Stalla Review Course class, already, possible, requested

manasib

Hello,

Anyone have any comments on Stalla's 16 week review course? I'm looking to take it in Atlanta, but I would imagine/hope it's relatively consistent across the board. I also realize I have already missed the first class, with the second being this Thursday, so urgency is respectfully requested, if possible. I just don't want to commit $1600 blindly, and also feel as though a one-week crash course might be more helpful. Any thoughts are greatly appreciated. Thank you.

firat

I think if you want an honest review of the live class you would have to look for someone who took the live class in Atlanta... or at least someone who's been in a class with the instructor(s) Stalla uses. I took the live Stalla class for Level 1 three years ago in NYC and I can tell you that class was very helpful. Taught predominantly by Peter Olinto and Dave Hethington. I don't think it gets much better than that for Level 1. But there were some classes traught by other instructors. Unfortunatly some of their other instructors are not as skilled in the art of teaching as others.

I never took the crash course, so I can't speak to that experience. However, I wouldn't expect you would learn too much in a one-week crash course. It's probably a thorough review of the material. If you know the material already, it will solidify the concepts. If you aren't familiar with the material, I don't think it would be very helpful, except to possibly give you a wake up call and to help you figure out how you need to prioritize the remainder of your time.

Stalla also has a Mock review for level 1 that's probably included in the $1600 package (I'm not certain about what's included so you should confirm this before you do anything). After the mock-exam (as part of the review), all L1 concepts were reviewed. Again, I was fortunate to be in NYC where Peter Olinto went through just about the whole curriculum in the review. That was extremely valuable. I'm not sure if he does the Mock in Atlanta. You might want to call Stalla and ask them about that.

One other thing that you're probably aware of... Stalla gives you the DVDs for the lectures as part of the package. So you get to review the lectures a second time if you need to do so. You may never need to do that but I also missed a few of the lectures and it's nice that I had the option to view on the DVD. If DVDs are done by Olinto/Hetherington, that's a plus. But I realize you are specifically asking about the live course.

I realize this is the level 1 forum, but I expect there are probably level 2 candidates visiting... so I will add a caveat. I didn't think Stalla did as thorough of a job on level two. And in particular, the post mock exam review was almost a complete waste of time.

Hope this info is helpful. Good Luck.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at Tuesday, July 26, 2011 at 11:49PM by haphols_cfa.

wilslm

haphols - extremely helpful, thank you. To your comment about Stalla's level 2 material being less helpful, I have heard the same thing about Schweser. Thank you both for your help.

luda002

Agree with haphols_cfa. Depends on who is the instructor in Atlanta. Peter Orlinto is sooooooo goooooood. If you want his class, why don't you just get DVD's since he doesn't teach in Atlanta. I think DVD package is $999 instead of $1600 (live class option).

NakedPuts00

I used Stalla’s live class program in California. I passed this June 2011 Level 1 exam on the first attempt with +70% on ALL topics (no “except for” sections here, I gingerly tea-bagged the test). I’m not an internet-boasting genius though, therefore what I’m about to impart on you is my 10 month timeline of hell.

I realized my post turned VERY long, so here is a quick summary in the event that you don’t have 2 hours of free time to read the rest of my post: My best advice for you is this; determine your learning type, throw that preconceived notion away, then overstudy and overpay (if it hurts shelling out the money, keep in mind that you will probably save $1,600 in bar tabs while studying for this level) for prep-material so that you can focus 100% on what works for the harder levels. I don’t regret paying over $1600 for the Stalla program even though I didn’t use almost half of the material (like their flashcards since I created my own, their formula sheet since it is redundant if you create good flashcards, the entire back-half of the live classroom sessions, the printed texts since Passmaster includes an e-copy of the study guide). I may have studied too much for Level 1, but now I know what study techniques and prep-materials give the most “bang-for-the-buck” FOR ME. You should initially get a broad representation of materials to determine what works for you since it can be viewed as an insurance policy. I’m not an internet troll either, so I’ll gladly admit that regardless of my score, Level 1 scared me.

You can skip the fluff below if the above advice was enough motivation, otherwise settle in for my experience:

Quick background: At the tender age of 27 I received a bachelor's degree in Management Science (Economics with applied Calculus) on August 2010. I registered for the CFA exam Level 1 about a month or so later while working in an unfulfilling brokerage support position at a corporate bank. I worked 9 hours a day while studying for this exam and there were a few scattered days where I couldn’t study any longer and was reduced to babbling incoherently about how cats and washing machines don’t mix.

My process/timeline (all time values signify the remaining time before the June 2011 CFA exam Level 1):
1. 10 months - Skimmed the CFA Institute curriculum and snooped around on forums. Found out that accounting is serious business when you have no experience with it.

