I am almost 100% certain of sitting for the FRM Part 1 test this coming November. I recently got a job in the risk management department of an asset management company, and I have a genuine interest in flashing out my career either in risk itself (ops/ent or market) or get in to the buyside as an analyst. I am more certain of the former, and less certain on the latter…and as such between CFA and FRM I have decided to pursue this first, and if I still want to, I can pursue CFA at a slower pace at some point in the future. I’ve been working for half a year and am prepared to earn a certification to put myself ahead of the pack when moving up or looking around for better opportunities in a similar line of work.
Anyways, I did an Actuarial Science bachelors degree that I completed last year. I got a pretty flat CGPA of 3 (out of 4 max), but when looking at the FRM syllabus there are lots of things that I know I have learned before (2-3 years ago). Stuff like pricing options/derivatives, statistics, regression, hypothesis testing, some of the fixed income stuff…I cannot recall them clearly, but I know I have done them before and can do them again. I like the fact that FRM Part I is so heavy on calculations…that’s my favourite!
I have a few key questions I hope esteemed members of this forum can help me answer before I get signed up:
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I have got a full set of 2012 Kaplan Schweser study material (Book 1 - 4) and a almost full set of 2015 Kaplan Schewer material (missing Book 4). Would these suffice to prepare for the exam, or is it imperative that I get the 2017 editions of the books for them to be of any use?
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Frankly speaking, is the Kaplan Schewer study material adequate in preparing for the Part 1 paper? Assuming I can fully grasp the fundamentals and can understand/solve all examples and practice questions, would this single study source be sufficient to pass the paper? Or is it insufficient? I know this can be a bit of a subjective question but I hope you guys can help me out.
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Will my Actuarial Science degree, and also some basic knowledge of the world of investments help me out? For example, in the 2016 or 2017 practice tests I understand how to read/answer the question on the 1 year bond rating matrix. And as mentioned above, from my actuarial science courses I know I did go pretty specific on options pricing and on currency and forward/swaps etc but the knowledge cannot be readily recalled and will probably take a lot of effort either way to re-understand the concepts and formulas. Will all of this help me out?
I’m prepared to put in 2.5 hours daily beginning from the 1st of July. I just need to source my study material by then and am trying to see if I can get hold of anything more recent than 2015. Any comments/pointers/guides will be of great help and will be appreciated.