ASM vs. Textbooks

[bnut34]

My first time posting. I have the ASM manual, but also have all the textbooks for the readings (I never had any of the classes for this material in college). But comparing the two, it seems that the textbooks tend to focus on things that the ASM manual doesn't, and vice versa. Also, it seems that the ASM manual covers all the material. My question is, do I need to go through the textbooks? If I just use the ASM manual, and use the textbooks as reference, will be I missing out on anything? Thanks for the help, and good luck!

ASM does a good job on the interest theory part of the exam, I think a text book would be good for the DM part but not neccessary.

[dmbfan41]

i'd highly recommend using ASM as your main study material. use the textbooks as a secondary source.

[STYX Fan]

ASM covers what you need to know for the test. It does a good job at it too. If you want a more in depth knowledge of some of the topics then you can go to the textbooks.

[DyalDragon]

i sat for MFE in November and came back to FM for the February sitting, and i found that reading the MFE DM material really helped in my understanding when i came back to the FM manual... the textbook on the other hand was useless IMO, unless you just want some extra practice with fundamentals or are having trouble wrapping your head around a particular concept and need a different perspective

Oh and ASM for FM rocks

[knifoon120]

I'm going through DM right now just because I think it's interesting. However, looking through the practice exams, a lot of the stuff in DM really isn't THAT useful. If you don't have a lot of extra time and you find derivatives to be dry, then going through the study manuals should be enough

[DanielSong39]

Go through the textbooks, do all the problems, and use the study manuals as a review.

The manuals will help you solve problems but you definitely need to use the book to get a good grip on the concepts.

This isn't an either/or scenario. You have enough time to get through the textbooks and multiple manuals! I speak from personal experience.

[Sherrbear]

I would make ASM my main source of study material. But, Broverman's text has some really great problems to practice with, in addition to all the problems in ASM. Personally, I found that reading through the textbook was too dull and I retained nothing of what I read.

[jks85]

Originally Posted by DanielSong39

Go through the textbooks, do all the problems, and use the study manuals as a review.

The manuals will help you solve problems but you definitely need to use the book to get a good grip on the concepts.

This isn't an either/or scenario. You have enough time to get through the textbooks and multiple manuals! I speak from personal experience.

Don't agree w/the bolded, but I agree that it doesn't have to be one or the other. However, if you are even a little short on time then go w/the exams and i don't think it's close


edit: go w/the manual

[john.c]

Not only do I think the ASM manual is more useful for FM than the text, I wish I had the manual for my Theory of Interest class when I took it.

The class used Kellison, which I'll admit I used a good bit as a second source to ASM studying for FM. But I probably could have aced the class using the ASM manual instead.