What's most effective for Level II? especially, into, interested, effective, actually

ryanlb

Since all of you studying for Level III passed Level II, I’m interested in your advice. I would especially like to hear from those of you who got 70% in all sections or did much better than you expected. What exactly separated you from those who failed? Why were you able to avoid the booby traps that others fell into?
I am amazed by the things I’ve been reading on the Level II board. I get the impression that the AF pass rate was actually lower than the overall pass rate for Level II. I also get the impression that everyone did worse than they expected going in or going out of the Level II exam. This is the OPPOSITE of what the Level I exam was like. Among the ranks of those who failed the Level II exam were the most knowledgeable AF participants, those who got 80% on CFAI mock exams, and even those who thought they passed with 70% in most or all sections. On the other hand, there were people who passed even though they fell short of 70% on the CFAI mock exams.
There seems to be a consensus that knowing all of the CFAI examples and end of chapter questions is key for Level II. Q-Bank is generally regarded as a joke, and Schweser doesn’t cover the details needed to pass. As a result, I will make sure to know all of the CFAI textbook examples and end of chapter questions. Depending on how quickly I can get up to speed on the basic principles, I may or may not buy SchweserNotes. I will take my results on the CFAI and BSAS mock exams with a shaker of salt with respect to predicting how I’ll do on exam day. I won’t bother with Q-Bank even though I found it valuable for Ethics and other sections I was concerned about in Level I. I know that even though I passed Level I with 70% on everything, it would be the height of hubris to approach the Level II exam the same way and expect to pass.
Has ANYONE with a good understanding of all of the CFAI examples and questions failed the Level II exam?

nitoha

- Schweser taught me basically the way CFAI thinks: what are the core materials, what is their purpose for wanting to teach us these things (putting subjects into contexts).
- I read those sections of the text because I was totally interested in the material this time around (again, I know the context)
- Schweser also warned what was likely to be tested (eg. I knew Private Equity / Venture Capital calculations forwards and backwards).
- Practice exams, exams, exams. Whatever you think: in the last 2~3 weeks ONLY DO practice exams. I spent 3~4 hrs each day after work doing these (sleeping v. late and then taking 15 mins power naps) in the last several weeks.

dontknow1987

I used schewer mainly, did some of EOC questions in CFAI, have a glance of those chapters. IF I do have time again to do level 2, I will read the book.
Grab the key concept while do not ignore other little details.
I got last year band 10 and this year all sections high except Quans. My experience migiht not help you a lot since I was pretty closer to pass last year already

rgonzalez

I only used Schweser too. It really depends on what you want - do you want to pass and read the minimum amount, or know everything AND pass. If the former, then Schweser is great - I didn’t do perfect on everything, but hell - I passed and that’s all that Schweser claims to do for its “clients” - I don’t remember them ever saying “Use Schweser and get 70 on all sections!”. A pass is a pass, right?
I would love to have time to read everything, etc - but I literally only studied for a month and half, and thus needed to minimize my time with stuff I didn’t need to know and focus on the essentials, which is what Schweser does. Sure I was confused (and still am) on some parts, but I understand enough to pass. To do the same with the CFAI books would be darn near impossible. Schweser is condensed and with that, you lose some color and detail, but get enough to do pretty well.
With that said, I’m thinking of actually starting early for once (level 1 I studied 2 months, level 2 only 1.5 months!), and actually reading the CFAI texts. I think it will be alot more rewarding and beneficial to read the full blown CFAI materials, with background and more explanation. But we’ll see…

thecfawannabe

I don’t think schweser was useless–thats all I read (just passed in 2009). I did use the CFAI books for ethics though. EOC questions are a must though as CFAI sometimes has a different way of asking questions or may cover some things that are overlooked by schweser. If I came across something like this, then I would skim the CFAI book and make sure I understood the topic before moving on.
Qbank is pretty useless, although the 6 vignette SS quizzes were pretty good as they at least used the format of the exams (some of them were ridiculously hard though so don’t be discouraged).
My strategy:
Read Schweser
Do EOC questions in schweser
Do CFAI EOC questions
Take qbank quiz on Chapter
At the end of each SS, take SS quiz
Spend 4-5 weeks at the end for review, taking book 6 exams (book 7 is a waste), and CFAI mocks/samples
That has worked so far–we’ll see how it works for L3

cchang

i read schweser over and over again in passing 2008. and yeah, end of chapter CFAI is important too.
you need to know the 12-15 major calculations cold.