*Note: GARP forbids the discussion of individual questions. I am talking about your impressions of exam length, difficulty, focus, or other unexpected elements.
Part I here.
Incredibly difficult. I thought I’d be good with time management but apparently I was wrong. I managed to get through everything but not as quickly as I hoped. Some topics that were covered more frequently were a bit of a shock, as I didn’t stumble upon those questions as much during the practice tests.
Part 2. The exam was much harder than practice tests. The questions and answer choices felt unfair and unreasonable, very poorly designed with a lot of focus on minutiae. Almost seemed like whoever wrote the exam opened up 4 random pages in the curriculum, grabbed 4 random sentences and changed a few words up, and lined them up as the answer choices. My background is comfortable pass on all 3 CFA exams on first attempts (each with under 300 hrs of studying – yes, I keep track) and top quartile in all parts of FRM Part 1 (under 150hrs), and so I like to think (perhaps I’m too arrogant here) that I have a decent sense of how to study for these exams and what it takes to squeak out a comfortable pass. On this exam it simply felt like there was no way to possibly understand enough of the material in 250 hours to pass comfortably – granted, I only studied about 175, but I’m not sure an extra 80 would help all that much. I could identify problems I might be getting wrong as I was doing practice tests, but on today’s exam there was so much ambiguity I think it’s 50/50 now as to whether I pass.
@Marcos what all resources did you use for study. Wiley…GARP books…BT…schweser??
Just Schweser. Schweser matched FRM Part 1 exam difficulty very well. There is so much reading in Part 2 that I honestly think prep provider choice doesn’t matters that much – study habits and efficacy matter more.
Curious to know if anybody else has similar sentiments about Part 2, or perhaps found it easy?
Mate I found the Part 2 yesterday to be exactly as you described…I did about 180 hours study but feel like I could have done another 200 and it wouldn’t have made a difference. Talk about questions from “left-field”…those questions were like nothing if seen in any of the BT, Schwese or GARP material and practice tests. I’m pretty pissed off at the moment with the test writers, that’s for sure…
There were about at least 20 if not 30 questions that did not appear in the study materials for Part 2. So I agree, anymore revision would not have helped. Its a bit of a shame it then becomes more of a guessing game who gets the answers right or wrong. I think had they taken the difficulty of the exam down a notch the results would be more representative of who knew the material
Hi, I agree with both comments. Gave the FRM Level 2 yesterday. Put in 315 hours. Read every page of the GARP materials. Gave the 2016, 2015, 2014 practice exams. And still came out aghast at the detail and ambiguity of the questions. I think to answer those questions I would have to read the syllabus twice over and pay attention to every sentence ever written. Also, many Q&As were ambiguous. Eg. Can you spell tomorrow? Spell it. - A. Tomorrow B. It.
GARP should make previous exams available for practice. Also their practice exams should reflect the true length and details of the questions.
Hello all,
I took FRM Part 1 yesterday. Below are my observations -
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They closed the exam door at 7:45 AM. Couple of people showed up late and they were not allowed to enter and take the exam. This is unlike CFA.
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I studied around 250-300 hours for FRM part 1. And, i am 50/50 on the possibility of passing the exam.
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I took and passed the CFA level 1 in June 2016. I studied around 600+ hours (conservative counting) for the Level 1 exam and i passed with more than 70% in everything except Portfolio Management.
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I used the GARP books to study along with Bionic Turtle (BT) question set. I also used an online video course for FRM part 1.
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I was not able to finish all of my study material but i finished the online video course on time.
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BT question set is harder than the FRM p1 exam.
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In the exam, i felt that the questions are harder than the CFA level 1. CFA L 1 questions were straight forward. But, FRM questions were not as straight forward.
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I felt that couple of questions did not have the right choice in the answer set.
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Theory questions in the exam were harder than the numerical questions. Theory questions were quite convoluted.
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Below is a question matching the difficulty level for FRM part 1 theoretical question -
What is the opposite of 10 (ten)?
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Net
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01
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1/10
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3
Hope it helps someone out there…
Phil
Look, I went through all of this as a candidate too.
I get it.
I am going to ask Wiley if they will let me post 25 or 50 questions from part I and II so you can see the complexity of questions I write to because I try to mimic this level of complexity on the exam on every page. The GARP practice questions don’t come close.
Agreed. I actually scored the lowest on your mock exam Christian compared to the GARP practice exam and the Schweser ones.
Did Part 2. Agree with previous posts that:
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practice exam was nothing compared to the actual one
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there were quite some ambiguous questions
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compared to CFA questions were less clear and structured.
Hi Christian,
Out of the topic question. I will write FRM level 1 exam in 2017,and I was comparing your notes with Schweser. I found it to be very different especially in terms of options strategy. Why have not you used any graphs in your notes to explain different options and hedging strategy? I heard it is important to understand those graphs.
Hi Christian,
Out of the topic question. I will write FRM level 1 exam in 2017,and I was comparing your notes with Schweser. I found it to be very different especially in terms of options strategy. Why have not you used any graphs in your notes to explain different options and hedging strategy? I heard it is important to understand those graphs.
Hi Christian,
Out of the topic question. I will write FRM level 1 exam in 2017,and I was comparing your notes with Schweser. I found it to be very different especially in terms of options strategy. Why have not you used any graphs in your notes to explain different options and hedging strategy? I heard it is important to understand those graphs.
Hi shobit…I have sent you a PM. please respond. Need help.
Hi shobit, I have sent you a PM. NEED HELP. please reply.
That is by design.
First, you will never be tested on a graph on the exam.
Second, I have crafted the Wiley program to focus on intuition and reason. What are you buying, how much are you paying for it, what is the maximum payoff will tell you more about max gain, max loss, break evens than any chart ever will.
Option charts are archaic and they will never be in the Wiley program because they don’t answer fundamental questions required for intuition and skill building: what do I own and what do I stand to lose? Can you honestly visualize any of those charts and say any of those questions are answered?
You bought a straddle struck at 50? you paid 3 for the call and 2 for the put? Your cost is 5 and on the upside your b/e is 55 and on the downside your b/e is 45.
No Schwesher chart can will ever tell you that and that, fundamentally, is what you need to know.
That is by design.
First, you will never be tested on a graph on the exam.
Second, I have crafted the Wiley program to focus on intuition and reason. What are you buying, how much are you paying for it, what is the maximum payoff will tell you more about max gain, max loss, break evens than any chart ever will.
Option charts are archaic and they will never be in the Wiley program because they don’t answer fundamental questions required for intuition and skill building: what do I own and what do I stand to lose? Can you honestly visualize any of those charts and say any of those questions are answered?
You bought a straddle struck at 50? you paid 3 for the call and 2 for the put? Your cost is 5 and on the upside your b/e is 55 and on the downside your b/e is 45.
No Schwesher chart can will ever tell you that and that, fundamentally, is what you need to know.