Mi notes es su notes (Level 3 only, sorry)

Question

I have taken the liberty of creating a pretty basic website and posting my Level 3 study notes. You can visit it at (https://sites.google.com/site/cfalevel3examprep/home)

This is not a charitable exercise. I gave this a lot of thought and, given that the curriculum is highly "inter-woven", I really wanted to be able to create links between my notes on different LOSs (as opposed to trying to remember where I wrote something down). If any other Level 3 candidates would find these note valuable, please follow the link. Furthermore, as I am a big believer in collaborative learning, if anyone would like to actively participate in this process, don't hesitate to send me your e-mail address and I can give you editing privileges.

A couple quick technical matters. This is a private site (ie. only people with the above link can access it). I don't necessarily have a problem making it public (after all, I am posting the link here), but I thought people might prefer if access was limited for the time being. Also, and not unrelated to the previous point, while much of the material on the site are my own notes, I have used certain prep provider materials as "placeholders" so that the site can cover every LOS while I finish the readings and transcribe my notes - and, of course, people who wish to edit are more than welcome to expedite this process by adding their own notes. However, I expect all content to be my original work (or that of other contributors) within a couple weeks.

Finally, this site is meant to serve a specific purpose and, as such, it is neither a technical marvel, nor a work of art. As I said, I have put a considerable amount of thought into how to organize this material and make it more functional, but don't expect to have your mind blown by the greatest website that you have ever seen.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I believe that I have allowed myself approximately 3.5 hours of sleep tonight.

Sarah · Answer

I admire @marc organization skills.  I could never share my notes with anyone because they are written with only me in mind....

Marc · Answer

@fabian The short answer is, sadly no.

The longer answer is that, while I am by nature a pack-rat with notes and academic materials, my wife simply cannot understand why I still have Level 1 and Level 2 books more than 5 years after sitting those exams. We have moved house 6 times since I sat Level 2 and at some point I was forced to jettison my notes. While my wife did consent to letting me keep my CFA books on the grounds that they may come in handy revising for Level 3, she made her displeasure rather evident each time she walked by our bookshelves. When I signed up for Level 3 and saw that there were a few Level 1 and 2 topics that weren't covered in Level 3 - or so I thought - I made a point of throwing out the "irrelevant" books. I even went so far as to take an exacto knife (sorry, I don't know the UK translation) and literally cut out the "irrelevant" sections within otherwise relevant books - not unlike when your cat tries to show you how much he loves you by laying a bird's corpse at your feet. Funny story, these topics are still covered, they just get folded into the broad topic of "Portfolio Management", so lesson learned.

I still have about 70% of my books from Levels 1 and I could transcribe my margin notes, but I've got to be honest and tell you that this is not something that I will do before June 1st. However, I do plan to build similar sites for Levels 1 and 2 (@christine, @zee, I'd be happy to create those as separate sections within this site), but again not until after June 1st. By which time you will be a Level 3 candidate.

Sorry.