It does seem unconscionable that an institute giving a test on their curriculum would expect you to study _ their _ curriculum.
ur trying to pass the exam not get an A
As far as i know, even if i somehow manage to get the amount of time to read the curriculumâŚthere is no possible way i could have retained all that material in one reading. IMO reading Schweser twice > reading curriculum once.
6 months out from my Dec Exam, iâm reading both Curriculum and Schweser concurrently. Helps reinforce knowledge. Though Ethics is a pain to study from the Curriculum.
Are you sure? because somewhere in the foreword of the CFA Curriculum I believe they say themselves that reading the prep materials is in no way a substitute for studying the official curriculum.
of course it would be unconscionable to scan provider materials in order to determine what is less covered. but this was not the issue. the issue is and was that brevity of Schweser cannot replace the CFAI curriculum level of sophistication. yes, probably it was the case in the past that this means a difference of â7 points or soâ, but reading the current threads it seems this is not the case anymore. besides, wait until you come to L3. you might change your view.
On a different note, I believe financial analysts should have the patience and endurance to study a text of 1500 pages. the language is very readable, even for a non-native speaker.
He was being sarcasticâŚ
Itâs important to keep in mind what the goal is - to pass the exam. In school, CFA candidates tend to be among the better stodents. So, theyâre used to getting Aâs (and occasional Bâs). In contrast, the goal on the exam is to know the material well enough that youâre pretty sure that youâll get a passing score - and itâs complicated because no-one knows what that is.
Itâs analogous to what my sister said about the actualrial exams - they scored them on a 1-10 basis (I think they were deciles, but Iâm not sure). For some exams, you had a chance of passing with a 7, and were pretty much assured to pass with an 8. Their take was that getting a 9 showed youâd studied about 100 hours too much.
I guess math jocks understand optimization better than finance ones. Whoda thunk it?
some of you guys are way overanalyzing this.
Can you pass comfortably with 3rd party materials like scheweser? YES.
Would you miss some questions that were not covered as well as in CFAI books? YES.
Would a well-prepared Scheweser candidate FAIL just because they didnât use CFAI books? NO.
At the end of the day, 3rd party notes reduce your reading time substantially, and I would still take that over maybe answering a few extra questions right, instead of guessing and having a 1/3 chance of guessing right
What about this exam screams âwe let average people passâ?
If it did, itâd be a 70% pass rate instead of 30%.
like Itera said, people can pass using one or the other. Itâs really up to the candidate to learn enough to pass.
Does CFAI use questions that trip up Schweser users? I think so.
If you are a person that doesnât grasp things quickly and applies equally as quick - you probably need to read more CFAI.
If you learn quickly and have no problems answering questions - Schweser will probably get the job done.
If you read over and over and still canât answer the questions - you should probably quit the program.
Hi everyone. Newbie here and this is my very first post. Very interested in this topic as I am in the process of deciding which study materials to buy this week in preparation for the December 2014 Level 1 exams. More feedback will be appreciated.
Im taking the exams not just to pass but to learn the material well enough to apply to work. the cfai books are great reads. even if I did pass all 3 in 18 months or whatever just using sheweser. I would still read the cfai books later. Not sure where this goal of just passing the exams comes from. my goal is to become the best analyst possible and where else am i gonna learn this material? Shweser?
I checked; youâre correct: he was.
The problem is that the CFAI CBOK is a skim; itâs a generalist curriculum that really doesnât go very deep in any one topic. If your goal is to become the best analyst you can be I have to imagine that there are better ways of going about it. Figure out what skill set is needed for the type of analyst you want to become (or already are) and devote your time to developing these skills. Looking back at the 3 levels worth of curriculum I donât see a whole lot that is real world applicable. The CBOK gives us a lot of concepts and some theory but not much in the way of real world application. I have to imagine that becoming a better analyst could be achieved better by focusing on specific skills (not a generalist credential) and really digging down into them.
+1
I personally prefer CFAI material because I believe it helps to really understand fundamental concepts. I wouldnât recommend reading it all though, just part of the sections.
Yet Scheweser is completely sufficient to score 70% on the exam.
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why are you doing the CFA Program then?
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disagree. performance analysis is deeply covered. same applies for Ethics. economics, cap market analysis is not bad either. etc etc.
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yes I said âEthicsâ above, some of you will now start laughing their ass off. but actually - and perhaps this is what some people never get - the CFA charter is not just an additional paper worth wiping your ass with but constitutes a membership which entails ethical obligations and submitting to certain standards of professional conduct. yes, there may be clients who value an ethical approach and full dedication to integrity and honesty. imagine that! perhaps I am too old for this forum (35 yrs)âŚ
on a side note, I recall myself attending an orientation course of a local provider for L1, where a (female) wanna-be asked: what is Ethics? 
and the best - the guy who explained it to her was not laughing.
- I fail to understand why the finance-generalistic approach of the CBOK would not give you whyt you need for your career as an analyst. isnt it clear that you need to be creative and explore new ways in this job? I believe everyone who passes L3 these days will be capable to read and understand any other literature which might be relevant for enhaning his/her skills. I doubt that any masters or whatever can be deeper than the CFA.
Alexander-
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- I feel like I need the piece of paper
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- If performance analysis is the analysis that you are attempting to improve upon why not do the CIPM instead?
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- I doubt that you have looked into good masters programs (By masters I assume you mean either MSF / MFin / or MFE). Check out info for:
CMU
Princeton
Columbia
Boston U
MIT
Stanford
Chicago
NYU
Michigan
hell even Johns Hopkins
+a bunch more
You mention economic analysis above, here is a paper the ECB did on inflation forecasting - a subject very important to economic analysis and forecasting - what in the CBOK prepares one to read and fully comprehend this?
http://ideas.repec.org/p/ecb/ecbwps/20111363.html
Again it depends on what type of âanalystâ
Credit risk - not really covered in the CFA CBOK
Capital Adequacy - not covered
Interest rate - not really covered in the CBOK
Stock analysis - maybe but no real deepth in forecasting and management analysis beyond some fundmental formulas and B/S and I/S adjustments to move from GAAP to IFRS - not really hot sell side report items.
Portfolio manager - no real coverage of optimization tools
Corporate Financial Analyst - maybe but not enough accounting or Excel or Business Intelligence tools or analytics
Structured Instruments - not really covered in the CBOK
Personal Financial Advisor (not really an analyst role) - not covered anywhere near as much as the CFP
Economics - not really covered as maths would have to be pounded a lot more along with statistical forecasting
Financal Risk - VaR is mentioned some but not really covered that well
Derivatives Trader - not even close
Ethics - ok - Iâll give you ethcis
this retard didnt read them on L1 or L2 even though he paid for them but passed both on the first try. This retard also has a job and a life. I pay for schweser stuff because its worth the amount of time i save by not dealing with cfai material. yes theres a few question you miss each time, but in the long run, is your time better spent agonize over some minutia or doing more practice problems and learning how to actually solve the problems/learn what theyâre asking for.
In my opinion reading any of the material is overrated, just understand what theyâre asking for in problems.
What would you suggest for a global macro trader? My fundamental skill is near 0, I hate having to associate with any accounting, but I want to be able to âanalyzeâ various global effects, such as interest rates, currency, fiscal policy, monetary policy, and etc. Of course with charts I can analyze at that time period what is happening, but I want to be able to discuss for example japanese government debt like Kyle Bass or be able to find warning signs like Jim Chanos did with Enron.
I thought with CFA it would help me understand fundamental analysis more in regards to analyzing stocks but with your post it seems like that may not be the case.
Whatâs with the usage of the âretardâ word?
itâs typically American, this âexercise/exercise/exerciseâ approach. I wonder why CFAI would in the long run support this. it does not raise the level of the education. and now be a good boy candidate and disclose your Schweser referral fees!
I agree with Jay above that it is a generalistic education. no one can doubt that. but the Program is already 3 levels and thousands of pages strong. it would probably make sense to create an add-on certification where one can specialize further.
heavenskrow -
I think what the CFA will give you in regards to your Japan and Enron exmaples above is an understanding of what is out there and how the community approaches it. With this in hand you will then be ready to start to educate yourself in these specific areas. For example, in regards to Enron simply having the charter (meaning no more accounting or equity research skills beyond the CBOK) would not have helped you see Enronâs doom before it happened. But if you have no accounting and/or financial statement analysis background it will help you get how to understand what the equity research process is and will also give you some ideas of things to look for when trying to see if management is getting too creative. All this really is just the foundation - you get to take that foundation when you are done with the exam series and do your own research/targeted education to improve in these areas.
The CFA CBOK will teach you what is out there and how to have an intelligent conversation about it - actually learining how to do anyting specific in the CBOK is up to you outside of the the exam series.