In the pursuit of "condensed," Kaplan occasionally oversimplifies. For example, in Ethics (15-20% of the exam), the official curriculum provides 100+ case studies. Schweser provides 20. If you only read Schweser, you may miss the subtle nuances of the Standard of Professional Conduct. Verdict: You must read the official CFA Ethics handbook (free from CFA Institute) alongside Schweser.
Every year, Kaplan releases updated books in July for the following year’s exam (e.g., 2025 books release July 2024). The first printing always has typos or wrong answer keys in the Concept Checkers. By December, they issue an errata PDF, but if you buy used books on eBay from May, you might be studying with errors. kaplan schweser cfa level 1 book
Buying the book isn’t enough; you need a plan. Here is a proven 90-day strategy using the SchweserNotes. Each book contains:
The standard Schweser Level 1 package includes five softcover volumes, organized by the exam’s topic areas: In the pursuit of "condensed
Each book contains: