How To Decide Between Exam Preparation Materials

Question

Greetings 300 Hours Forum Members!This is my first time on this site. I would like to ask about what is the smart way to go about shopping for exam preparation materials? With all the variety out there in terms of exam material, what is the best way to go about finding which program fits? I know that there are a bunch of free trials, but I would love to learn other peoples insights rather than spend weeks experimenting with different free trials. My hope is to save some valuable time that can go towards having a smart study plan from the beginning rather than after shopping around with free trials. Thanks for reading my post!

Sophie Macon · Answer

Hey @lmgn0209 welcome to the group :)Ah, this is a tricky question. It really depends on your study preference and style.Kaplan Schweser has been the incumbent of the CFA prep industry: they do good quality books that summarizes the key points, speeds up your reading of the material. They have a good amount of practice questions too. If you're into reading from books, then practice, i.e. old school style, they are a good bet.Then you have the new providers which are established in other exams such as UWorld, that teaches you the curriculum in a different way via active learning, i.e. learning by doing practice questions. They distinguish themselves via super thorough explanations in their answers (kinda like mini notes itself), and suit people who just want to dive in and learn actively from doing practice questions straight away. Some people complement this with their study notes and use Uworld as a source of question bank.

lmgn0209 · Answer

@rollover2 deciding between Wiley and Kaplan Schweser and am keeping an open mind between the two until I make a decision.