A Comparison of Bloomberg vs Kaplan Schweser CFA Course Materials

The designation Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) is a charter given to those who have completed the CFA Program and have the acceptable and requisite work experience. It is a three-part Program that tests the fundamentals of investment tools, portfolio management, wealth planning, and valuing assets among others. For people with a background in accounting, business, economics, or finance, the CFA charter is a great option and the key to a very lucrative career.

The CFA designation can be used by the CFA charter holders after completing the program and the application for it being accepted by the CFA Institute. CFA charter holders are an ideal fit for senior and executive positions in risk management, asset management, investment management, and other jobs in the same niche.

Earning the CFA charter does not come easy as it is one of the toughest exams in the finance field. However, the CFA Institute helps CFA aspirants reach their career goals with a wide range of resources. The most critical in this regard are study tools that include the official program curriculum, customized study plans, study sessions for all three Levels of the exam, and more. It is a comprehensive Learning Ecosystem that is available to all registered candidates.
The point now is whether you should study with the materials and support offered by the CFA Institute only or benefit from extra course materials created by prep providers who are required to meet the standards set by the CFA Institute.

Let us explore how the prep providers and their study materials are a big help to take you over the line to become CFA charter holders.

Should you Use Prep Courses to Study for the CFA Exam

Many candidates for the CFA exam prefer to self-study, not only to save the cost of investing in a prep course but also to study at their own pace. They do not want to get tied down to a regimented study plan and watch video lectures at fixed hours. But can you go through all the difficult levels of the exam without experts from prep providers helping you to navigate the challenges?

Let us examine why you should select a prep course to crack the exam.

• Saving money: Yes, you read that right. You save money by paying for a good prep course (and they do not come cheap). Look at it this way. The pass rates for CFA Levels 1, 2, and 3 are in the 40s generally and so you have a 60% chance of not getting through on the first attempt. With guidance from professionals in the field through prep courses, you increase the possibility of passing the exam, thereby saving money on reregistration, not to speak of the time saved in not having to take a specific level again.
• Studying efficiently: Regardless of your learning style, a prep course will customize a study plan that suits you. Moreover, you need not be overwhelmed by the volume of course materials at each level. Top prep courses are based on advanced technology that evaluates your areas of weaknesses and strengths and designs a study plan where you focus on topics that require more attention only. Your study time and the learning experience are thereby optimized.
• Updating knowledge base: With self-study, you will not be aware of many updates in the financial world around you as you will be focused on the curriculum at hand. But the instructors in prep courses keep track of and incorporate the latest changes in their audio and video lectures. Hence, you are more prepared to face the exam with the latest information in the field.
• Maximizing time management: Prep courses at the very outset of the start of your studies customize a study plan for you, taking into account your weak subjects and the time you can devote to studies. By sticking to it throughout your preparations, you save time by being more regimented and going through the full course without denting your lifestyle.
• Practice questions: Top CFA prep courses have thousands of practice questions and few mock exams that replicate the real exam scenario. After going through them, you not only know what to expect on D-Day but also build up the required confidence to sail through the exams.

Considering all these points, it can be safely said that opting for a prep course is more beneficial rather than going through an unplanned study schedule.

Bloomberg vs Kaplan Schweser CFA

Now that you know the benefits of choosing a prep course for your CFA studies, you should also select one of the top ones with a proven track record. Two of the best in this field are Bloomberg and Kaplan Schweser. This post will look at their features individually as well as compare the two on certain parameters.

Bloomberg CFA

The complete Bloomberg CFA course is based on an online platform. It means that not only do you need an Internet connection to study but also do not have to carry around heavy books and study materials. The entire syllabus consists of bite-sized lessons and is hence very convenient to go through.

Every micro-lesson covers a concept and is followed by practice questions to check your understanding of the subject. These practice questions replicate the real exam scenario and so, you stay sharp on the concepts you have already learned.

If you require more help in understanding a topic or a question you can always click an ask-a-tutor button on the interface. Doing so sends a question to the CFA-chartered experts at Bloomberg who will get back to you with an answer within one business day.

The number of questions you can ask depends on the package you have paid for – 20 for the Essentials package, 80 for Premium, and an unlimited number of questions for the users of the Ultimate package.

Kaplan Schweser CFA

The study notes of Kaplan Schweser are clear, concise, and comprehensive. This five-volume set has everything you need to crack the CFA exam. The study notes of Kaplan by choice do not cover everything in the syllabus of the CFA program. Rather, the study notes are precise and this enables candidates to better process the CFA Learning Outcome Statements (LOS).

Kaplan Schweser notes can be had in e-book format, audio format, and print form. At the end of each topic, you get practice questions and self-tests. These are more to evaluate whether what you have read has been understood rather than to simulate the difficulty level of the real exam.
Kaplan’s Secret Sauce is exclusive to this prep course. It is a compact guide that candidates need to go through as exam day draws near. Once you have completed the study notes, this small book comes in very handy. It contains brief and readable explanations of the main parts of the CFA syllabus together with strategies, tips, plans, and analyses that identify your likely exam-day performance. The Secret Sauce is also available in e-book format.

