Do you use the LOS to study?

I only recently got the Schweser 2014 level 1 books, and just started studying two days ago – and *believe* I am using the LOS, but maybe I fall into the same category as reading it, self-assessing, and saying, “Yep. Got it.”  

 I think as I finish study sessions, I’ll write out the associated LOS, and without any notes try to regurgitate everything I can remember from the session to address the LOS as best as possible. 

I used the LOS as a general guideline to help me frame the information I studied. Most of the time you can determine what is important in a certain topic without referencing the LOS but other times the ‘key words’ in the LOS like ‘calculate’, ‘describe’ and ‘explain’ helps you filter out uncessary info. More specifically if a reading contains calculations but the LOS says ‘be able to explain…’ then I know that I will most likely not have to spend time learning the exact equation. For L1 I went so far as to print out a list of every LOS as a reference to see how many I felt very comfortable with my ability to perform each one. I did not do that with L2 (mainly due to personal time restirctions) and it worked out fine.

Like @christine and @alphadoll said its more of a cursory guide than a focal point.

This is a good question…Schweser has recommended that you do but I’m not sure how helpful it is….does anyone have experience of this?

I don’t really look at it. Schweser and Elan both highlight the LOS in their materials, so I do stop to have a look at it. But it’s not the basis of what I decide to spend my time on. The LOS defines what gets tested, but I don’t think they’re represented equally.

The problem I have with LOS is that its often not v specific. Especially ‘Describe’, it doesn’t really define what I need and needn’t know.

The LOS was more significant when there wasn’t even a CFA Institute set of books, where candidates had books where a significant portion were never going to be tested in the exam.

With specialist providers these days, it’s still helpful to have the LOS, as @AlphaDoll‌ says to confirm things, but the idea is that providers interpret the LOS and provide the appropriate material for candidates to study.