Hi Hegolas,

First off, congrats for having moved to the next level. I'll give my take on Level 2 classes at Noesis. for Sunway, perhaps aaron1kee can give his review/opinions. Don't know anyone who did Level 2 at Kasturi. I think kinwing did self-study on his Level 2, so maybe you can PM him for advice.

General:[U]
The decision of either to self-study/go for classes is a combination of multiple variables. If you are a disciplined fellow and you find the materials in Level 1 quite easy to handle, you will be fine with self-study in Level 2 if you can spend adequate time on your studies (which means finishing your first reading at least 1 month prior to exam, leaving the final month for revision & mock exams. I do know a PwC auditor who took a month off to study in May and still passed Level 2  ). Yes, Level 2 materials will be more in-depth (harder as well) and sometimes you will get lost with the readings but as long as you can spend the time studying consistently, you'll be fine. If your work is long hours in nature and you find it hard to focus on your studies during weekends/free time, then going for classes is advisable.

Pro(s) on Noesis:
1) Experienced lecturers from the industry (ex-BCG Consultant, Corporate finance, private equity, fund management, fixed income, etc)
- Build your network with the lecturers. My coursemate got into CF through the recommendation from one of the lecturers.
- Get to know more about the industry that you are interested in (first-hand), and we also like to consult the lecturers on career change.
- Off-site support: If you have a question, you can always e-mail the lecturers.

2) Small class size (25 ppl max)
- My batch in Level 2 (2012) had only 15 people. We get to interact and build our small network (there were those in CF, Treasury, Equity Research, Private Equity, ALM, etc)
- A month before exams, Noesis will allow students to study at their centre (till as late as you wanted to, 1 guy did it till 1 am once) with free-flow coffee (Marks & Spencer), water and biscuits. We planned a few group study sessions during that period and had some crazy times.

3) High passing rate
- 67% (8/12) passing rate for Level 2 (2012) batch (I'm part of that statistic, 8 passed, 3 were not contactable, suspect they failed). The other 4 got within band 6 to band 10, so they are going for classes again in December (FOC).

4) Career Service
- Since you are not actively hunting for jobs, then nothing much to be said here.

5) Staff Support
- Staff are friendly and will always help when possible. They will send reminders on classes and books to bring, make sure your notes are printed and ready in class. If you are not able to attend the class, they will record a video of the class for you to view later.
- On exam day, they will book a section of PappaRich for lunch (eat-all-you-want) if the exam venue is at the Sunway Convention Centre. If it's at PWTC, they will also arrange a buffet lunch for the students). You do not need to even worry about where to have lunch (but of course, you may not have any appetite after the morning session grilling). Books will be prepared by the staff if you want to do some study but we usually just have our fun during lunch.

6) Other Courses
- Noesis provides courses for SC License holders throughout the year and Noesis's students get to register for only RM30 (whereas outsiders will be charged few hundreds of RM for the course). More opportunities to network and it's not that expensive if you want to get more credit hours for your CPE (I think most employers will pay for your CPE course, so nothing much here).
- They will also provide a professional development course (advising on matters from what career suits you, resume writing, soft skills, etc.)

Con(s) on Noesis:
1) Price
- Undeniably, Noesis's price is the highest among the three, and justifies the premium through value-added services. Lecturing hours comes close to 90++ hours (not including the Intensive Course Review), 20++ hours on Intensive Course Review, and 3 mock exams (not including the mock exams from Schweser)

Wrap-Up: It does look like I'm over-selling them and I admit it. Great place to be at and I have made some very close friends there. If cost is a concern for you, then I would not recommend Noesis for you. Hopefully my review helps.

Hi hegolas, first of all congratulations on passing your level one. I believe fino has given a fair assessment of Noesis.

On a general basis, I think self-study for level 2 is still practical, given the right discipline and effort. Now that you aren't actively seeking for jobs, I do suggest that you do self-studying, with reference materials from Schweser.

I'll try to be objective in giving you a fair assessment of Sunway. But I might be biased because I've been studying in Sunway for the past four years. I did my undergrad there as well.

PROS:
1. Relatively cheaper pricing. I think the main selling point is its package of weekend classes and schweser materials, all at just 4k. IMO, having schweser saves me a lot of precious study time as they know which part to emphasis and it's very helpful when you're under time constraint to complete the syllabus. Else, please do go through the textbook if you do have the time to do so. Especially the case study, they tend to examine the examples, albeit in a different manner.

2. Professional lecturers imported from Singapore AB Maximus. All our weekend classes are taught by working professionals from Singapore, and they have accumulated enough experiences in the working world to be able to integrate the syllabus with practical examples. AFAIK, AB Maximus itself is quite renowned in Singapore and the present collaboration between Sunway and AB Maximus do allow us to access to such talent base.

3. Progress test. Sunway has a system in assessing students performances every now & then.  After every few lessons we have internal assessment, a full mock up simulation of the actual test, along with a discussion after the assessment. This is of particular importance to me personally as it keeps me in line with the syllabus and also an effective way of assessing your level of knowledge.

Cons:
1. Relatively young education provider. Sunway has just started its CFA program last year, whereas Noesis has been a local leader for a number of years. The lack of experience may be a turn off to some, but I can assure you Sunway is learning through the collaboration with AB Maximus.

2. Limited lessons. There are just 18 lessons per level. It's insufficient to cover the whole syllabus so often the lecturers may have to rush through certain parts. It can be mentally tiring sometimes to absorb so much in such a short time.

Again, I might be overselling just like what Fino did. But it's your personal effort at the end in passing the exam, choosing Sunway/Noesis/Kasturi makes not that much of a difference because I believe everyone has a competitive edge in the courses they offered.
PS: Fino, started my first day of employment today!  now hafto juggle between studies and work. hahaha.