hey guys, no time for me to study alot - i need to cram readings and do practice exams from schweser/caia i need to read: hedge funds private equity credit derivatives what source is better for caia level 1 - uppermark or schweser? i have both source readings from both companies then do practice exams thanks guys and good luck ps i work full time so i have evenings and weekends - thats its exam is sept 23rd
Hiya I have just used schweser so I can’t comment on uppermark but I guess the best thing for you to do is as many questions as you can possibly do and memorise the formulae. Good luck 
I’m really unhappy with schewesers prep. It was very insufficient and was more or less just a paraphrasing of the curriculum. The practice tests were absolutely nothing like the real test. I’d expect that we will see high fail rates.
chickentikka, what would you have done differently?
oh no, seriously? now i’m nervous…
The test is much more conceptual than the schweser material lead you to believe - the schweser material is a lot of rote memorization - which I did. The Schweser practice tests are easy if you just memorize the highlights of the material. I got in the low 80s on the 1st and the high seventies on the second. The actual test is a hell of a lot harder and reminds me much more of the CFA exam. In fact, if I passed it is because of my knowledge from the CFA Level 2 exam saving me. I spoke to a few CAIA candidates taking the test who were utterly shocked by some of the questions because they are literally just not covered in Schweser material. The pre-req material does creep its head into the exam, though not in complex ways, but you still get asked questions that require you to think about the CAIA material in that way. Bottom line, the schweser questions and exams were just way too easy and did not even come close to demonstrating what you needed to know and how in depth you needed to know it. Note: Memorizing everything is still essential.
I also found the questions to be poorly written, purposefully devious, and sometimes just downright unfair. One nice thing is that you can actually leave comments on individual questions after the exam and bitch about it. Not sure it will make a difference, but I politely complained on a few of the ethics questions.
thanks chickentikka, sounds like I need to alter my plan in the time remaining before I do battle with this test. I was hoping that the answer to half the questions would be “negative skew and positive kurtosis” guess not would you say time was an issue, perhaps due to the intensity of the calculations?
Oh Boy! I take the exam on Monday…I guess I better get to re-reading everything!
I’m doing the exam tomorrow so reckon it’s too late for me now! Will let you guys know what I think then 
good luck brewery, remember a 70% score means you can get 60 questions wrong… that leaves some room for the unexpected
Good thought, thank you!:-)Good luck to you too
It’s not intensively filled with calculations. But you can expect that on a few of the plug and chug questions you’ll be thinking, why didn’t schweser warn me about this? If your mind is still reasonably fresh from CFA stuff you will be ok think. If not you’re just gonna have to take a hit on those. You do need to know positive skew etc and kurtosis of this and that, styles, categories of all the different types of investments. For me this was the easy part of the test - because Schweser actually did at least present this material to you. My basic gripe, now that I’ve had a nights sleep is that: 1. Some of the questions appear to come completley out of left field. Schweser makes no mention of them in any of their material. If I was able to answer the questions it is because of prior investment knowledge or CFA experience, not from the Schweser guide. 2. The schweser practice exams were absolutely a terrible simulation of the real exam. LOS Schweser sold us an inferior project and should really be ashamed.
Thanks again chickentikka. Your previous comparison to the CFA exam terrified me, I am still recovering from my Level II Band 10 this June, so my mind is fresh but yet still destroyed from CFA. I understand the comparison though… the little tricks or poor wording that try to make even simple concepts difficult, test some peripheral thing that a study guide would ignore, or that they may come at a concept from a weird angle just for the sake of testing. especially…ethics. I did the first half of second schweiser exam today and you are right, way too basic, it was like a vocabulary test. you have helped me avoid some false confidence So for your confidence, I say since you are in the CFA program, my money says you passed this one, you are already battle-hardened. go enjoy the weekend
I think I probably will pass when all is said and done, I did put in the time, and I think there will be a curve that pushes the minimum passing score somewhere into the 50s (this is my guess). I bet I scored in the sixties, but could have pulled off a greater than a 70. I think they need people to join the organization as there are only a few thousand members. So they really can’t afford not to let a decent number of people pass, at least this level. I for one signed up for this because I was worried I had failed level 2 CFA. Now, that I’m on level 3 I won’t be too motivated to continue CAIA if I failed this. Still, schweser dropped the ball.
I too feel kind of disappointed in Schweser as some of the questions didn’t get a mention in their text, and some were just poorly worded or wierd. I don’t know if anyone using Uppermark feels any differently? But on the whole I think the exam was fair, my experience of CFA has taught me to expect the unexpected! It would be nice though if CAIAI gave you the syllabus like CFAI does and then if a question comes up that we don’t know, we know its our own fault!!
^ Why don’t you guys actually read the required materials…and then complement them with the study guides… This is the main problem these days with designation flippers… You should be going for the knowledge rather than the certificate… The certificate currently (and most likely in the future) will most likely not get you much further than an ‘ah interesting’ from another patron at a cocktail party.
I took the Schweser online class and the instructor stressed knowing the topics and not focus on the questions. I will definitely take the online again for Level 2.
I did too. I’m still not pleased with schwesers practice tests or questions or the general prep. And I’ve been a loyal schweser person for 2 levels of the CFA exam and GMAT.
I am planning on giving my CAIA in March and i have been using Schwesers books to study. Now i dont know if i should stop using it and move through the pre req book and the rest of the readings instead. Why cant CAIA just give a syllabus.