anshultongia

I used Schweser only and believe in the material definitely. In my opinion Schweser + S2000 Magician is all you need to pass. I used Schweser Notes (read it 4 times), did 5 practice mocks, 1 cfai mock and some ethic questions off Q bank for level II.
I kept track of my time on excel and I legitimately clocked in over 400+ hours (i didn’t count any breaks or anytime my mind wondered off)
It’s all about taking what you have and becoming a master at it. reading through CFAI and Schweser is just to much for me. So i focused on one resource and became great at it and it paid off. Also when I study i constantly ask myself why this why that. Every number/variable in an equation I try to understand why something is being used and not just accepting it because that’s what the formula says.
It takes a lot of digging and reading but it was all there in Schweser. Also people on the boards were really helpful and S2000 explained things very well too.
You can buy Elan, Schweser, classes, CFAI material but if you dont take the time to master any one of them than you’re going to be screwed because you spend all your time spread out and each one uses different language and methods and you end up getting confused.
Also my mock scores were in the 60s and I learned the most the very last week when I was going over mocks. (that’s the one thing I wish i spent more time doing) or reviewing the questions I got wrong..
But I plan to use Schweser only again for level III too.

pimpineasy

hamada.smaili … buddy did you clear level 2 this time? I hope you did because I remember reading your post back in december where you said you have already covered the whole curriculum and you will be practicing from then on … I hope you did clear the exam.
As for me, I didnt. I’ll be taking the exam again next year

cv4cfa

it is very difficult to pick yourself up after a demoralizing failure like this. I hope, however, to do just that and come back strongly next year.
I will make sure that I do all the EOC this time. I did EOC for FRA and Equities and ended up doing good in those areas. I will make sure that I do every single EOC question of every single subject. I thankfully have most of the concepts on my finger tips and hope not to repeat my mistakes.

tobeornottobe

Schweser books + CFA EOC + mock exams and you’ll be fine

MiniMe7

I used mainly Schweser Notes+QBank+the Live mock exam. I also read the summaries in CFAI and did EOC questions in CFAI for a couple of study sessions (2-3). Summary: 95% of the study time with Schweser, 5% with CFAI. It worked. I think the most useful parts was the Schweser mock exams and the Qbank.
My background is Computer Science and Electrical Engineering.

Wendy01

I used only Schweser for bot hlevels, but it feels like level II requires more than Schweser, e.g. the official CFA mock revealed many areas that were missing in Schweser. Such topics as ethics, economics and as it turned out derivatives were not properly covered in Schweser
Qbank was amazing for level I, but not that valuable for level II, at least in my opinion, mostly due to the  question format in Qbank.
For level III I am going to make notes from the original curriculum and practice with questions from Schweser.

AndyNZ

Hi
Personally I studied the Schweser material only.
My strategy in general:
1. The topics which weigh more need more time and practice.
2. Study the material twice.
3. Practice the tests at the end of study session twice.
4. Topics/Subjects I am comfortable with need to be studied at the end.
5. While studying ‘study session’ i made short (but very important like formulas or relationships of key variables) notes.
6. After studying 5th study session, I came back to the 1st study session to see if I still remember the formulas, key points. This helps in both retaining the material in head and helps practice recall the concepts and formula.
7. For the second reading of the material, I targeted 50 pages of material to read / practice questions each day.
8. Week before exam, I revised my key notes and very important topics of FRA (pensions specially and inventory), Equity Investments (DD valuation, FCF valuation and residual income approach) and some key formula and topics of other subjects.
9. I practiced from time to time the end of study session questions of schewser notes without looking at the material. Before exam, i practiced these questions from important study sessions.
10. Unfortunately, I did not practice any mock exams or any mock exams provided by Scheweser or from any other source. Though, I would highly recommend you to do that. Not only practice mock exams at the end but also when you are half way through the material. This will definitely give you a feel of new material you still have to study/cover/practice. You will definitely know where you stand and how much more effort you need to put before sitting in the actual exam.
Good Luck in the end.

ruchita

Schweser notes + the CFA mock exam. I felt this was adequate for me, though I’m an actuary which helps.