Can You Pass CFA Lev 1 Without Reading CFAI Text Book? long, concepts, practice, understand

kingstongal

It’s very tempting to read over the prep notes rather than reading those huge mungus CFAI textbooks. I can finish reading prep notes in a month but to finish read CFAI books, at least 2 months, which means less time for review and practice questions. Since prep notes cover all the kep concepts anyway, you think I can pass exam as long as I thoroughly understand prep notes materials? What ya guys think?

towardsutopia21

didnt you ask a slightly different variation of this question already? few people can do it. if you are of the few then go for it. but the majority would probably fail. what is the opportunity cost?

chandsingh

Yo flo7002, so you passed? During the exam, you didn’t feel like you missed anything?

ajpheif16

Used Schweser Notes and Qbank exclusively, for 45 days of studying, and passed.
I would not recommend using Schweser exclusively for the Ethics section as their question structure doesn’t align well to the real exam for that section. A mock exam will give you a good feel for this disparity.
My thoughts are that using Schweser only, I covered probably 90% of the CFAI material, and mastered 95% of it, which exceeds the 70% threshold, and made it possible to do so in a short amount of time.
Good luck, you can do it.

karoliukas

Oh, make sure you take lots of sample exams throughout your study period. I disagree with the notion of leaving them til the end. It gives you a better sense for what lies ahead, your comfort with the existing material, and the timing and depth of material.

malbec

i never looked at the CFAI books… ever. Passed with >70% in all sections expect derivatives. If anything, the actual exam was much easier than the Schweser tests i was taking as practice. The key to the Level I exam, i felt, was in knowing the details. Just having a good high level knowledge of the information and being sufficient in the calculatinos is not enough. There arent even that many calculations to do. Schweser is more than sufficient to get you a good score on level I, you just have to treat everything as though it is important. For instance, just reading technical analysis few times and understanding it is not enough… memorize all the contrarian techniques (just as an example). Know that the S&P 500 is a market weighted index (i think..). Again.. just an example. success lies in knowing the details.

jim8z3

I used only Schweser notes to pass but its too too too risky to depend solely on Schweser notes. Many impt sections not covered in Schweser.
Please use the CFAI books. It;s hard but it’s a must.

Roflnadal

I passed Level I using Stalla and only looking at the CFAI materials for Ethics. It worked fine. I will use that same strategy for Level II.

firat

Sounds like most of you are getting into the Prep Course trap if you intend to go the distance with all three levels. I recommend CFAI texts, Qbank, and Practice exams, CFA Mock and Sample Exams.

koba

If you need a process for going the CFA Texts…..google this “My Recomended CFA Study Schedule”
W