wizofoz

I just ordered the Elan Ultimate Prep Package for Dec 2010. Seems like a really great deal compared to Schweser and Stalla and I've heard glowing reviews.

zephyranalyst

Are their E-Books printable? Which ones did you people go for? Print or Electronic?

bodhisattva

I have spent the last week or so going back and forth between Schweser's economics book from 2009 and Elan's economics e-book. Based on this I have decided to go with Elan. From your comments I am assuming the rest of their stuff is as good (if not better).
Thanks.

liquidity

No that's not what I meant.

The CFA books are very good in their own right. Having read them properly definitely helped me and the real-world examples really added to my knowledge base. I can also see them being a huge help for people with no background in accounting.

But as you will probably realize in another 3 months, there is a LOT of material to cover. Elan makes is much easier to study for the exam. At the same time, I definitely agree with the people here who have said that it makes the curricullum more understandable as well. Their videos were great and as for the Eleventh Hour Guide and mocks, they're like a must have!


defone Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Mustafa Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I would have just gone with their package
> > instead of struggling through the CFA books and
> > feeling insecure about being able to retain
> > everything.
>
> I'm still waiting for my package. Are the CFAI
> books really that bad?

sameeragarwal

Mustafa Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I would have just gone with their package
> instead of struggling through the CFA books and
> feeling insecure about being able to retain
> everything.

I'm still waiting for my package. Are the CFAI books really that bad?

former

Nevermind. Got it yesterday

random_walker47

I just registered on their website. How long do they take to send the free economics book?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at Saturday, July 3, 2010 at 07:37AM by sdada.

sabre

I used Elan guides for the June exam. And I have used schweser before for my previous attempt.

Their study notes are structured according to the CFAI books and reference to page no.s really helps although I hardly used them because the notes explain the concepts very well. Schweser on the other hand has a slightly different style but they are obviously not ‘misleading’ many people use them. Overall elans study notes are better.

The eleventh hour is way better than the secret sauce any body who has seen both will agree. And their mocks were also very much like the real exam.

But if you are planning to buy it is best to evaluate the samples urself on their website.

thecfawannabe

From Schweser I had the mocks, regular books, qbank, and secret sauce.
From Elan I had the eleventh hour and mocks.

Eleventh hour KILLS secret sauce. Its straight, to the point, and covers an insane amount of material (virtually every sentence is testable material). Secret Sauce meanders about a bit. In the actual exam, it seemed that certain questions were lifted from the eleventh hour book. Strongly recommended over Secret Sauce.

Mocks, I'd say get Elan (who test on concepts), but also use vol 1 of schweser (covers easy calcs, and concept. vol 2 is calculation heavy, which the CFA exam is not).

Regular books, Schweser was good, but given Elans quality in Eleventh Hour, I wonder if I chose the wrong provider. Still, I cant really comment.

I thought Schweser Qbank was really good for drilling in basic concepts, but it abysmal as far as practice for the actual exam goes. If Elan made a Qbank, I'd probably recommend it given that Elan seems to understand the CFA style of questioning better.

RepoToronto

I used Secret sauce,video, notes and Schweser QBank. Video was ok-ish but I have not seen video cources by other providers (i.e. Stella). Notes were shorter then CFAI books but I can′t say they were clearer. Sometimes opposite. Schweser QBank - money waste(!). If I failed exam then this would have been purely due to the time I had wasted with Schweser QBank. I gave up Schweser 2 weeks before the exam and purchased Elan mocks which were closest match (i tried mocks from CFAI, Schweser and Stalla as well) to the actual exam. I now wish I could buy 11th Hour guide and dump Secret Sauce. the latter one is hugely overpriced and I strogly recommend everyone to avoid it.

If I am to go for december exam, I will stick to CFAI EOC, Elan and mocks. Kaplan no longer a good choice. It also sends false confidence signals...

I don′t know what were previous exams look like, but june 2010 was more conceptual (i.e. Elan approach) rather than get the formula and plug numbers (i.e. Schweser).


good luck.

regards, Alex