Special shoutout to IFT

CFA Level III
#1

Hi guys,

Now that dust has settled I wanted to give a completely honest review of IFT. I haven’t been asked to do this, but knowing how hard Arif at IFT works in an ultra competitive industry, I owe him this one. Many of you know I been on these forums for years, so I hope this review adds some weight.

(I want to qualify I am a UK resident, and have no affiliation with his company whatsoever. I am doing this because I keep seeing people ask the same questions about prep providers and I wanted to leave one full review so that it may help people trying to decide)

I can wholeheartedly recommend the IFT package. Actually, it almost baffles me that more people don’t use his video lectures.

The only other video series that comes close in depth is Mark Meldrum (big props to that guy), but for me IFT was the king. He covers every LOS, virtually every blue box, he works all the white text examples. Basically, his goal is to take the CFA books and teach them to you.

His approach is no nonsense. There is no waffle, no meandering. No aimless filler stuff. Each part of the video is solving and understanding the LOS. He cuts through to the point with razor sharp precision, and for someone running tight on time this guys videos are the bomb

Now… people ask but how do I complement this? Do I read with it? For me I did not read one page of Schweser or CFA for level 2 OR 3. I solely used his video and let him explain each concept whilst writing out what he said on a notepad through light notes.

By the end of the series I felt so comprehensively covered syllabus wise, I could not have any excuses on game day.

Next, for some bizarre reason some people seem to have issues with the thick Pakistani Accent. I did not notice this at all. The guy has done US MBA and definitely brings some dry and amusing humour to his videos from time to time, and I found that if you watched his videos on 1.5 speed they were still easily understandable. (For me English is first language, even 2x was good for me)

At L3 where he really excels is the crash course. My god, the crash course. What a thing of beauty. The crash course is ESSENTIAL for ANY L3 CANDIDATE. He goes through every ACTUAL past exam back to 2007, explaining how to answer every question, and in exam day format. Bullet points etc. This was PURE GOLD. In the final month, I was constantly on the portal using this. It was truly amazing and I am sure one of the main reasons I crossed the line. He connected so many dots in questions and how to answer them.

This year he will also be going through every EOC question too in the CFA books on top of the blue boxes he already covers in the video series.

The ony area he needs work is the L3 Mock exams. The AM papers are good to test concepts but I think need some refinement. His PM papers however are excellent. For L2 me and all my friends used his L2 Mock package and were so impressed at how realistic it was to game day.

One other area that needs some work I thought was his derivatives section. For me, Mark Meldrum is king here. He has loads of amazing shortcuts (especially options like bull bear spreads) and it was the only area that I found a little lacking in IFT vids. But, people that know IFT well, know he is the bomb when it comes to anything equity related. The guy makes valuation so simple. So if you struggle in these areas, I highly recommend it.

Anyway, thats my take and the only prep provider review im doing on here. I owe this guy loads for L2 and L3 and 100% wouldn’t have made it without him. Guy deserves way more praise then he gets.

Finally the price - VALUE. His videos and Mark Meldrum’s are absolute bargains to be honest. BUT, in my opinion, Again IFT trumps it because of his crash course package. For me that was the best value I could find in terms of bang for buck.

Hope this helps some people trying to make a decision. At the end of the day though, anyone can get over the line with any prep provider. It’s about how hard YOU work. These guys are just here to push you along, help you synthesise the material and get over the line.

Cheers,

Rex

EDIT:

One other amazing IFT product I used and forgot to mention. The ‘Completion papers’. These are amazing. As many of the old CFA papers are now out-dated in some questions. IFT sends you fresh questions that you replace in your actual CFA mock exam. So let’s say you’re doing 2009 AM, and Fixed Income part B is no longer in the curriculum, you open his completion paper and do that part he has specifically written to replace the question. Therefore you can do full old mocks ensuring all questions are from the current syllabus.

#2

This is great! It’s the classic Nicola Tesla vs. Thomas Edison conundrum. Tesla was a Serbian immigrant and a great inventor but not a good sales guy while Thomas Edison was a better marketer and sales guy than an inventor so the credit went to Edison mostly. So in this industry - the guy with the best product is not necessarily the most popular.

#3

I totally agree with Albaregina. I used Wiley for Level 1 & 2 but knowing Basit Shajani wasn’t teaching level 3 I did some research and switched to IFT.

Arif covered the curriculum really well in his videos. I watched all of them while commuting to/from work, and studied the curriculum in the weekends. In the last 2 months of review, i watched the videos again during commuting and it helped me remember the stuff I learned in the first round. He let us download the videos so I didn’t have to use data.

If I have to be picky then I would say Arif didn’t do what Basit did in terms of explaining the formulas with his algebra knowledge. A lot of times Arif would say memorize the formulas, which is not my style of learning. I like to rearrange the terms and make sense of it with underlying concepts. This is not a big problem though as level 3 is not heavy on the math stuff.

Overall I warmly recommend IFT. It does provide great value for money.

#4

So how are his study notes?

#5

I cant comment on his notes but from what I have seen they are condensed version of the Videos.

In my opinion the videos and the crash course will easily get you over the line.

#6

I agree with you on this. The videos create mind maps. Thus, when you read the books, it will easily be digested.

I studied level 1 using IFT free videos from youtube. I watch every topic before I read. You will be amazed how easily you see the gist of every topic. However, as Afir points it time and time again, practice, practice is the key. At least, that is how I passed level 1 with flying colors.

I am planning to buy IFT’s basic package for level 2(just the detailed videos). Should I buy the pricier ones? (with summary videos and mock exams)?