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Fitch CFA Review: Pros and Cons Analysis
Fitch CFA Review (formerly known as 7City Learning) has been around since 2000. They offer live classes in selected locations, online review kits, and mock exams. Fitch CFA review courses train over 3,000 candidates every year and have helped over 31,000 aspiring CFAs.
Fitch CFA Course Offering
1. Classroom Learning
There are ongoing virtual classes as well as 2-day live review courses.
The 2-day course is essentially a final review, running on a weekend from 9:30 am to 4 pm. This course is available in major cities across regions.
Course materials include:
- A companion book to the CFAI textbook in electronic format
- Study plan (static)
- Revision guide with equations key concept
- Online portal and mobile app (see below)
- Instructor help desk
2. Online Portal and Mobile App
You can also choose to get only the online package, which is priced at $678 for Level 1 to $878 for Level 3.
The Online Review Kit is packed with resources to help with final preparation for the CFA exam.
- Three full mock exams
- Instructor recordings and webcasts
- Final countdown revision guide
- Revision mind maps
- Revision summaries and exam-style questions
Fitch CFA Pros and Cons
Pros
1. Great at Explaining Concepts
The 2-day live classes generally have good reviews. They are usually offered 5-6 weeks before the exam as a cram revision course covering all topics. For Level 1, it includes a book with revision questions, and for Level 2, there is a book with 30 vignettes with 6 questions each. There are also 3 mock exams.
For an online portal, the videos tend to be more instructive than that from Kaplan Schweser. The instructors go through the reading in a more thorough way than some of his counterparts in Kaplan Schweser. They are also helpful in responding to emails.
2. Lots of Practice Questions
Fitch CFA Review has a bank of tons of questions, which might be comparable to Qbank (which I’ve never used). They’re good for learning concepts but not good enough for learning complicated vignette-style questions.
3. No Pass No Pay (with Restrictions)
Fitch CFA Review has a No Pay No Pass policy, where if you don’t pass the CFA exam, they cut you a check for the exam fees.
Cons
1. Notes Not Detailed Enough?
I haven’t heard from readers who are customers of Fitch CFA, but based on previous comments on 7City (which I assume is the same), my readers find the notes not as useful, as in they only give out slides with bullet points rather than detailed notes.
Having said that, Fitch doesn’t design these notes to be a replacement for the CFAI text (as in Kaplan Schweser, for example) but as a supplement. The Fitch notes are great for this purpose.
2. Question Banks Not as Structured
The questions are generally great in helping candidates understand the concepts, but they are not as “exam structured.” So, in terms of exam-taking strategies, the others may offer more value.
3. Cancelled Classes?
I’ve heard classes being canceled without notice due to low enrollment. The class was in New York City.
Recommendations
Fitch CFA is a decent product with its fair share of pros and cons. If you are looking for a supplement (instead of a replacement) to the CFAI textbook, this could be a good choice.
However, I recommend you check out the best CFA prep courses to see if there’s a better option for you.
