Hi Guys,
Prepping to take CFA® level 2 in June, heard good things about the Schweser books and good things about the Wiley online course. Could potentially buy Schweser books (anyone with comments on how it is for level 2? It worked well for me in level 1) and or the Wiley Course (anyone have opinions or recs for different courses?
| +34 | Non-Competes Banned | 43 | 2h | |
| +34 | ADHD ! | 19 | 2s | |
| +30 | Being Christian in investment banking | 14 | 4d | |
| How do I become Sigma | 15 | 2d | ||
| +20 | Moelis has the cutest Analysts? | 4 | 3d | |
| +16 | Underage intern, drinking? | 7 | 4d | |
| +15 | Can someone justify why is million written mm or MM? | 13 | 5h | |
| +13 | Secretive vs Universal Prestige? | 7 | 4d | |
| +10 | What are divorce rates in IB? | 13 | 5d | |
| +9 | FT 2024 NYC Roommate Search Thread | 1 | 6d |
Career Resources
Get instant access to lessons taught by experienced private equity pros and bulge bracket investment bankers including financial statement modeling, DCF, M&A, LBO, Comps and Excel Modeling.
used schweser for L2 and passed very comfortably. Never used Wiley, but Ive heard that Schwesers Qbank is better than Wiley's as well as their practice exams. I think you would be fine with both, know people who have used Wiley and still passed.
^same. I was very happy with the Schweser stuff for level 2.
I passed L2 using Schweser books and exams a number of hears ago.
Schweser
Hijacking thread.
It's been more than 10 years since I took the CFA L1 exam. I passed by the skin of my teeth due to destroying the Ethics section. So, I've got a Chinese co-worker who speaks pretty broken English. He'll be able to destroy the exam's mathematical concepts but will struggle with Ethics due to how complicated the language is. Do you think he has any chance to pass the CFA L1 exam with broken English given the weight of Ethics?
Just passed level one, I think I did decent on ethics, not 90th percentile but not far from it either. It's weird cause its the one the CFA institute says can affect you disproportionately to the % of questions it is on the exam. I'd hope he can get at least 40th-50th percentile on it, but as you probably know the CFA institute is intentionally vague on these things. Maybe this will help though. https://news.efinancialcareers.com/us-en/162018/whats-the-minimum-score…
How'd you find Level 1? I've got it coming up in Dec 2020!
Btw, do you have PDFs for the CFA textbook for Level 2 (2020 curriculum)? Would be super grateful if you could send them across please!
it is not rocket science. he needs to do all the q bank and also understand the vocab. the wording doesnt change much but it might get complicated. if he goes through mocks and q bank and memorizes what words mean he will be fine. remember there is only a few ways every standard can be tested. He also has to knpw which are standards and which are the principles. Besides, i took the exam with terrible knowledge of economics and quan and alternatives basically knew the basics and I survived. I advise with 5 day schweser review course
CFAi Materials. They're longer than Wiley or Schweser, but prep you better for the test and set you up much better for Lvl 3. The other two will give you exactly what you need to pass and nothing more, which will leave you worse off for the next level.
As to the Chinese guy with bad English, he should be busting his ass endlessly. Ethics has the highest ROI of any topic in the curriculum, as they essentially test you on the same material on all three levels.
First off, read the CFAi books. I know there’s way too many pages, the prose is drier and crustier than a 90-year old geriatric lady in a nursing home’s twat, and it can seem like a waste of time. It’s not. In order to maximize what you get out of doing practice questions from the Q-Bank (CFAi, Schweser, or Wiley, doesn’t matter which in this context) you need to have seen the material first in its entirety. The best way to do that is reading the material as written by the people who write the test (I know, I’m going wayyy out on a limb with a crazy premise here). Once you’ve read the books, do the CFAi study plan (it’s included in your registration) and get really good with all the questions in their Q-Bank. At that point, then, if you still want to, but the Schweser, blows Wiley out of the water.
Hope this helps!
Schweser for L1 or L2. Not for L3. For L3, do a seminar for 2 days and the actual CFAI books.
I always go with the #2 at CFA. Spicy Chicken is where it's at.
Dude, if you're still going to Chick-Fil-A you're so last decade. Popeye's sandwich is where its at. Its SO much better in both the spicy and non-spicy forms.
