Kiakaha

While writing your own notes will make you spend a lot of time on the material, it might not be the best option. You have to think about what you can do with that time instead. An alternative could be to purchase some software where you can practice answering questions, and aim at responding to some 3000 questions (which is a number I've seen mentioned on these boards). You'll probably retain the material better after having worked some 3000 examples in the test bank compared to having made hand-written notes. It might not be possible to do both, and even if it is --> you might want to spend that additional time on something else such as seeing friends rather than studying 7/24. Also: there is a risk that you focus on some particular LOS from a slightly different angle than that intended by CFA Institute. If you buy some study pack, my guess is that those who wrote it have used their judgment collected from previous years of writing up notes for these program, and so will focus straight on the core of some particular LOS. They'll also target each LOS from the "command word" given, such as differentiate between a "compare and contrast" to a "calculate" or "evaluate". If you write your own notes, you might miss on little things like that. I didn't take any notes at all - apart from those occasionally jotted down in the margins of the Schweser books. It's not that I consider it a total waste of time, but I preferred using my time in a different and (for me) more effective way.