Abby W., CFA
Hong Kong
IFT tutors are super helpful and their videos/notes/mocks have definitely helped clear my concepts! Would definitely recommend IFT! The team has been very professional and supportive of me during my whole CFA journey, e.g. offering me prompt replies whenever I have any inquiries on the materials.
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Alex Smirnoff North, CFA
London, United Kingdom
For those students who want to ensure that they stick to the CFAI curriculum text, IFT is the perfect compliment. While you are provided the usual video lectures and study notes in a similar fashion to other study providers, what really makes IFT stand out is their rigor to go through every single EOC question and blue box examples. This provides you with a wider understanding of the actual question and what the examination is looking to test – you’ll be taught to actually understand the curriculum text, rather than just taught to pass. I also found 2 further products fundamental to reinforcing my learning. Firstly, the IFT High-Yield Videos were a superb addition for my train commute into work, having bitesize videos reinforce learnings over the past weeks, while for Level 3, IFT’s commitment to go through over 10 years of past papers and pull out relevant questions that Read More
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Kujo Osei, CFA
Los Angeles, USA
If you really want to crush the Level 3 exams, especially, the morning session then please choose IFT. I had used 2 different prep courses prior to signing up for IFT and I can say unequivocally that IFT is the best in the world. By following their materials and study plan, I was able to finish the morning session 15 minutes before time. The Q&A with IFT Instructor is the finest on earth as IFT gives you timely and detailed responses. Many Thanks to Arif, Nabeela, and the entire IFT team.
My Profile : https://www.linkedin.com/in/kujo-osei-cfa-cpa-b50680100/
Gokcen O-M.
Dallas, USA
My Challenge with CFA exam is time. Having a family and a full-time job, it is not easy to get ready for an exam that requires you to read 6 books for each level of the exam. IFT helps me a lot to save time, since the videos are very to the point, neatly summarizing what you need to know for the exam. The videos are also covering each topic/learning outcomes with Blue Box examples of the CFA curriculum. I also highly recommend to get solution videos of past CFA exams. IFT teaches you how to approach CFA questions and trains you on how to respond to essay type questions. Very valuable.
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Marc Antoine Gendreau
Québec, Canada
When I first enrolled in the CFA Program I felt like the textbooks and practice tests provided by the CFA Institute were more than enough for my preparation. I didn’t understand why people would pay for a prep provider that creates its own textbooks because I believed that it could partly drive me away from the CFA Learning Outcome Statements (LOS). I also thought that taking a prep provider would only mean more reading, which although could be helpful, may not be the best investment of time to help me pass the exams. But once I had finished to go through all the chapters and wanted to review, I realised the depth of material covered was very large. It had taken me almost 200 hours and I didn’t want to go through all the material again to hunt through the thousands of pages for to revise and to answer the Read More
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Rudy Soobaroyen, CFA
Melbourne, Australia
When I started the CFA Program back in 2013, I was not clear as to how long the journey would take me but I was determined to make the most of that journey. As a Chartered Certified Accountant and CPA along with practical accounting and finance experience, I already had some knowledge to effectively assimilate at least half of the CFA Level 1 curriculum. However, I felt the hurdles getting higher as I moved into unfamiliar territory. After rigorously researching and considering third-party CFA Program prep providers, I came across IFT. I think at the time IFT was still in its infancy stage but already I felt comfortable with the way Arif approached every concept. So I began by getting a couple of the training materials for level 1. After I found out I passed the December 2013 exam, I decided I would enroll in the June 2015 CFA Read More
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Satheesh Jagannathan, CFA
Chennai, India
I was working in an Investment Banking setup where I didn't have sufficient time to read through the entire CFA curriculum. The biggest challenge for me was balancing my commitments at work with the study schedule. I tackled them by planning things well in advance and making sure that I stick to the plan. I also made sure that I gave up other activities, hobbies etc during my course of preparation. IFT video lectures by Arif Irfanullah came as a blessing in disguise. Arif synthesizes complex concepts (or concepts that are presented in a slightly complicated way in the curriculum) and explains them in a simple way. Most importantly, his lectures were to the point and follow the flow in curriculum. His tips (Like importance of practicing curriculum examples, reading the curriculum summary, time-management, etc. ) turned-out to be crucial. Here are tips which others to consider while preparing:
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Muhammad Asim Qureshi, CFA
Lahore, Pakistan
I was in my late 30s, when I decided to upgrade my existing knowledge of finance and investments. I had an MBA degree then from LUMS with more than five years of work experience. I would say each of the level of CFA is difficult in its own capacity: level 1 has a lot of breadth, Level 2 has a tremendous amount of depth and material to master, and Level 3 focuses on application of finance and investment concepts, assuming that the candidate is a portfolio manager. Given I do a high pressure job and have two kids, a disciplined effort over a longer period of time - pre-requisite to pass the exam - seemed challenging. My modus operandi was to ONLY read CFAI curriculum, do grey box and EOC questions, do topic tests and then finally do mocks / past exams. I preferred to read the curriculum on Read More
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Tafirenyika Masvore
Midrand, South Africa
I started studying for Level I in March 2015 after enrolling for the December 2015 examination. Using the Curriculum only, my pace was very slow. I had only covered three topics by August 2015 (Quantitative Methods, Equity and Fixed Income). I then stumbled upon IFT 2011 Level I Videos from You Tube. That entirely transformed my approach. The videos helped me quicken my pace and my understanding of the Curriculum significantly improved. I passed Level I in Dec 2015, thanks to the use of IFT videos. I purchased Level II time saver while waiting for Level I results. When the results came out, I purchased Level II IFT videos. I passed Level II on my first attempt in June 2016. I purchased Level III videos and cleared Level III in June 2017 on the first attempt! A key distinctive feature of the videos is that they closely follow the Read More
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Viraj Swaroop, FRM
New Delhi, India
I passed CFA Levels I, II and III in 2014, 2016 and 2017 respectively (all in the 1st attempt). I used IFT's video lecture series for all three levels and they proved to be critical for my entire CFA journey. The best part about his video series was that it served the dual purpose of saving time and covering the key concepts which gets tested during the exam. After graduating from IIT Dhanbad in Mathematics & Computing, I joined full time in one of the Big 4 firms. Since I am on a full time job, the main concern for me was to execute the examination strategy by effectively utilizing the time. This is where IFT's video series helped me the most. His way of explaining complex concepts in such simplified terms is something that is extremely rare to see. I would highly recommend to all the potential CFA Read More
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