L3 prep provider, who is best? IFT, Mark Meldrum, others?

CFA Level III
#61

Since you also used Level Up this year so you are in a better position to understand and compare.

Based on outstanding Marc’s introductory videos (available on this Forum) along with past charterholder’s comments on the quality of LevelUp, I went for Marc’s videos very early. However when I started listening videos, I realized that although Marc go through the entire curriculum, but something was missing for me to understand the topics properly necessary to correctly attempt the exam. I can’t explain the confusion but for me the videos were only the extended version of any bootcamp where people basically revise things quickly but may not be used by someone who wants to have a very good grip of the topic. I mean I could have read the curriculum by myself and reach to at least the same level of understanding which was attained after listening to the videos. But I knew the understanding which CFA Level 3 requires was much more than that. Marc’s Slide Book was good but it only became the reference point for my own notes. Here I want to give the disclaimer that the above experience was of mine only and should not be generalized for any other person.

So having unsatisfied with LevelUp, I switched to IFT within 3 months and I never regretted this because in the end when I left the exam room, I knew I would pass. I took IFT’s Basic Plus package i.e. everything (Notes, Videos, Summaries, Past Paper Solution etc) except for question and answer with the teacher and grading services.

Now there is a huge difference between Marc’s style explaining topics and solving BB and IFT’s style. Marc explains you what is in the BB (in most cases) in his own words but I was looking to fully understand what is written in the explanation of the curriculum.

However IFT solves almost every BB from reading every line of question along with highlighting and identifying key information in the question so that you can follow the same approach in the exam and then solve the question in the logical manner using the similar explanation as provided in the curriculum with more emphasis on the points which are hard to understand.

Finally his solutions of past paper gave me confidence as how to answer and how much to write during last month before exam. He uses same methodology of solving past papers as he utilizes to solve BB as I explained above i.e. reading every line of question, highlighting key information and solve.

You can also follow his notes and I believe his notes are also very good becasue these are also strictly from Curriculum. Nevertheless I used his notes, curriculum and Marc Slides to create my own notes. The benefit of which was I revised the entire curriculum at least 6 times before the exam.

The only thing which I am not sure about is his grading service. From the comments found in the forum Grading Services is best of MM. I wont recommend you to take IFT grading service. If you need one to be doubly sure to perform better in the exam then you must have known about MM or may consult S2000Magician.

Don’t hesitate to ask me anything should you require any clarification.

Take Care

#62

Please note my above comment is the reply of comment of qbaFinance.

#63

What’s with all the video watching? have yous done that all along, or just for L3? for the past i’ve just read Wiley, and used the cfai for tough parts, examples and EOC’s.

From what i gather here, the actual content is less complicated than most of the L2 stuff, and the issue is getting the right prep for AM.

So, question, studying the curriculum, if Wiley was fine before, that should be fine for me again no?

Then i should have plenty of time to grasp the concept of answering AM Questions.

#64

I think if you’re diligent enough with your prep, any of the reading materials from the bigger prep providers is likely enough to get you through the exam.

#65

Conundrum

I had seen Wiley notes for all 3 levels and I must say for the first two levels these notes were good but not for the 3 level. Moreover not all videos of Wiley are taught by Daren Miller who is a master instructor with exceptionally good accent but almost half of the videos are taken by other teachers which may make you sleep. To me, videos were not required for lvl 1 and 2 but lvl 3 is different and difficult and requires a different approach to study.

#66

I would say based on my experience :

Get IFT notes and videos. Videos and notes are almost a substitute for the curriculum. I did videos only but got notes for FI section. I was amazed by the quality of the notes. If I had to do it again, I would use notes from IFT for all chapters. I did notes from schweser and they were OK too.

Get David hetherington videos for individual and institutional IPS, currency management, and derivatives (especially options). I personally thought IFT approach to derivatives, and by extension, curriculum approach, was not suited to my learning style. IFT for individual IPS was not that good either, institutional was acceptable. Again, this does not reflect on Arif’s abilities as he is just doing it the curriculum’s way.

Solved AM papers by IFT is absolutely worth every penny and some more.

If you still have money I would get Daren Millers’s lectures from Wiley. Not other instructors.

I did see a few videos from Mark Lefevre (?sp) from when he was with Kaplan. He is an amazing teacher. A lot of people are happy with his level up program. I doubt that you could go wrong having him as your teacher.

#67

Would not have made it through Level III without Marc LeFebvre. Can’'t say enough about his materials, his bootcamp, and his approach. Marc is always available to answer your questions.

#68

I’d definitely do LevelUp with Marc. There are no shortcuts, but he helps you achieve complete understanding.

#69

What helps you to achieve the complete understanding? Why is LU different from for example IFT (both based on actual curriculum)?

#70

In case anyone was wondering like I was, the LevelUp videos are about 57 hours of content. Signed up for videos + bootcamp yesterday.

#71

What made you go with LU, what else did you consider?

#72

Primarily the format change from L2 and the numerous positive reviews here and on r/CFA about his essay workshop and his ability to synthesize the bigger picture. I’m not sure I would have purchased the videos without the bootcamp; I’m not convinced they are materially different from MM or others. That said, he’s got a long history of training candidates with various organizations and the alleged 80% pass rate is appealing (obviously impossible to validate, but I’m here to maximize my chances and I’ll take all the anecdotal evidence I can get). Plus, think of the benefits of sitting in a room for 4 days with a couple hundred future Charterholders. Finally, it also helped that I wasn’t responsible for picking up the tab.

