Hi all! I'm just about to finish up my first semester of MSF work in a dual MBA/MSF course at Illinois Institute of Technology. I don't have many prospects for a summer internship and because of the way scholarships work at this school, won't be taking any summer classes. Instead, I plan on spending the summer studying for the Dec '14 CFA Level 1 exam. I'm looking into the Kaplan/Schweser study programs. Does anyone have any experience with these programs that can comment on their effectiveness? Also, can anyone comment on how well core MSF courses prepare you for this exam?
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CFA and MSF/MBA
- Thread starter Andrew H
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internship >>>>> cfa
Internships have their pros/cons, and so do the CFA exams.
Internships may provide better "real world" experience (especially if you snag one that aligns with your career goals), but they may also be very specialized and/or mundane.
Level 1 of the CFA is commonly referred to as "a mile wide, but an inch deep". It is very good, but also fairly basic knowledge. It overlaps a lot with any MBA/MSF type program. That being said, the CFA designation is well respected in the industry, but that level of respect varies depending on your career goals.
I used Kaplan and am a very big proponent of their materials. The content is great (shorter than the CFA-provided materials, concise, accurate), and their practice tests are well designed and very effective at preparing you for the actual test.
Hope that helps.
Internships may provide better "real world" experience (especially if you snag one that aligns with your career goals), but they may also be very specialized and/or mundane.
Level 1 of the CFA is commonly referred to as "a mile wide, but an inch deep". It is very good, but also fairly basic knowledge. It overlaps a lot with any MBA/MSF type program. That being said, the CFA designation is well respected in the industry, but that level of respect varies depending on your career goals.
I used Kaplan and am a very big proponent of their materials. The content is great (shorter than the CFA-provided materials, concise, accurate), and their practice tests are well designed and very effective at preparing you for the actual test.
Hope that helps.
Thanks for the info! I'm domestic, but started in the spring and am not quite sure how competitive I would be for an internship this summer. My program is 7 semesters long, so I'll have 2 more summers for internships. If I'm not able to secure an internship this summer, I would definitely like to get a head start on studying for the Level 1 exam. I was just wondering how much overlap there is between the core MSF classes and the Level 1. I used Kaplan for the GRE and it helped a lot, sounds like a good choice for this as well. Thanks again!
Hi Andrew,
If you just aim for Level 1, then there will be a lot of overlap between MSF and CFA level 1, which means the CFA level 1 might seems a little redundant. But if you intend to go further and get CFA designation eventually, level 1 is simply something you have to go through.
And yes, Kaplan is pretty good for CFA level. Another good choice is Schweser, hope I spell it correctly.
If you just aim for Level 1, then there will be a lot of overlap between MSF and CFA level 1, which means the CFA level 1 might seems a little redundant. But if you intend to go further and get CFA designation eventually, level 1 is simply something you have to go through.
And yes, Kaplan is pretty good for CFA level. Another good choice is Schweser, hope I spell it correctly.
Hi Andrew,
I actually used Elan Guides when studying for the level 1 exam in tandem with Kaplan and the actual CFA textbooks. As the months went by I used Kaplan less and less. Elan is less known however I think they do very thorough work in preparing their study material. Look into it, I would recommend (I passed
).
I actually used Elan Guides when studying for the level 1 exam in tandem with Kaplan and the actual CFA textbooks. As the months went by I used Kaplan less and less. Elan is less known however I think they do very thorough work in preparing their study material. Look into it, I would recommend (I passed
).Kaplan = Schweser
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