torn between original books and schweser notes

[mdsds]

Delete

[mdsds]

@Hank_Moody

What Schweser is designed to do and what it actually accomplishes are two completely different things. Unlike the other levels, this test is much less about external knowledge and much more about the CFA’s view on PM.

Go pluck your way through Schweser’s IPS sections and read their advice on how to draft one. Sounds clear, concise and definitely on track. Then go examine how this subject has been actually tested in past CFA exams. Look at the CFA answer key and you’ll notice that Schwezer is way, way off the mark in places.

Not only this, but you may find yourself having to spend valuable study time doing fact-checks on Schweser and raising silly questions on AF about problems that don’t exist in the curriculum (like, what happens when ability and willingness to take risk diverge).

You won’t really understand and appreciate this until next May when you start your review.

.

@mdsds

I tend to think CFAI textbooks are designed to TEACH you the curriculum and assumes you have little to no background in the materials. Schweser is probably designed more to HELP YOU PASS the test. So in my opinion, if you have the background in the materials, and by now, having finished level I and II, you do, then Schweser should be more than enough to pass.

Thanks, good stuff.

I was planning to use Schweser and then do the examples and questions in the CFAI books. Other than IPS, are there other sections that you think are better covered by the CFAI books? Or is so much of the LIII curriculum tested in “the CFA way” that you recommend just using CFAI?

[Bilal]

Drop Schweser and stick to CFAI books.

[sharpy606]

240 days left to exam day, plenty of time to read the CFAI books and solve Qs , lets crush this thing :))

[cirkon]

As many other Charterholders said here, CFAI books ONLY! No shortcuts, no excuses. Good luck!

[shootingstar]

@ua\_bender

The CFAI books are a must. Material you will be tested on L3 exams is based on those books only.

Here we go again…When I took L1 less than 2 years ago, people claimed that you need to use the books. I used study notes and passed. Then there were people in this forum who stated that ‘well, you can use study notes in L1 but L2 is so demanding that you need the books’. Again, I used study notes in L2 and passed it last year.

Now the same story repeated in L3. I used notes and got >70% in all but two categories. Of course you need to do all the EOC questions but books are not ‘a must’ - even to get good scores in the exam.

Do the notes miss some of the material? Sure they do. But that’s not the point here. Even if you are using the books, you are not attempting to memorize everything because you want to be effective and focus on what is required. Thus, you follow the LOS and EOC questions to guide you what to master and remember. When you do this, you will find that you are asked about things that were not covered in that strategy => it does not matter whether you read the books or the notes, you will still face some questions that you cannot answer.

[itera]

Use CFAI, unless you get stuck (CFAI gets wordy and confusing sometimes)

If stuck -> use Schweser for that section. THen go back to CFAI material

Look, people swear by Scheweser and pass, and that’s fine. But CFAI is the one making the test, and their own books and examples are the closest you will get to the real deal.