CFAI vs Schweser sometimes, only, guess, reading, material

joehogue

Hi all. I am slowly realizing how screwed I am reading all the posts... So far I have only read abpout 3 ss, all from CFAI textbooks. I guess this new job - 12 hour days, sometimes more when earnings season comes - has made it really hard to find the time. At this point I can keep reading but I don't think I'll finish in time.. Should I abandon the textbooks and start Schweser instead? I used their material at Level 1 and during my first go at 2. When I rewrote 2 I read every page of the CFAI and did 8 practice exams and nailed it (top bracket in 8 of 10 sections) so I thought I'd do the same for 3. While it's great to have gotten the job that I have, the timing really screwed me and threw me off schedule. I will get 2 weeks off immediately before the big day, so that's about the only silver lining at this stage...

Any advice?

nannan66

zoya Wrote:
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> btw, off topic, buts its extremely annoying that
> this forum doesn't think schweser is a word, or L3
> is a word, or CFAI is a word. seriously, forum?
> really?

Maybe because it's Friday but I have no idea what you are on about.

Analyze_This

if you know the Schweser material cold, you should be in a great position to pass. Agree w/ montanidate, mossy695 and wake2000. and the more practice exams, the better!

former

3/3 with only schweser books and stalla flashcards. Biology degree with a 62% undergrad average. Barely used practice exams for the first two, but they're critical for level III written section, especially for IPS. No practice exams = crazy hard to pass as they have a format and pattern that works best for IPS questions when you look at the answers. Level III written section was the most time crunch exam I've ever written.

PalacioHill

I'm noticing substantial discrepancies between schweser & CFAI texts.
For example, see the reading of risk management: reading 39 in CFAI. Schweser gets into detailed FRA calculations, whereas the CFAI text doesn't.
Even in the practice questions at end of chapter, schweser expects a calculation of the loss / gain of FRA positions. There is no such thing in L3 CFAI as yet.

in general, i don't see any good reason to rely on schweser. why take a chance? they aren't administering the exam, CFAI is. is it really such a time savings? risk-adjust that expected return on schweser, guys. It ain't worth it.

btw, off topic, buts its extremely annoying that this forum doesn't think schweser is a word, or L3 is a word, or CFAI is a word. seriously, forum? really?

ll11

To me it is pretty straight forward, if you are a repeater and didn't pass the first time using Schewser only, switch it up and add CFAI readings.

If you have plenty of time and don't want to spend the money on Sch use CFAI exclusively.

If you are a first timer for Level 3, give Schweser a spin and see if you can hack this using Schweser only. I have heard lots of stories about people passing using Sch only but everyone's studying style is different.

Analti_Calte

Schweser all day e'day

IAmNeil

bell99 Wrote:
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> Can't use Schweser. Not for this L3 exam. Need to
> read the text to fully understand.

Yawn! I went 3/3 with 100% Schweser each time.

Someone please explain to me how you could possibly fail if you had every page of Schweser committed to memory. Its just not possible. If you fail using Schweser its because you didn't learn everything in the Schweser books.

liangfeng

Schweser is sufficient except for Ethics and don't forget the CFAI EOC questions.

mcmc

bell99 Wrote:
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> Can't use Schweser. Not for this L3 exam. Need to
> read the text to fully understand.


WRONG. a guy i work with passed all 3 levels using nothing but Schweser.