2. ~9 months - Enrolled in an online, 2 month CPA-level intermediate accounting class (Corporate Financial Statement Preparation). Around this time I also purchased the Stalla Level 1 ultra-deluxe preparation package (live-classroom edition).

3. ~6 months - Completed the online accounting class with 6 months left before the exam and jumped right into Stalla’s live-classroom sessions, sometime in January. Opened the CFA Institute provided books and attempted to read along with the Stalla classroom pace. This failed miserably. After Book 3 I switched to Stalla’s study guides (ultra-condensed version of the CFA book) and resorted to using the CFA Institute books as a “reference guide” instead of as reading material.

4. ~4 months – One of the intelligent and articulate Stalla instructors spends 10 minutes explaining and repeating how important flashcards and Passmaster (software based question bank) are; I proceed to go back over 6 sections and painstakingly create flashcards. I’ve done no Passmaster questions at this point and begin to doubt my resolve.

5. ~3 months – Realize the live class sessions are being bogged down by one brutally annoying person, so I abandon ship and cling to Stalla study guides, Passmaster, and my own flashcards. I restructure my schedule to review 3 Stalla study sessions per week (as found on their Passmaster) and proceed to forsake sunlight. My process is: read the study guide for the “study session”, do the assigned problems on Passmaster, create flashcards of subjectively identified “important” topics, rinse and repeat. I randomly grab handfuls of flashcards and take them with me everywhere I go, making sure that I cycle through them once I’m done (yes, this even includes dinner with my girlfriend and family functions).

7. ~2 month – I’ve done about 2,000 questions out of a 3,000+ question bank in Passmaster and my confidence is high, my mental health is perilously low, and my eyes cease to focus on font smaller than size 12. I’ve also resorted to reading my flashcards while sitting in stop-and-go traffic (yes, I know this is illegal, but I only glance at the card after I come to a full stop and I continuously remind myself how terrible my current job is).

8. ~1 month – I start taking the mock exams (both Stalla and official CFA-provided sets) every Saturday and Sunday. The first mock exam was a complete failure, ~60% correct and ~20 questions left unanswered due to time constraints. I realize that this exam is 99% about time management, specifically the ability to instantly recall the concept being tested. With this in mind, I proceed to review my mock exam by reading every multiple choice answer and forcing myself to write down or look up why that answer was correct or incorrect.

9. ~3 weeks – I make a conscious effort to immediately skip any question that I cannot answer within 5 seconds (not including reading time) and on the second pass-through, spend only 30 seconds on skipped/unknown questions. The next mock exam takes me 2hrs and 40 minutes to complete and I score 83%. I relish in the lightbulb moment, then proceed to spend the next 6 hours correcting/reviewing this exam. This is the point where I realize their tricks; the primary danger of this test is getting bogged down on random questions and not letting go.

10. ~2 weeks – I kick around on these forums and attempt to answer the questions that are “tricky” for me, which in turn forces me to heavily research each of my posts. This is great since it helps me cement a lot of the harder concepts that require nuanced approaches. With this confidence, I create a randomly generated mock exam on Passmaster and finish with an hour left on the timer; score is 88%. The next day I tackle the free CFA Institute mock exam and score 89% total; I think I scored 92% on the morning session and 86% on the afternoon session. It takes me the full 6 hours and my hand is now crippled.

11. ~1 week – I do anything but study and silently resign myself to my impending fate.

Summary:
Stalla worked for me, but I was fresh off of getting a finance related bachelor’s degree. I may have been in a better “study” mindset and better suited to overlooking the program’s shortcomings. Then again it could have worked well for my learning type. If I had to narrow down the tools to take into Level 2, I think Stalla’s Passmaster software (basically any question bank) and video lectures (any condensed version of the CFA Institute textbook) were the key for me. I won’t be doing the classroom sessions for Level 2, considering I bailed on the last 6 classes for the Level 1 program.

bchadwick

self study is sufficient for level I exam. spending 1600 may ensure a pass, but with good self dicipline and time mngmt, you can easily save yourself the money for level 2 stalla courses....

ASSet_MANagemen

passme... I'm thinking some people would gladly spend $1600 to ensure a pass.

There is no guarantee though. Some take the live classes, go through the passmaster and still don't pass because they don't put the time in that is still needed to go through the vast amount of material and practice, practice, practice.

Paying the $1600 may provide materials that will help, but to suggest it will "ensure" a pass... that's just not the case.

ninja1024

Didn't have any success with Stalla and their live class. Currently, I don't rely on any third party vendors to get through the bluk of the exam material....just Schweser Qbank and Practice exams for additional review. I truly believe you can pass the exam with only the CFAI End of reading problems, a good set of notes, and the CFAI Sample and Mock exams. Just my opinion!!!

W



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at Wednesday, August 3, 2011 at 05:25PM by WarrenB1.