(Edit: I will give credit to hate-chicken's breakfast biscuit sandwich. With honey and hot sauce it's amazing hangover food.)
Here is a survey that breaks down popularity of study materials and their corresponding pass rates. Kaplan seems to be the more popular / produces better result. Personally, I passed using the Mark Meldrum videos and the CFAI Q Bank.
I would be hesitant to rely on pass rates. The data may not be reliable.
There is certainly self-selection and sampling bias present, doesn't mean the information isn't useful - just understand the pass rate is higher for the sample and view it relative to the population. I think a 900 response survey does a pretty good job at showing the popularity of different study resources and I'd rather know that samples pass rate per resource used than not have that info. Using a large pool of data is probably more reliable than sourcing it piecemeal from responses to a forum.
CFAi materials are the best for Level 2 and 3. A lot more reading but the test is from those materials so you make the call. Read and do the blue box questions. If you want practice tests you can get them from Schweser.
It depends on how much time you have. But one thing I am certain of (unless anything changed in the last 10 years) is you can pass every level with 70+ just with Schweser. I didn't even open the CFAI books for level 2 and 3. I only did 2 extra mocks before the exam (that my company sponsored), but pretty sure that didn't give me any extra knowledge vs Schweser.
I had a great experience for Level I and would recommend it to candidates, while an average-to-below-average experience surfaced for Level II. This is subjective, as Level II is more difficult and the hours I put in for Level II was only 70% of what I did for Level I; I'll preface this with my belief that the material does not get granular enough for how analytical I am and may miss some of CFAI's material you'll later encounter; further, I don't learn from memorization, I learn from relevant application and knowing the 'why'. I often got lost in some of the supplemental content that either had confusing text or graphical references; at times, this confusion was due to minor errors on their part, other-times, it was my errors (Student Support confirmed several of the errors and understood criticism of clarity on occasion). However, after even one error, I begin to lack confidence and start to question readings or questions - especially if it's a zero-day error. At times, this type of experience will distract me to the point that it impacts my progress - I go down a rabbit-hole searching for answers. As I hope I've made somewhat clear, my complaints are mostly due to my personality and this is not a hit-piece on the service provider. I'd guess that the overwhelming majority of users are more than satisfied with Schweser across all levels, so take my concerns into consideration, but don't let one customer review sail your ship. I don't have much experience using alternative providers, but Schweser has a great user-interface and a lot of valuable material too, but when the Q-bank asks a question for a Learning Outcome Statement that is not taught in that LOS, it pains me. Nevertheless, practice-makes-perfect and you will pass based upon the hours you put into it and you won't fail because of a few errors in your material, it's statistically insignificant; though, if you are like me, you may want to consider the CFAI material as your primary choice.
If this doesn't read as one big contradiction and you pull anything valuable out of it at all, I'll be thrilled.
I used the materials from the CFA Institute and supplemented with other material such as Schweser. I am not familiar with Wiley's materials. I assume that Wiley is a large publishing company and I would be curious about who writes their content.
Omnis fugit illo et quae velit et. Vitae tempora non et vitae ut dicta veniam. Veniam similique inventore occaecati error voluptates. Quibusdam officiis repellat sit iure ipsa. Et ea possimus magnam. Illum sunt non corporis esse pariatur quod. Cumque modi illo quo incidunt cupiditate consequatur qui.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...
Sed voluptatum corrupti eius sint. Sit est nobis quia deserunt ab. Et dolorum soluta vel quaerat. Quidem eveniet molestias est deserunt nihil.
Eaque illo cum enim magnam autem magnam. Est delectus blanditiis et. Mollitia quis et minus sunt culpa aut. Tempore non quia tempora et ducimus. Officia totam modi rem id. Est laborum et adipisci dolor rerum impedit.
Placeat repudiandae deserunt numquam est nihil harum voluptatem velit. Eligendi fugit autem a deleniti ipsum facere. Odio excepturi culpa corrupti temporibus nisi laborum et. Qui omnis laudantium est dolores fugiat velit.
Labore suscipit quia voluptas natus ipsam vero. Omnis aut enim veniam repellendus ut nemo quisquam.