Using CFAI Level II Books w/ Kaplan 2015 books

Question

Hello everyone!I am a Level II candidate needing some advice, as I'm always on a tight budget. Full disclosure, if I see the need to buy ALL materials needed, I will pull the trigger -- I'm simply inquiring before making the investment, based on need and general consensus. I have the 2016 CFAI curriculum and the Kaplan 2015 materials. After spending the last week going over Quant, I realized HOLY COW CFAI MATERIAL IS SO "WORDY." With that said, I could purchase the 2016 Kaplan Notes, however, I also have the 2015 Notes that a friend used to study for the exam (he passed, second attempt). Can someone please help me decide whether or not I could successfully use the 2015 Notes and 2016 CFAI curriculum? I'm not exactly sure how I would go about determining what material was left out/changed from the 2015 exam/curriculum. What is the most efficient way of doing so? I would ideally spend as little time as possible on this task and get back to the studying. Let me know what you guys think... I've read many 'a posts (ie https://300hours.com/f/cfa/level-2/t/anyone-using-just-the-cfai-curriculum/ ) and have yet to decide whether or not I'd be able to successfully use this secondhand 2015 Kaplan material to study. So far, what i'm certain of is that the 2016 CFAI material is incredibly wordy --almost too wordy for a slow reader like myself. Thank you so much for the help in advance. I'd like to decide either today or tomorrow and get this show on the road (either purchase 2016 Notes or continue studying as is).

googs1484 · Answer

@dextthecfa I do not get it lol. BUT all is good. I am not here to criticize you. Was just trying to help.

Stuj79 · Answer

@DextTheCFA I would suggest that you will most likely be absolutely fine using the 2015 Kaplan material, combined with the 2016 CFAI curriculum - as long as you do as you have suggested and pay special attention to which LOSs/subjects have changed from 2015 to 2016 and make sure you study those that have changed from the CFAI 2016 material.If your Kaplan stuff was years out of date, I would be hesitant but with it being just 1 year old most content will still be fine to study from and I don't think it justifies shelling out 100s of dollars for the 2016 Kaplan material.Not TOO much has changed since last year, except for Portfolio Management which has had a complete overhaul so that is a definite MUST to study from the CFAI material.So long story short - You will be fine with 2015 Kaplan material is you make sure you study new/updated material from the CFAI curriculum.