I was wondering that there are only 50 questions in the GARP practice exam for 2011. I thoght it would be a complete practice exam with 100 questions with the following breakup:
Foundations of Risk Management - 20 questions
Quantitative Analyses - 20 questions
Financila Markets & Products - 30 questions
Valuation & Riak Models - 30 questions
Can anyone explain. Wasn’t it supposed to be a mock exam?
One more thing, are the questions set according to sequence in the real exam or a question from any of the topics may appear abruptly? I mean do they mix the questions in the real exam or not?
I don’t remember how many questions there were on the GARP sample exam for level 1 in November 2010 when I took it. However, you can get more questions by using the Jorion Handbook, joining Bionic Turtle or buying the question bank from Schweser. I recommend that you do as many questions as possible because it will be key to passing level 1. Make sure you know all the formulas and can apply them quickly. On both levels the questions will not be aggregated by study subject. You will have a mix of questions. Good luck!
I know that there are 100 questions for FRM level 1 and we have 4 hours meaning 2.4 minutes per question! The practice exam is not reflective in that perspective of real conditions in terms of number of questions.
Thanks for the response. I have some more questions: 1. Which portion has more weight in the real exam (Quantitative or Qualitative)? 2. If I remember all formulas and apply them correctly, would it be the key to success in Level 1? 3. Practice exams of last 4 years + Q-bank. Do you think that this combo will be the key to success? 4. Difficulty level? (Is real exam harder than practice exams and Q-bank?) Thanks! Amir
More than 75% of the exam will be quantitative. You will basically spend three hours using your calculator. You will need to use two formulas in some questions to get the answer. There may be a number of questions that test the same concept and require the use of the same formula. Do not be surprised if some of the questions will require much more than the 2.4 minutes allocated. Skip those and concentrate on the other questions. There were a dozen questions that would have taken me more than 10 minutes to answer on the Nov 2010 exam due to the many steps involved. I answered some of those at the end and guessed the rest since time was short. The majority of qualitative questions were straight forward with a few tricky questions that required a deeper knowledge. I found the GARP sample exam, Jorion’s Handbook questions, and Bionic Turtle sample questions were at par with the actual level 1 exam. So, if you are scoring on the 70-80% range within the allocated time (2.4 min/Q), you will be in good shape. Keep doing questions and reviewing the areas that give you trouble. Study ethics and the case studies because I found those to be the easiest points on the exam. I bought the Hull and Tuckerman textbooks, which had plenty of practice questions and extensive coverage on the actual exam. Lastly, work on your time management skill, which is important for these types of exams. Good luck!