adehbone

I did Schweser only for both L1 and L2. I tried to study CFAI text for L2 derivative but there was just too much information for each LOS - I couldn’t really concentrate on retaining just the most critical knowledge needed. So I did 2 read through for Schweser - once in detail reading in 2 months time , second round is a speed read through for the topics I can’t retain fully from my head for roughly 1 month - and I tried to link the entire curriculum up in a logical manner. The last month before the exam I did lots of Qbank - like 1200 of them? and I only do the difficult ones (no point getting a false comfort in scoring the easy questions, imo) , and spend lots of time reviewing each question I got wrong. 3 days before test all i did was mock and again heavy review of each question I got wrong - ended I only manage to do 2 full mocks - 1 CFAI and 1 Schweser mock.
But I barely passed - so it is quite dangerous to do only Schweser, imo. Another caveat - it seems that there are many more surprises in the L2 test compared to L1 - some concepts wasnt covered in detail in Schweser. Be mindful of that - so for you to just rely on Schweser - you have to be sure that whatever that’s covered in Schweser, you have to know it extremely well. Cant shortcut the text and shortcut the supplementary note. lol
On the background part - I have a maths degree with a focus in financial engineering - ermm.. so derivative in cfa is actually more primitive than the one I’ve already learnt in univ. 2 years working exp in unrelated field - portoflio analytics in a bank…

strikethree

Here is my 2 cents.
Schweser+EOC+mock will make you fine. (only my own experience)
Schweser: read in very detail. Figure out any possible confusion. Also, read and think. If you know the calculation/defination, try to explain why but not only how.
EOC: If you did the first step, you can probably beat most of the EOC questions. However, you may still see very few that are not explained clearly or even never appeared in Schweser. Here, you need to go back to the textbook and read that part. (go over those you did wrong before exam).
Mock: Do it just before the real exam (maybe 1 week or 2). This is for practice and mimic the real exam. If possible, do at least 4 comprehensive mock before exam to make every topic familar.

pimpineasy

Me.
1st attempt Level 1 on Dec 2012, pass.
1st attempt Level 2 on Jun 2013, pass.
I barely looked at CFAI cirrucumlum because I just didn’t have time.
I have computer science background. No finance related background.

firat

Passed lvl 1 easily, and lvl 2 wih a ton of abysmal doubt but still passed with 2 <50 and 2 midrange.
A different strategy for the original poster: ask yourself at the beginning which of the ten topics you find the easiest. Fra, equity maybe? Use Schweser for those. For the rest, use BOTH CFAI and Schweser. BOTH.  And as others have provided, work on tons of Schweser and CFAI mock tests. I did about a total of 10 practice sets (1 set = am + pm sessions), took the horrible Schweser live mock which I very much recommend (I got a 58% which gave me a wake up call, WHICH is all I needed.), all EOC questions in CFAI.
I placed the word doubt at the beginning due to the ethics section. Get as much practice on this. You will never feel confident on ethics level 2, unlike in level 1.
4yrs working exp in finance: 2 in valuations and modelling and 2 in funds monitoring.

ASSet_MANagemen

Posted this in another thread
Also did Level 1 Dec 2012 and Passed Level 2 in June 2013Only used Schweser Notes with Econ/PM < 50%, Ethics 50-70, rest 70+
Did 5 mocks total, first 4 Schweser mocks and the official CFAI mock, got around 75% in all the mocks
Highly recommend getting schwesser, studied around 250 hours. Started studying in Feb and finished Schweser notes by the 2nd week in April, 2 weeks of review of all the materials, and then a mock every weekend until the exam

anothercfainnyc

People say schweser + eoc does the trick.  Problem I have with this is for some subjects like fixed income you can’t even answer the eoc with schweser. So you end up basically reading cfa text for those subjects of complementing with

profil

i passed L1 perfectly (all As), L2 quite perfectly…
my strategy has always been: use only schweser books, only use CFAI books as reference (when something’s not clear in schweser notes), study time: from Jan - day before test (about 2 hours per day, some days are self-made holidays)
all the best

cityboy

used Schweser dedicatedly for level 1 and level 2..it is quite comprehensive and gives  a firm grasp of the conceptsin a concise manner..THOUGH a few questions on L2 this time caught me offguard..better to religiously follow schweser mocks and practice exams for concept clarity BUT also make sure to go through the CFAI texts, just to be on the safe side!

jcole21

I feel the same way regarding your point about comprehending CFAI.  I still don’t plan on reading that text unless I’m stuck on a topic.  I will most definitely be hammering Blue Boxes and EOC like a maniac.

RepoToronto

Here’s what i think, CFAI covers 100% of the material you need to know (of course!) and let’s say Schweser covers 85% of the CFAI, but you understand EVERYTHING on teh 85%, your chance of passing is still very high because the actual exam will probably take materials from the 85% (most testable topics) rather than the 15% that Schweser leaves out.
But if you struggle reading the CFAI texts and you may end up only understanding 60-70% of the material, then you are no better off because you are 1) not focusing on the most testable material, and 2) you are stuck on the overwhelming length instead of spend your studying hours more productively, ie questions and reviewing of answers.