Elan Guides vs. Schweser 2010, difference, december, practice, guidance

optiix

Retaking level 1 in december. First time around I used Schweser and am thinking about reordering for dec 2010 test. However, I have been looking at Elan Guides and was wondering if anyone knows why such a drastic price difference? just a new company trying to break into the market? how is the quality of Elan's practice problems?

I know ill buy either schweser or elan, any guidance on which provider to go with would be much appreciated. Thanks.

lc26mizzou

Let me begin by saying that there is less than a 1% change in the curriculum from 2009 to 2010. So you might not even need a new set of notes.

But since you "know you'll buy either schweser or elan" I would recommend Elan.

Their guides are better
Their videos are more thorough (though they do tend to drag a bit)
Their review book is better

However, they do not have a question bank. So if you are the sort who likes to practice a lot you will need the QBank.

Being a retaker you get a 40% discount on elan's package. So thats a real sweet deal. Throw in the QBank from Schweser and you should be good to go!

Good luck

JGovender

I just bought the Elan Wildcard Pack, which includes the Eleventh Hour Review Guide and 2 mock exams.. for $70 ($80 if you want the hard copy).

If I were to buy a similar Schweser package, I would end up spending about $250 and only get one additional mock exam since theirs comes with 3.

Based on what I've read here and seen on their website samples, I've decided that Elan had the best bang-for-the-buck. They have exactly what I need for L1 - review and practice exams to supplement the CFA material.

Does Schweser really expect us to pay a significant amount more for virtually the same product when we've already paid for the exam curriculum (think about it as your sunk cost, you can't avoid it)? The QBank would be nice, but it is NOT essential.

Let us know what you end up going with, and how it works out for you.

Ciao,

DC

marsilni

Thanks for input. Based on these and other posts, the discount from Elan, and reading their samples, I will be going with Elan. Combining Elan, CFA curr., and my old Schweser books should be perfect.

Gmat in june then off to cfa, I'm burnt out just thinking about it.

dmar

I received the 11th Hour Guide the other day, and it really is very helpful. I have not purchased any study notes so I was worried about how I was going to review everything. This book should make it easier.

nitoha

HI,

I've got both Schweser and the 11th Hour guide from Elan. From now on, I'm defintely going to go with Elan. Their material is a great addition to the CFAI books and the price for the Schweser products is simply too high.

Of course, the Qbank would be nice, but I'm sure you can also do with the 2 Elan mocks, the end of chapter questions and the CFAI mock.

kasinkei

I personally found Elan to be much more organized and easier to understand than Schweser.

rgonzalez

I have Schweser 2008 materials hope its not too old

sdada

Just get Elan's Package. Its only 300 bucks and the materials are really good! You've spent a thousand bucks on registering for the exam so at least give youself a good shot at passing.

cyber21

I am in a good position to compare them as I am using Elans full pack now and have used Schwesers full pack on my last attempt.

The Elan vs Schweser is a close comparison. Comparing them one on one

Elan's study notes are slightly better than schweser both in structure and content but have no questions (you get practice questions seperately on their website) but schweser's concept checkers are no good.

their lecture videos are more detailed than schweser but some people find them too long and boring so I would say they are equal

the review book of elan called the 11th hour is much better for reviewing than the seceret sauce and this is the consensus opinion

their mock's although only two are better than the schweser practice exams becuse they are less calculation intensive questions than schweser. And thus are more like the actual exam ( I have attempted the CFA level 1 before) but schweser gives more questions to practice.

Question bank is one product that Elan does not have and it is probably schweser's speciality. Schweser qbank is good.

So overall if we exclude the qbank Elan is better but if you value the qbank more than schweser wins.

BUT if we consider the prices there is a huge difference schweser's full pack costs some 4 to 5 times of elans full pack. Even if we exclude the qbank, Schweser still costs atleast twice that of Elan. And if you have failed before you get further discounts from elan.