#73

Any feedback from people who used Mark Meldrum in 2018? I watched sample IFT and MM videos and am leaning towards him. I am interested in videos only (study sessions + past exams) as I will be reading CFA books

I know he just started to offer L3 last year and does all 3 levels now. IFT and LU seems to have a longer track record.

#74

Mark used practice exams from IFT in 2018 (for all three levels, I believe), but will be using his own exams (four for each level) in 2019. I trust that the 2019 exams (at least the Level III AM exams) will be an improvement.

For whatever it’s worth, I’m given to believe that his Level III AM exam grading service was the awesomest ever.

:wink:

#75

Hi Magician, I am assuming in this comment you are talking about the service from Mark Meldrum for Exam grading? Any other feedback from anyone else for Mark Meldrum as I am still undecided between various providers, but am kinda leaning towards IFT or Mark Meldrum!!! Have used Schweser’s notes before but level 2 I found them lacking so am slightly concerned about using Schweser for level 3!!

#76

It was, and it was tongue-in-cheek, inasmuch as I was the one doing the grading.

I was also talking tongue-in-cheek about the exams themselves, as I’m writing four practice exams for each Level for Mark for 2019. Mark used IFT exams in 2018 and there were some things about the Level III morning session exams that I didn’t particularly like.

#77

IFT

#78

exactly the reason i took time to write this post

I’ll like to:

  1. Offer my opinion on the preparatory courses and their teachers to help candidates make a more informed decision on which courses to purchase.
  2. Provide feedback to the CFA Institute on how they could do better to help candidates differentiate between the various preparatory courses CFAI promotes.

The CFAI could help candidates be better prepared. What the CFP does well is that before registering to sit for the CFP comprehensive exam, you must have taken prep courses from an approved provider that is affiliated with a college, and score a specific grade or better in all areas of financial planning before the CFP Board takes your money and considers you a candidate for the exam:

  • ensures a certain level of competency in their candidate pool

There are quite a lot of CFA prep courses out there. How do you know the best?

  • don’t go with the name of the prep course provide!!!
    • Instead, ask about the teacher. Who is going to teach each class? Knowing/understanding a concept to get a designation is very different from teaching another person to understand it to pass an exam.

Level I : I used Kaplan-Schweser videos. But there were teachers in the video package that I bought that I would not recommend.

  • The best teacher in the Kaplan-Schweser prep program is Andy Holmes in my opinion.
  • For all levels, if he is teaching, buy his videos.
  • Don’t buy the whole program offered by Kaplan. Just buy Andy Holmes’ videos.
  • There are others who present other subjects but they just read slides to you.
  • reading slides to your student audience is NOT teaching.

level II

Efficient Learning. I wished I had found them at level I. I really wished!

  • But again, don’t buy the whole program….Buy the teachers.
  • Basit Shajani, Peter Olinto, and Daren Miller. Anybody else, don’t buy
  • There is another instructor in the Efficient learning videos who is NOT a teacher…. he has A LOT of designations after his name so he is smart. BUT he only comes to read slides. That is NOT TEACHING.

John Harris Accounting Class is MAKES A DIFFERENCE FOR LEVEL II, no matter the program you go with

Peter Olinto can also TEACH accounting and derivatives very well. He is MUST for me

Bassit Shajani can teach very difficult concepts at the level II that I thought I could not understand.

Daren Miller could teach you everything….he will draw it out for you and in the exam room, you can picture it and hear his voice.

The common thread: Daren Miller, Peter Olinto, Andy Holmes, Basit

  1. They don’t read you pre-packaged slides.
  2. They make their own notes as they teach.
  3. The solve exam problems with you in the class.
  4. I’m from a small village in in a 3rd world country. I learn best with a teacher who use the old tried and true method of teaching.

level III

Daren Miller

  1. Makes his own notes every class….make your own notes in the class too.
  2. He uses a lot of diagrams and pictures to explain very difficult concepts.
  3. He focuses on the most difficult areas to understand.
  4. So make sure you go back to the curriculum for the easy pickings that CFAI sometimes tests. He could gloss over those because he expects you to read the curriculum especially the beginning, and end of long readings.

Marc LeFebvre at Level UP

  1. He is extremely detailed. I took his review course; not the prep classes.
  2. If you used his materials, you will not miss anything on the LIII exam. no detail is too small
  3. Be assured of a pass at level III, use BOTH MARC LeFEBVRE and DARREN MILLER.
  4. Marc to know the multiple ways the material could be tested (his past questions binder and IPS workshop is A MUST).
  5. Daren Miller to really understand the material at a deep level.

CFAI Must Do much better to help students make an informed decision by publishing pass rates. Make the prep providers disclose this so they have an invested interest in their customers. Not difficult to do…we go to space. GIPS and Asset Manager Code can provide guidance on they report performance.

#79

shows how convinced we are about his approach…I created an account purposefully to let candidates know there are some very bad instructors in this program…the instructor you use can make a significant difference

#80

Yeah Daren Miller is awesome…only do his videos if you are using Wiley for L3…otherwise, use him directly through financial tallent exchange…he branched out on his own