How many hrs?

How many hours are people putting in for the FRM? Thought about doing it to keep busy. but after finishing off the CFA… not sure. It’s $$$ plus Keyword “FRM” in Monster doesn’t yield much.

I’d like to target around 200 hours total, but I’ve put in just a few so far. I’m hoping that’ll be enough - I’ve studied many of the topics before through actuarial exams, and I’m hoping I haven’t forgotten it all.

60-80 hrs, and who cares if you are a FRM or not… ppl will just go “Wat da fuk is FRM?” its not like CFA most ppl know what it is…

Actually no average person knows what either of them are. In fact both the CEO and CFO both looked at me confused when I told them I was studying. This scenario has happened to me about 100 times for both the CFA and the FRM: "Hey Lance do you want to [Drink / Hang out / Go to a movie / insert anything awesome] “Can’t I’m studying for the [CFA / FRM]” "Oh what’s that, the 1.) Certified financial associate? 2.) Financial Rain Man? 3.) Certified financial accountant? 4.) Real Estate? 5.) Accounting? 6.) Is that like series 7? no, no, no, no, no, and no One time my boss said: “CFA, that’s like the FRM right?”. Classic.

Funny, I was interviewing at a financial restructuring shop the other day and the MD asked what I was doing in my spare time and when I told him Im studying for the FRM, he looked at the SVP and said…he is going to be a Football Roster Manager and I cracked laughing…everyone had a good laugh after a long interview…was a light moment.

If people don’t know what the FRM… does it discourage you guys from paying the $$$ or doing it?

No. 1) It will probably become more popular over time, as the CFA obviously has, especially given the financial crisis. 2) Given a few job candidates, one with a designation specifically for managing risk will probably stand out. 3) You’d hope someone doing the hiring at a firm would either have enough experience to know what it was, or would at least do his own research after the fact. The willingness to work a 9-10 hour day and then study for 2-4 a day on top of that for months at a time has to be quite rare. Your efforts can only go unnoticed for so long. Also, I was mainly referring to your average person, or someone not in the industry.

I’m putting in about 235 hours for the FRM. I passed CFA L3 this summer so I’m used to lots of studying. GARP suggests 300-400 hours but that’s total BS, especially if you have studied CFA or something similar, FRM seems easier than CFA too.

I put a lot less hours (maybe 150 hours?), still going out for drinks, beach, etc. I’ve got the actuarial background and passed CFA L3 last year. So I am comfortable with the formulae. One of my colleagues who is a qualified actuary, she claimed to spend only 1 day before the exam and cracked it. But I still found the Handbook sometimes confusing or occasionally incorrect information. Now struggle between the Schweser notes and the Handbook, which one I should go for?

Go for the Schweser notes, they’re much more straightforward.

It is official - project due Nov 1 OT everyday - I cannot start studying until Nov 2… given i have a solid background in stats / math and CFA… I think i have no problem in this… i need to download the qbank tho… where can i find it?