strikethree

I agree with Omar, the CFAI books are a very good resource. Did I read every single page in them? no, but I did probably read about half. If you know something inside out like PV, FV, NPV, IRR etc.. you can get away with just using a provider, however, for some of the trickier stuff I would definitely refer to the institute. Despite what everyone says, its NOT THAT boring of a read, quite frankly, if you find the CFAI books boring you should reconsider the charter. I also used Elan Guides, they are affordable and do a fantastic job of supplementing the curriculum, their mock exams were also much harder than the CFAI and do a great job of preparing you for it.

Omar is also right about not using shortcuts. A lot of people brag about how they spent less than 100 hrs studying and passed...Assuming the % needed to pass is 65%, there is a huge difference between someone that gets an 85% and someone that gets a 65%, in fact its 48 correct answers of difference! The material builds on itself, so if you are weak in areas like equity and financial reporting and analysis, know that those 2 combined for about 45% of level 2.

Best of luck.