Hi Everyone, I plan on enrolling in CFA Level 1 in June 2012 and plan on relying exclusively on a Test Prep curriculum to study the required material. I work full time as a Financial Advisor and have a new baby on the way, due in a month. I am trying to determine if relying exclusively on Test Prep curriculum is a wise decision, want to obtain the best value for my investment in selecting the best package (i.e. study notes, practice exams etc…) and want to determine which Prep company to purchase from (i.e. Stalla, Kaplan etc…). Any advice is appreciated….
TheMBAGlover Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I LOVE Allen Prep CFA! Their question bank is > awesome! It even benchmarks your abilities against > other candidates! > > Plus, it’s Tuesday and they have a deal if you > order on Tuesday! > > “Efficient Prep” is a Top 3 requirement for > successful CFA exam candidates. If you’re not > making the most of your limited prep time, you’re > not putting yourself in a position to beat the CFA > exam! Click here to download all the CFA Exam > TestBank Questions for the December 2011 or June > 2012 exams. If you don’t have these questions, you > are not prepping efficiently. > > If you have a computer at home and work, TestBank > will synch your personal statistics and saved > exams between machines. You can also track and > compare your worldwide ranking with other CFA > candidates worldwide. > > CFA candidates are “results-driven,” as evidenced > by their use of TestBank’s CFA Worldwide Rankings > and Individual Performance Statistics. TestBank > tracks your individual performance and adapts the > exams to make sure you understand all of CFA > Institute’s Learning Outcome Statements. You can > now also retake/review all of your saved exams. > > You can get all the Level I December 2011 (or > Level I, II, or III June 2012) Mock, Practice, and > Review CFA Exam TestBank Questions for $99 (it’s > $299 on our web site). You’ll have 6,471 CFA exam > questions for Level I alone! > > It’s an immediate download. Click here to get the > CFA Exam Questions. We will email you a link so > that you can download TestBank on the computer of > your choice. > > The price goes back up tomorrow. Please contact me > directly if you have any questions. > > > Read More about CFA Live Blogging @ TheGlover.net I noticed they advertise on your website. So what’s in it for you?
I am not sure if I would be comfortable relying on a 15 day course to prep for the CFA Level 1 exam, given that the recommended study time is approx. 250-300 hours, depending on your previous work experience, education and other life commitments. I have read many threads on the site in which posters debate the amount of study time necessary in order to pass a required level. In my opinion, it depends on your situation as outlined above. I think I need to spend more time reviewing more threads on this topic to obtain more information and go from there. I did look at the Allan Resources website and the prep material did look good. However, I haven’t seen many thread references on this prep material from other CFA candidates, mainly just Stalla etc…
Honestly the books are the best prep. I wouldnt rely solely on a study guide provider, however they do complement your studying with additional examples etc. I have been using both Schweser and Elan and have to say that the extra practice questions provided by Elan do quite a good job at solidifying concepts and have been using them after every reading. Having said that, QBank is great as well as you are able to see which LOS each question is referring to and it has double the amount of questions than Elan has.
Thanks for the comments and advise clearlycanadian. I am also a Canadian… I assume you are refering to the CFA e-books provided my the CFA institute upon enrolling in the program? The reason I have considered relying solely on a Test Prep is that they already outline each LOS for you and consolidate the relavant information, so I don’t need to spend alot of time reading and preparing study notes etc…and can just focus on reading and the understanding the material and formulas, then working on as many problems as well. I think I need to do more research and give it some more thought…
Thanks mike79, I always thought 15 days of intensive lectures by CFA charterholders and some reading prior to the crash course or after that will be enough for me given my background. advertisement by prepmentor.com also clearly define who this is good for and seemed as if it was talking about me. I am not sure now since you made me reconsider. maybe I will go with the fast track pack by prepmentor.com what do you think of the fast track pack? " The most comprehensive short duration pack: CFA Charterholder Faculty 150 Hours of live lectures over 45 days Two Batches: Ending November 25 and Ending November 15 Covers all topics in a unique and comprehensive manner Geared towards giving you complete confidence on the exam date Stresses on most important parts of the curriculum to give you highest chance of success Now at a special price of US $ 399.00 Crash Course Pack Includes: Instructor-led lectures Lecture Notes Expert guidance Unlimited Academic support Essential Facts & Formulas " to my mind this is more than what i might need, but thought will run it past guys here anyway. Another thing, is having CFA charterholder faculty really helpful? I am considering that to be a plus with prepmentor.com but wanted to check if someone has used other providers who dont have charterholders as faculty and liked it?
I used the study guide of Shweser, it did a great job for me in helping me out passing the exam in first attempt. But as far as the Ethics Standards are concerned, I went through them from the CFAI text books. Did GIPS from Shweser but the first two chapters, the 7 standards from the CFAI Text book. The examples were really helpful in getting the depth. The point is which ever study material you prefer to take, always remember to organize what you learn. Organization here means that when you’d be or you are studying the chapters make bullet points, flow charts and/or highlight things so that they would help you out in giving revisions. Level I is all about understanding and retaining, in some cases the later is emphasized more! The more you are organized, the less time you’d take for revisions. Since retaining is the key it could only be achieved through productive revisions. Good Luck!