Would you consider a different style of prep materials?

@SidMenon guilty as charged…

@diya, definitely, there are always some worth going – usually they are practitioners or just have an interesting way of presenting. Many of them however, just tend to be a monotone bore. They just need to learn from Steve Jobs’ keynote speeches :))

I’m still obstinately a pen and paper person. Personally I don’t work well with lectures (yes I tend to sleep/skip university ones) and review things at my own pace.

@Sophie I’m guilty of the same but every once in awhile I had an awesome professor that actually made me want to attend class in my whole university career I can think of exactly 2….

What would you love to do though @Marc? I sense some constraints there, if you find your stable job boring?

@Marc I an currently going through Elan’s 11th hour and Schweser’s Secret Sauce and I must say Elan is more detail and doesn’t give some of the more trickier topics an extremely superficial treatment. Reading Secret Sauce is too easy and I feel like I know everything when I don’t! Schweser’s secret sauce is currently making me angry.

That being said I just remember that Schweser’s video lectures are extremely tedious and sometimes downright unhelpful. I find that they beat the easier points into you but the more complex stuff is rushed through quickly and typically it is the harder stuff that I have trouble understanding. I think Schweser’s most useful contribution is their study notes and their question bank.

@cfaguru you make a very good point – trustworthiness is a very important issue. Candidates would love to save money, but not at the cost of a significant risk of betting on the wrong prep provider (and subsequently failing the exams!)

@cfaguru I haven’t watched elan’s video because after sampling Schweser’s I was able to conclude that watching video’s is probably the worst way for me to study. Video’s put me straight to sleep or I start surfing the web with the video playing in the background.

I do like Elan’s 11th hour and right now I am just working through FRA because it is totally baffling me. I can survive any topic except FRA needs lots of time and attention.

I think the subscription model is interesting but not expecting to see that anytime soon because it is just easier for the prep provider to charge up-front especially if physically copies are being sent. I think a subscription model works best of Q/A type discussion forum.

@cfaguru I haven’t watched elan’s video because after sampling Schweser’s I was able to conclude that watching video’s is probably the worst way for me to study. Video’s put me straight to sleep or I start surfing the web with the video playing in the background.

I feel exactly the same. I just zone out and the whole lecture goes to waste.

@marc I’m working on something in this space – not providing materials, but something related. Will let you know if/when I manage to get it off the ground… 🙂

You’ve cloned yourselves! :O

@sidmenon the secret’s out!

Oh man! It was a guess! I didn’t mean to reveal it, please don’t kidnap me and replace me with a clone now! :-SS

I’m still waiting to hear you rant about Finquiz @marc 😉

I don’t know @marc, having a subscription base payment, unless it’s significantly cheaper (which I doubt) will only incentivise me to rush through the materials as it’s time based. I actually rather pay upfront and not get reminded of the monthly pinch these things are costing me :)) It’s like gym, you’re likely to cancel any moment you know you’re exercising less… But an paying a bucketload upfront forces the commitment to solidify.

@SidMenon and none of the instructors are good looking or charismatic how can you expect a girl to give you her undivided attention :p

@Marc and I just took your advice and cracked open the CFAI books.

I feel that video lectures try and recreate the feeling of having a live lecturer, but I feel most of the value from a live lecturer is the ability to interact and/or steer the lecture in a direction that suits the students. With video lectures obviously this isn’t possible…

Doesn’t 7city have an online portal that contains videos, lecture notes, etc?

Benchprep is another one, but it’s CFA offerings are limited to Level 1 so far.

I think education is heading online definitely with all these new startups, but for subjects like these I’m still obstinately a pen and paper person. Personally I don’t work well with lectures (yes I tend to sleep/skip university ones) and review things at my own pace.

But yes, it would be great to break the monopoly (hello free markets!) for the prep providers, as things could always be more affordable, especially CFA materials.

Interesting thought. If the average cost were the same between both approaches I suppose I’d prefer a subscription model.

But would providers see it as a good way to monetize?

Interesting thoughts Marc. I just feel that in this market, the quality of content is what will in win the long run. Sure apps and gizmos are going to attract attention, but I am not going to buy an app just because it will allow me to study on the go, I’ll only buy it if the content is worth it and if it’s trust worthy.

The pricing model you propose is interesting- a subscription model as opposed to a flat upfront payment. Any new provider would have to go down that route to establish themselves. Or they would have to offer a bunch of stuff for free, which Elan does for example.

Diya, have you seen any of their videos?

I agree. Video lectures never helped me much. I find studying in own my time at my own pace and understanding according to my convenience much better than having to pay continuous attention to someone else speaking.

And this time i had 300H to answer my queries! 😛

@Diya Hahahah. I think if they were good looking or charismatic, the situation would exactly be the same as before, you still wouldn’t pay attention to what they said 😛

@marc sounds like you did a lot of research in the prep materials arena. That video example is great though, but the problem with video lectures is that they don’t do it that way, it’s cheaper to just record the lecturer as such (since it’s being done anyway in a live class). Those graphical style videos would work brilliantly for me, but I suspect not cheap to produce, nor in their interest of the prep providers, I suppose.

Yup, simplilearn (level 1 so far, level 2 coming soon) and benchprep (level 1 only) are turning to subscription/access based model. What’s your opinion on Finquiz? Personally I haven’t seen their materials, but pricing seems attractive.

I really should get some sleep. I-)

@marc – I don’t think I have trouble sleeping, I jump and hug my bed with sheer joy at every opportunity. Beauty sleep (so I call it) it of utmost importance, so no worries 🙂

I’m afraid I can’t share the secret of our omnipresence, but rest assured we are not werewolves 😉

One provider that does a similar thing is BenchPrep, in the sense that it provides a subscription model rather than an upfront, one-off payment.

However, a large barrier to entry into the prep provider market would be:
1. the work involved in covering the material and updating every year, plus practice exams and videos
2. getting a ‘CFA prep provider license’ from the CFA Institute (costs a lot, I think!)

@marc are you interested in going into the prep provider business then?

@marc there are more of you than you think!

That’s true @Marc, the 1.5 hours video are a drag. But hey, some people work better that why. I’m old school 🙂

@marc yea I know it is going to painful. From a pure stylistic respective CFAI writes their material to minimize readership. I’ll report back with the damage report.