Who passed Level 2 using Schweser? experience, about, job, 2011

Kiakaha

Please post your experience and thoughts. I think Schweser did a great job with Level 1 but I'm curious about Level 2.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at Thursday, July 28, 2011 at 01:31PM by BC_MBA_student.

b_sea93

I can give you an objective opinion here!

I gave my first attempt with the Institute books & put in more than 300 hours of prep. They sure make the understanding easy but take a lot of time! As you know the portion is vast and you find it difficult to keep track of things.

Second attempt was with Schweser where I spent 30 odd days of work. Cleared this time! Though I remembered most of the stuff from first attempt, but I am sure as hell studying from Schweser the first time round would have made the difference!

But no matter what you choose, solving at least 3 Schweser papers + Mocks is a MUST!

Good luck!

-HB

yuoska

I did both

but realy I can't see how my score would have been lower had I done just Schweser...

hek, it actually might have been higher, Schweser covered it all for me

with CFAI I was having to read a page that I only need to know a sentence in it...

would have gotten much better marginal gain from Schweser.

yalo

I used Schweser as my primary source. If I had to give a break-down it would probably be 95% Schweser. That doesn't include EOC from CFAI text, because those are a must.

While Schweser is great overall it is lacking in certain topics. For example the chapter on Pension Accounting is severely lacking. I studied Schweser and then couldn't do any of the EOC problems from CFAI text. Had to review certain topics.

Using Schweser primarily is probably fine (worked for me) but make sure to do CFAI EOC to check for any topics that weren't covered well by Schweser.

eoin

I passed both L1 and L2 on first attempt w/ the same process. if you methodically do this approach, I can almost guarantee you will pass:

1. Watch Schweser Video on a study session
2. Read Schweser Notes on same study session
3. Do Schweser questions on the study session - mark what you didn't get right for later review
4. Do CFAI EOC questions on the study session - mark what you didn't get right for review
5. Writedown all relevant notes to this study session for yourself (create your own separate set of condensed notes). This was an ongoing process for me, where I would be watching Schweser Video in 1 screen and on a second monitor typing out my own notes.
6. Writedown a running list of all key formulas in a separate notes section (key formulas for this study session).
7. Create some flash cards (not too many) covering key concepts.

repeat this process for every study session. review your notes, do CFAI EOC a 2nd, 3rd time (especially the ones you got wrong). keep creating more flash cards when you screw up problems or cannot remember concepts. Do mock exams / review. create more flash cards and review all problems you got wrong.

I had a condensed set of personal notes, flash cards (whittled down from ~300 to 50-100 most important that I had trouble remembering), a set of formulas organized by study session, and a separate section of notes just for derivatives (exactly how to do each derivatives problem step by step).

I walked out knowing for sure I passed and I did.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at Thursday, July 28, 2011 at 02:54PM by prophets.

bkballa

I used only the Schweser Notes, went to everything twice, including the tests at the end of the chapter, did the vignettes from the EOC (not all exercises), and did Mock Exams and Practice Exams from Schweser in the last 2 weeks. I passed from my first attempt, starting to learn on the 4th of February.

wilslm

I did only Schweser. Never cracked the CFAI books, although in hindsight, I should've done CFAI EOC. But I studied a ton, probably 300+ hours. Lots of read throughs and reviews of Schweser books, formula memorization, q bank, etc. Didn't mess with the Schweser EOC because those are just really stupid and completely different. Passed on my first attempt with a pretty good score. 70+ in all 4 big categories Equity, Ethics, FRA, and FI. <50% on portfolio management, and quant somehow. In between on the others.

I did the same thing for level 1, but studied half as much. I will do the same for level 3. I think anyone that reads the CFAI books is wasting time. They are way too wordy. The argument that Schweser skips certain things is dumb, because there's no way you'd know everything anyway. Spend time trying to know everything or as much as humanly possible in Schweser texts instead and you will be way ahead. Then do as many Qbank and Schweser mocks as possible! Practice over and over and over and over....

eoin

Passed in 1st attempt.

I used schweser's notes and CFAI books. I used the CFAI books only when I wasn't able to understand something from notes.. and I also did all CFAI EoCs.
Schweser is fine. Although, in the exam, there were some questions in which some terms were completely new to me. Maybe its just me or maybe Schweser does leave things out, i'm not sure. But I think I had gone through the Schweser notes thoroughly.
So if you get a really good grip on the topics in Schweser, i think the chances of passing are pretty high.

Because of time constraint, I wasn't able to do any mock.. But I still passed.
Just make sure that you understand a particular topic 'completely' and then move on to the next. Imo, unlike in case of Level 1, I don't think anyone can pass level 2 without clearing the concepts. I found CFA Level 2 paper to be quite tricky.

morebeans

Btw, got 50 - 70 in Derv, Quants and Ethics and 70+ in the rest 7.

ba736

lol...wait until L3 where essays are half the exam and Schweser does a terrible job of prep.