Hi,
I am new to PG...found this thread quite useful....
can anyone pls tell for his/her experience that what books shud 1 refer to to clear FRM Level 1? is Schewer and Jorian handbook sufficient?
Thanks.
Its quite subjective question....From exam point of view not evrything is important..
I gave my L1 dis november...and to be frank i did not read core or jorian...
but along wid schweser notes i regularly practiced qstions given in schweser pro cd...and for options i read JOHN C HULL...dats it..
I am starting a new blog on FRM preparation.Hopin for input and encouragement from you guys.Please do post comments
FRM Mecca
Thanks
Is schweser notes alone sufficient for FRM L1? I'm planningto write in may 2010. If schweser is not enough, what other materials should i refer?
Hi all,
Took the full exam on 21st, and the FRM exam did live up to its expectations. The AM session was pretty tough compared to the PM session. But overall the difficulty level of the exam was on the higher side as it is always.
My CFA L1 knowledge came to the rescue in few of the questions in PM session. After giving the exam I can firmly say that Schwesers Material alone are not sufficient to pass the exam. They miss out on many stuff or rather put it this way, FRM tests you on the things not present in the Schwesers notes
FRM exam really tests on the concepts and they perform their job pretty well. My advice to fellow puys who want to crack the FRM exam in future, do refer to core readings or if you cant do that then atleast read Bionic turtle notes/questions by David Harper in addition with Schwesers notes. This will increase the chances of passing the exam and also help in understanding the concepts better.
Best of luck to all for the results :D
hi guys...can anyone send me a link to bionic turtle videos...greatly appreciate
dima1anna Sayshi guys...can anyone send me a link to bionic turtle videos...greatly appreciate
Guys, is anyone planning to join a classroom course for FRM lev 1 in Mumbai for May 2010? (Prestine, IIQF etc) We can avail some discount if we join in groups. Pls let me know if anyone interested.
thanks
Hi All,
If anybody is interested in buying FRM material in bangalore
1.Core readings
2.Handbook
All the best to the Nov 2009 FRM candidates for d results
Hi,
Now that the results of the FRM Nov-09 exam is out, would request people to share their experiences,
I cleared the full exam with about 3 months of preparation (only schweser), but i think i read scheweser properly. Not really commenting on whether that is enough in itself, because never really got the time to go through scheweser's questions or other practice questions but i focussed more on building and absorbing concepts in unfamiliar areas.
To speak of my background, I am a practising risk professional with about 9 years of expereince (4 years banking, 5 years risk consulting)
Thanks and Regards,
Shravan
Heartiest Congrats to all the successful candidates of FRM Full/L1
Plz share ur winning strategy ...the material u went 4...the time u devoted...any special area that needs more focus
n ya the Million-Dollar Question is schweser enough?...because post exam candidates were unanimous in saying that its nt enough...but cing the result it seems every1 has passed!...
hello puys...can anyone please send me the link to FRM material, please PM me...I am based in Mumbai, and enquired Laxmi Copy Centre, but they say that FRM 2010 material will be available only by Jan-end....this looks too late, and I want to start preparation now....
Many Thanks in advance 😃
Hello RealBoss,
I have also passed the FRM full this year. And only I know the trouble that I have gone through while studying for the exam. Let me share my experience of FRM preparation.
Starting with my Background. I am working as a Software Engineer in the Risk Department of an Investment Bank. But, this does not change the fact that despite having worked in Ibank for quite a long, I had little but no knowledge of finance domain or Risk per se. Moreover, my job does not expect me to go into that much details of business. Now, coming back to preparation, as such I started my sluggish preparation for FRM in June 2009. I would have started earlier but neither Core nor Scheweser notes were available before June. Most of the people in different forums that I visited during my study were of the opinion that Scheweser notes and FRM core hand book is sufficient enough to clear the examination. But my view is quite different from theirs. Schweser notes might be sufficient for those people who are already working in the Risk domain or who have good idea about different products and their pricing. Needless to say, the little knowledge that I had Schweser notes alone were not sufficient for me. Moreover, unlike Schweser notes for CFA exam schweser note for FRM are truly summary like. And luckily when I started in June, only Core readings were available and I thought "what the heck! I can start with core reading itself". The most tough chapters of the FRM are from John C HUll and from Philip Jorion "Value at Risk". These two books are the toughest of FRM curriculum. In my opinion if you already don't have much knowledge of finance domain and risk then you should buckle up and be ready to give sufficient time for FRM prep(at least 2 hours a day if you are starting early). Go through the Core readings. Schweser is also undoubtedly must. Moreover, the exam is itself quite quantitative and case based. So even if you mug up everything without understanding what exactly it means there is a little chance that you will clear the exam. So read core material to develop good, sound knowledge of finance and risk concepts. I read Core to build concepts and then read Schweser to actually prepare for the exam. Last 1 and a half month I spend reading mostly from schweser. Core and Shweser are well broken up in different parts, So once you read through the one such section of Core, go and read schweser as well to make sure that you remember the concepts that you read. If possible once you are though with one schweser booklet, keep reviewing it after 3 or may be 4 weeks to see that you still remember things read. The course is such that there is a lot of repetition among different books and that actually helps in building better understanding sometimes. So well plan ahead. Do set up goals for yourself how you want to finish such vast curriculum. From the perspective of Full test I found 2 weeks of revision time before the exam date insufficient. So if you are taking both the tests on the same day then you should plan for good revision time as well. Also, keep time for practice questions; that's very important.
