2016 FRM Part I Preparation - Exam Prep Providers

FRM
#1

Hi All,

I am seriously contemplating completing FRM Part 1 exam in May 2016, but I am a bit hesitant because I understand that the exam and the program in itself is quite challenging.

From my research it seems as though the exam is very quantitative in nature hence my hesitancy to register for the program…I am not a “quanty” person. While I’ve attained a master’s degree specializing in finance, the finance aspect of my degree had a good balance between being qualitative and quantitative and was very broad based. Due to it being a bit expansive, I feel as though completing the FRM program would further enhance my skill set.

In completing my MSc I would have touched on some of these elements before. I’ve done some quantitative analysis (regression, Kurtosis, Chi-Square analysis, etc), Hedging Strategies and you know the basic finance stuff like WACC and CAPM. However learning these concepts was never that easy and it’s been awhile.

So…where does that leave me? I’d like to purchase the FRM GARP texts but I believe or at least I’d feel more confident in using third party material to prepare form the exam. I think instructional videos will assist me greatly in learning the quantitative aspects of the program. It would be an added cost but I think it may be necessary if I really want to pass the exam. In light of that I’ve been struggling to determine who has the best material to prepare for the exam.

In my research it seems as though most people prefer Bionic Turtle over Schweser, due to the level of difficulty of the practice sessions. However while I appreciate the importance of practice exams…I need to learn the concepts first. I was leaning towards BT due to the rave reviews in terms of preference but I found that the sample material seemed a bit sparse, the sample videos on YouTube didn’t seem too bad, but the availability of the material was my main concern. Whereas Schweser seemed to be extremely structured with the online 3 hour sessions being the most attractive to me.

Recently I also came across Christian Cooper’s - Wiley FRM Exam Study Course. It seems very attractive and I loved the sample video I’ve seen thus far on YouTube. But I haven’t heard much people talking about Wiley. What are the Pros and Cons…and who is the better option?

I’m trying to be as cost efficient as possible, and after paying for registration and the exam, as well as purchasing the GARP books, purchasing the third party material will be bit of a stretch. But I really need the instructional videos and practice exams to really push through and pass the exam.

#2

We’ll both David Harper of Bionic Turtle and Christian Cooper are members of this forum so perhaps send the a quick message with specific questions…

#3

After just passing Part 1 in November with 1,1,1,1, here are my 2c. I had Schweser and BT.

I did all of Schweser books and practice exams (no videos) and thought it very accurately reflected the level of difficulty of the actual exam. The actual exam turned out to be more fact testing than quantitative. If you know 90% of Schweser you’re more than ready for the exam (Nov 2015 Part 1 at least, assuming it is representative of future exam difficulty). This is the option I’d recommend for anybody looking to comfortably pass.

From BT, I did a handful of practice questions, struggled with the formatting (looks like they were typed on a word doc), explanations (not very clear), and decided that BT isn’t all that helpful if you really are aiming to just pass the exam. The level of difficulty of BT could not possibly be representative of the exam – on a bell curve you’d probably be at the far far right of FRM test-takers if you consistently score 80% on BT exams. I think BT is great if you want a challenge and really want to know the material, but it’s overkill for the exam. Their best aspect is quantity of questions, but the questions are mostly too challenging for the exam. I also liked their formula sheets as I thought they were a great 150-200 page summary of the entire curriculum.