Taught courses at L3 - worthwhile? content, fresh, practice, official, starting

genuinecfa

Hi Guys,
Time to start studying towards L3 is rapidly approaching having been free (work aside :-) ) since the 6th June L2 exam!
I just wanted to garner opinions on whether people think going on a taught course (I’m in the UK so would be BPP/7City or Kaplan) is worth it for L3?
I have self studied through L1 and L2 successfully, mainly using the CFAI official books and schweser practice questions. Is the content at L3 materially harder than say starting fresh at L1 and then the step up from L1 to L2? I.e. would there be any benefit on going on a course (if there are some very difficult/abstract topics to learn), or is it just a waste of my time and my firm’s money that would be better spent on self study?
Appreciate there will probably be mixed views on this, but just wanted to see where consensus was!

king_kong

anyone?
K

NakedPuts2011

Hi guys,
Schweser Video CDs vs live instruction…
For anyone who has used both methods: do the ‘live’ classes add value relative to the video CDs? For the ‘live’ instruction, I’m assuming the instructor reads slides and responds to random questions form his/her audience??
Cheers in advance.
K

infinitybenzo

Personally, i felt level 3’s material as easy as level 1 but the testing is actually what the level 3 is all about.

Chuckrox8

Sorry, I don’t have any advice for UK based folks but for US based L3’ers go to Schweser’s 3 day live seminar. It was so helpful with IPS and the essay portion of the exam.
To answer your question about the material being more difficult; it’s not at all. You just have to learn to a new way to approach a different type of question and answer in a way that the CFAI will like. It’s hard to get this from self study and AF will marginally help, but if you’re company is going to pay for a course, you might as well do it. I can’t speak for how well UK course providers know the CFA exams/grading vs. how well they help you with the material. Hopefully some other people can help with that.