Bloomberg vs Kaplan Schweser CFA

Now that you have learned about the basics of the two prep courses, let us evaluate how the two stack up against each other on certain critical parameters.

Bloomberg vs Schweser CFA MCQs/Simulations

Bloomberg

Bloomberg CFA exam prep offers a maximum of 11 practice exams. Candidates who have gone through this course say that even going through 4 to 7 exams is generally enough to prepare you for exam day. The exams are to be taken online and can be paused if you cannot complete a whole exam in one sitting. Bloomberg ensures that the exams are in line with the CFA curriculum, weighted as per Institute guidelines, and timed similarly to the real test.
The MCQs and the simulations are also available in printable PDF format. There are over 10,000+ CFA practice questions in Level 1 and over 3000+ in Levels 2 and 3. If you take the tests offline, the answers can be entered online later to get detailed explanations and the scores.

Kaplan Schweser

Available online, the SchweserPro QBank has thousands of multiple-choice questions that can be customized by topic, number of questions, and level of difficulty. For each Level of the exam, Kaplan offers 2000+ questions that reflect the difficulty of the actual CFA exam. Each question comes with detailed explanations of the answers and useful performance metrics to focus your preparations.

Kaplan Schweser offers a timed Online Mock Exam that simulates the exact interface of the computer-based exam. There is also a Mock Exam Tutorial that gives a detailed walkthrough of the mock exam questions and answers so that you can judge which topics you are weak in.

Winner: In the Bloomberg vs Schweser CFA MCQs and Bloomberg CFA vs Schweser simulations section, Kaplan has a wide variety and a large number of MCQs, simulations, and mock questions. Bloomberg is not left behind either in all 3 Levels. Hence, it is a tie in this section between the two.

Bloomberg CFA vs Kaplan Schweser Lectures

Bloomberg

The online teaching platform of Bloomberg covers the entire curriculum in micro-lessons that is, a small concept is covered, your understanding is checked through practice questions and then you move on to the next. In between, you will find practice questions so that you can stay sharp on the previous topics that you have learned.

Bloomberg CFA prep course offers cheat sheets of formulas and definitions that can be downloaded and printed. These are very useful for last-minute preparations for the exam. The cheat sheets cover the entire curriculum in a condensed form and are ideal for candidates who want to study offline in a paper format.

Kaplan Schweser

The Masterclasses of Kaplan Schweser consist of weekly online classes and on-demand video lectures. These lectures have all the material that you will need to crack the exam but you must have the required discipline to attend the classes regularly and watch the video lectures without fail. These lectures are designed to be taken after your learning assignments on specific topics are completed so that they not only act as a medium for revision but also strengthen your grasp of the subjects.

Winner: In Bloomberg CFA vs Kaplan Schweser lectures, Kaplan with its weekly online classes and video lectures pulls ahead of Bloomberg in this segment.

Bloomberg vs Kaplan Schweser – Packages and Pricing

This section is very important for those investing in the courses, not only for the amount but also to evaluate value for money.

Bloomberg

There are three types of packages for students and each differs as per the volume of materials offered. These packages are to be bought separately for each Level of the CFA exam.

• Essential Package ($699) – Video Lectures, notes, a 10000+ question bank, 20 ask-a-tutor questions, and 7 full exams.
• Premium Package ($1,199) – It includes everything of the Essential package plus 80 ask-a-tutor questions and 8 full exams.
• Ultimate Package ($1,999) – All the features of the Essential package plus unlimited ask-a-tutor questions, 8 full exams, and 5 private tutoring sessions.

For those wanting to cram quickly, there is the Sprint package for $500 with two months’ access before the exam.

Kaplan Schweser

Kaplan provides two budget-friendly packs full of features and study materials.

• Essential Package ($699) – It includes instructor link, jumpstart, activity feed, checkpoint exams, 4 Mock exams, quick sheet, Schweser notes, videos, and question bank.
• Premium Package ($999) – There are all the features of the Essential package plus On-Demand Class, an On-Demand review workshop, and Schweser’s Secret Sauce.

It brings forth print, online, and mobile study tools and is a student-friendly course as it distributes the 300 average hours required to pass the CFA exam weekly.

Winner: The top course of Bloomberg is priced much above the top package of Kaplan so for those on a budget, Kaplan emerges as the preferred choice.

Bloomberg vs Kaplan Schweser CFA Reddit

In Bloomberg vs Kaplan Schweser CFA Reddit, the leaning is toward the latter. This is what one person has commented.

“Having tried Schweser and Bloomberg, I’d say the former is the way to go. Bloomberg has a lot of promise in its structure but its “smart features” are kind of broken and it does not go into enough detail in a lot of places. Schweser stands on its own better.”

Summing up

Feature for feature, there is little to choose between Bloomberg vs Kaplan Schweser CFA. Go through the key parameters like MCQs, simulations, lectures, and pricing before making a choice as per your convenience and budget.