If CFA preparation course is needed and when
Submitted by ulchenkov on Sat, 31/07/2010 - 1:21pm
When you get a set of books from CFA Institute, and begin to assess the time and efforts needed to prepare for the CFA exam, such a question is likely to arise.
Besides textbooks, which CFA Institute sends upon registration for the exam, one may find a number of other study materials. By the way, if you have not registered yet, please check the recommendation in the forums on the most appropriate way to arrange the delivery of CFA books to Russia.
Next, you need to decide if it makes sense of buying books and materials such as Schweser, Stalla, Allen Resources, etc. for you personally. The answer is not so obvious, as it may seem at first glance. These materials are usually significantly reduced compared with baseline, allowing for faster and easier preparation. At cursory glance it seems that CFA Institute books contain really too much redundant information. For example, a lot of material on Economics for CFA Level I exam, but virtually no questions on June exam. Looking slightly ahead at the CFA Level III exam - you will find a whole textbook on Economics. At the same time, if you will look at the number of questions on Economics, there will be ... 0%. (Perhaps, based on our experience - anyway, we don't expect more than just a few). On the other hand, to shorten the books virtually all providers omit some information, let alone be critical, but very useful for passing the CFA exam.
Of course, most providers also sell a collection of tasks. However, from our experience, some of them may contain errors, and besides, the course of solution is often not obvious, if you did not take the exam earlier.
We have the sustained impression that in some tasks CFA Institute specifically provides an opportunity to "kill" it - ie, to reduce the course of decision. This may allow you to save time on the exam significantly. Providers of study materials provide very little information on this (after all, their goal - to tell the standard methods of solution), in addition, just reading does not help much - you need skill, which is require training.
Nevertheless, concentrating only on solving problems and tasks, hoping to "pick up" theory during the parsing of your answers, certainly not worth time spent on it. Psychological pattern typically force students to omit the explanation for a correct answer in most cases (in particular, to save time ...). By the way, you will have to learn much about psychology for CFA Level III Exam.
Apparently, training courses with instructor may be helpful for a versatile skills development. In the classroom you can ask the trainer to stop, and repeat a piece of the theory, on which a case (task) solution is based. Your fellow may ask a question, the answer that you were thinking is "obvious", at the same time, teacher explanations may shed some extra light at different angle, thus, providing you with new knowledge and experience. Having had passed the CFA Exam, the instructor has a better understanding of what might be asked, and on what subject it would be difficult to make a question - at least, a really difficult question.
In general, if you:
1) is a purposeful person
2) have enough free time
3) diligent,
4) With an unbending will,
most probably you don't need any preparation courses
If you - like most busy professionals:
1) Experience shortage of time
2) concerned that 4 months of study may make you "fed up"
3) You can not devote sufficient time for detailed work on the theory
4) is careful not to recognize a problems which may be "killed" or have a little idea how to approach them
then preparation courses for CFA exam will be useful. To be more exact, additional training will be useful in any case case, but in the second we'd highly recommend to take it.
