Level II Schweser vs. CFAI text. Asking LIIIers. respect, question

Muddahudda

It would be of great help to me (on Level II) to get input from level IIIers in respect to CFAI text vs. Schweser. The most intriguing question: did anyone pass Level II w/ Schweser alone? For the rest of you, what do you feel is the optimal mix?

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Iginla2011

I personally found combining the two quite effective, Schweser will give you a good guideline to focus your efforts because the material basically outlines LOS by LOS, while on the other hand you might easily get lost in irrelevant stuff in the CFA texts. I used about 80% Schweser and I felt well prepared going into the exam. Your game plan also depends on your background, I would say I used Schweser exclusively on the following sections, Equities,FSA,Economics,Corporate Finance,Alternative Investments and Quants. Having said that I had to do end of charpter questions in the texts and you could also read the summaries in the texts just to cement the principles. I personally did not think Schweser did a good job on Derivatives and Fixed Income, Derivatives are a littlle bit of pain to study with all the crazy formulars and stuff but they are easy points come exam day so don't neglect them, I found CFA texts end of chapter on Derivatives absolutely useful (Swaptions are sweet in the texts if you do all the questions the complicated formulars will all make sense). PM has been kinda tricky in the past two exams so you wanna have a look at both the texts. Just to let you know, during the exam time was not an issue so its important to have a very good understanding of the underlying principles and the exam will be a walk in the park.

cityboy

I used both, and I would highly recommend doing the same.

thommo77

i used almost all schweser for the readings. but i did every vignette/multiple choice problems in the text to supplement the readings. i know that schweser is supposed to be the supplement, but it was the other way around for me.

infinitybenzo

i would stick with schweser so you can spend more time doing problems. I would recommend doing all the questions in the CFAI text. only use the CFAI text for concepts you are having trouble with, otherwise you can get bogged down in minutia...

pennyless

I passed level I and level II using only schweser. probably will do the same with level III.

dyga

Schweser all the way. Did do the CFAI mock exams, though to get in the right frame of mind.

PalacioHill

My recommendation is to use mostly Schweser. It takes a LONG time to slog through the CFA material and a lot of it is not tested. That said, ask around/keep your eyes open on the forum and you should be able to hear about certain sections that are better to read CFAI books on instead of Schweser. Portfolio Management is a section that comes to mind that it helped me out tremendously to use the big books.

mik82

Wow! These posts are surprising. I used only CFAI text for LI. It was an excruciating experience.

justin88

I used Schweser almost exclusively to study.

I did do the CFAi mock exams however, and then used the CFAi books to review the questions I got wrong on those mock exams. They tell you the pages to read in reference to questions - right or wrong I believe.