a huge package of CFA® 
stuff, including Schweser PDFs, and I imagine several other monkeys here have come across the exact same file(s) online. The problem is that even then it was already a bit outdated.

Buying new or even recently used CFA® 
books, if I remember, is very expensive. Does it matter that much? I'm the cheapest person ever and just want to do all this at the lowest cost.

By the way, if this has been talked to death already feel free to throw monkey shit or whatever, but I don't recall seeing a lo ton this before.

 

Are you talking about L1 material? If so, probably about 80% of the material should stay the same over the course of a few years. They move certain topics (i.e., LIFO/FIFO, etc.) from L1 to L2 and vice versa. Also, they add some hot topics each year on L1. That is something that you want to be cognizant of because when they move something from L2 to L1 it will definitely be tested. If you have the videos from years past those should be good at getting the “main points” of each section down. I used ’09 Schwesser videos for the ’10 L1 exam and ’10 Schwesser videos for the ’11 L2 exam and passed both.

Something like this should help to determine the differences that have occurred in the LOS’ as well.

http://www.passingscorefinance.com/LOS/2011-2012/cfa_loschanges1.pdf

 

^you are correct. You will be forced to either purchase the textbooks or the ebooks (ebooks the cheaper option).

I used 2010 Schweser guides and the only real change was in the accounting (IFRS-GAAP). I would have to agree that 80% of it was the same. Just compare the LOS in Schweser to the LOS in the ebooks.

 

You can find current materials through your original method of acquiring them. I have done such for all 3 levels. Quality varies and they can be a bit hard to find.

"For I am a sinner in the hands of an angry God. Bloody Mary full of vodka, blessed are you among cocktails. Pray for me now and at the hour of my death, which I hope is soon. Amen."
 

You are forced to buy the CFA materials at every level of the exam even if you are a retaker. I used '08 Schweser materials for the '09 Level I exam without any problems. I think there were a few areas not covered where I simply reverted back to the CFA books.

They usually don't make earth shattering changes to the curriculum each year, but it always changes a little.

 

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