I’m considering using the IFT product for my second attempt at the CFA III exam. I believe that I need to focus on exam proficiency techniques such as on drilling questions, q banks and practicing the morning essay portion of the exam. Based on your experiences is IFT a good way to go? Thanks
I just purchased IFT videos. I am a fan. He goes into detail and explain everything very clearly. I do not know about mocks though. never used them. His summary videos are great for review.
I have to say, I wasn’t super impressed with the quality of the Level 2 IFT mocks last year. There were some item sets that were very poorly worded in my opinion.
Obviously I did them because I ran out of other mocks to do, and I’m sure that I’m the end doing them had me better prepared than not doing them, but I hesitate to use IFT as anything more than the final pile on for that reason.
After you get used with fitch (2-3 months), purchase bloomberg to get his 6 mock exams and chat support to request additional 2 mock exam with extra $100 (remember mock exam bloomberg can be printed out but the support always said cannot).
I have used IFT for level 1 and 2 and passed both. IFT literally goes paragraph by paragraph through the entire curriculum. I failed level 1 the first time by relying on Wiley and thought the high price tag meant better quality. I then discovered IFT and haven’t looked back.
One thing I am hung up on for level 3 is everyone saying you need to read the curriculum. I guess my question is will it really make a huge difference if I read 2,600 pages for a test? What will be the likelyhood of taking the test and remembering the one page the question is asking me on. I am a first time level 3 candidate though so my logic may be flawed. To me it makes more sense to get through the material and practice more problems. Even Meldrum says you should read the curriculum but also says in one of his videos that reading is one of the least effective strategies. Any input on this from people that passed the level 3 exam would be much appreciated.
I’m a big fan of IFT. Used them for L3 and was one-and-done. I can agree with the points above regarding practice questions and mocks, and that there isn’t much value there beyond other question content available from curriculum. The most value for me was in their videos, the summary notes provided for each section, the high yield videos which condense the standard videos (good for reviewing/synthesizing down the home stretch), and the videos where he answers past exams in full. There was huge value in this last service in seeing how little you actually need to write to answer a question properly, and not hurt your pacing by writing too much. Do not sleep on this fact! Guideline answers from past exams are misleading in making you think that you need to write a ton, which you do not. A couple/few sentences is usually all it takes. The guideline answers are so bulky to serve as a learning tool to help you review the concepts from the question.
I didn’t read the curriculum at all (except for ethics) or write my own notes (did write my own note cards though). He has some free sample videos out there so I recommend trying them out to see if you like his teaching style. The one thing I’ve learned through this whole program is that you don’t want to rely on people telling you how you should study (and there are plenty out there who will). Some points of guidance from others are helpful, but what works for one person doesn’t always work for you. Find out what resonates best with you and your own personal learning style. For me, I found out that writing my own notes did nothing for my comprehension, where it often works well for others. I would just find myself zoning out as I copied stuff into my notes. My time was better spent reading notes already provided to me with the IFT package. I used the curriculum big time for practice questions though.