I will just cut is short (:D sarcastic )
If you want to start right away, you can start John C Hull "Future, Options and other derivatives". Almost 60 - 70% of the book is covered in FRM. And read Hull to learn not to mug up things. Enjoy reading!!
-Rahul
I tend to agree with Dream08. The exam does not come across as something easy to crack. Not that it is difficult but prospective candidates will do well to put in an earnest effort and try to go beyond Scheweser. People passing simply by virtue of their experience etc should normally not be the case.
Another important point I realized is that though I managed to pass, I have done average (equally spread quartiles 1,2 and 3 across the nine sections), which I attribute to lack of question and numerical practice. Though I knew a lot of stuff, I felt very rusty while attempting them during the exam. I am sure that cost me atleast 6-8 questions in each of the papers. Finally expereince in my core areas (Credit and Operational Risk) saw me through I guess.
Thanks
@ Dream08
Thnx a ton Rahul Sir for such detailed reply
Hi Dream08 and Shrp17,
would request you to help out the fellow participants in small ways:
can you please tell which chapters to refer for Level 1 from:
- Jorion 5th Edn
- Hull 7th Edn
also Where can we get Good practice FRM Qns
Thanks a ton 😃
Hi all, i am considering taking FRM exam; honestly i am not sure how exactly it will help. I have 3.5 yrs experience in analytics and currently working in risk team for cards; i believe frm will help me move to corporate risk. it will be great if someone can share how exactly an FRM will help in career growth.
Also, if i decide to take the exam in Nov instead of may then is the course material expected to change drastically b/w May & Nov? I have done my MA Economics but its been long since i formally studied, hence i would like to have sufficient time for preparation.
Hi all,
The results were out last week and I passed the Full exam . I got a few mails regarding how to study and what to refer to, so I thought it will be better to post my experiences here so that everyone can benefit from it.
First my background, I have completed my MBA from IMI and have no experience at all in Risk Management or related areas. Have cleared CFA L1.
The sources I referred to: I primarily studied OLNY from schwesers notes. Never had the core readings and never bothered to open FRM Handbook. I gave a very fast reading to bionic turtle notes/questions.
About the exam: The exam is tough, no doubt about it. I had no idea about few questions in the exams, so had to randomly mark some option. The questions can be twisted to any level and even a simple question can look extremely tough. I also noticed that in few questions my CFA L1 knowledge came to the rescue. There were questions on things which I never read during the course of my preparation of FRM, but studied during CFA.
My take on from where to study: Studying only from Schwesers is like taking a little risk, so it will be good if one can atleast go through bionic turtle questions/notes. Studying from handbook is not required according to me and the core readings are just way too much to study from. One should also do ALL the previous years questions(from whatever sources) as they serve a good proxy, but the GARP people just raise the bar each time. Exams held in last 3-4 years have been real tough, before that the questions asked in exams were a lot easier.
FRM handbook does have previous year questions in between chapters, so one can always study questions from that.
The questions in Schwesers Qbank CD(Pro) and their mock tests are not a good proxy to the real exam questions, but having said that due to the lack of questions available to practice one should do whatever is available.
Lastly one should give a lot of revision to the schweser notes. There are things which overlap and are present at 2-3 places. So one should be able to pull the strings together and understand. There is no way one can understand things at one go as its really technical, but one should keep on reading and not get bogged down. After giving 2-3 good reading things will definitely settle down and it will be easy going further.
Hope it helps out fellow puys. 😃
Ankur,
BA plus II professional is surely allowed. I used it myself and infact many people believe thats the best (read user freindly) calc available
