I have decided to keep the Allen Resources' (hereafter referred to as A.R.) Test Bank diskette after having a conversation with Mr. Cardin. After raising my concerns about the possibility of JKE's software being superior to the program, he gave me quite a speech about A.R.'s process in constructing the software program.
It appears that they too search through and scan their questions for relevance, just as JKE does. They turn over thousands of questions a year, filtering for relevance in accordance with the ever-changing set of texts required for the CFA. New questions based on the readings, in addition to historical CFA test questions are what makes up the Test Bank program.
On the credibility issue: an interesting note was how they had used outside consultants from the University of Quebec (and another university one I can't recall) to help them create and customize their software content. The customization is a year-round process. About the CFA designation, it appears that they too implement them in their consulting process. Another interesting note was how the New York Institute of Finance had actually endorsed their product, and were integrating it into their study programs.
In my experience, having over 6,000 questions is pretty good in terms of thoroughness. Mr. Cardin pointed out the pitfalls of having only 500 questions from JKE's programs. With the brain being very sharp, he noted how the questions can easily become memorized, and it tends to give one a false sense of security from knowing just a limited set of questions.
One thing I liked about A.R.'s software is that it allows you to write notes for each question, right on the test as you're taking it. When I screw up, I can make mental notes and I can write them down there, so I can remind myself why I got the answer wrong in the first place. Another neat thing is that the order of the answers changes each time you get the same question. Doing this forces you to think about the problem itself, rather than trying to recall the exact position of the answer the last time you saw the question.
Mr. Cardin also noted that the pass rate for those who used their software was around 88%. That's a rather high number that I wouldn't mind using to my advantage. That's in comparison to the national average of 53%, he said. (I hope I recall the numbers correctly).
For a full-functioning demo of their software, the site is at:
allenresources.com
RT |
