Hi, Since exam is on Sepember and November, I’m sure that many of you are preparing fot CAIA,FRM exams. I have questions. CAIA -Anybody who finished the exam 1.Course reading that is on CAIA website 2.Kaplan Scheweser 3.UpperMark Which product is best to prepare for both level 1 and 2? FRM 1.Are there big difference between FRM Handbook(Jorion) 4th and 3rd edition? Is handbook really essential? 2.There is V2 core reading package on GARP website which cost $360. Do we have to purchase and read through the material?(Are these really necessary?) 3.Is Schweser study material(Premium solution) really not enough to prepare for the exam? even if you throughly go through more than 3-4times? 4.Any suggestion for how to prepare the exam? I used the search function & read the discussion but there is no good conclusion for exam preparation. I want get some advice from people who finish the exam or preparing the exam. Thanks.!! Best Regards, Steve FMA,CIM
Uppermark is good for CAIA. The pass rate is 70% as of March 2008 for Level 1. If you go through the material 2-3 times and use the question bank you should be fine. Uppermark is also $100 cheaper than Schweser.
is Uppermark BETTER than Schweser?
Uppermark is not cheaper.
cfaboston28 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Uppermark is not cheaper. Check the websites; Schweswer is $600 for the basic package while Uppermark is $500. Is the premium package needed to pass this thing?
you should look at doing the PRM instead/also. much more quant/practical than FRM curriculum.
For CAIA, there are no testimonial in Schweser website compare with Uppermark which have a lot of good testimonials. However, I’m still not sure which book I should study. For FRM, I’m studying this because it is more recognizable than PRM. If you just compare the member number you can find out that FRM is much more recognizable. Especially in Asia, like Hong Kong,Japan,South Korea or China, not many people know about PRM. Anythoughts or experience about preparation of FRM exam?
For FRM, Is it good to go with FRM handbook(interactive CD with sample questions), Practice exam in GARP website and Schweser premium solutions? If we really go through with these materials 4-5 times, aren’t these will be enough to prepare for the exam? Since Core reading package will be reflect in schweser study package because they are publishing study materials around late June and core reading(V2) looks too much. I’m not sure we can memorize whole stuff in core reading package and seems better to master handbook and schweser notes. Please give me any suggestions with these ideas. Thanks.
steve0721 Wrote: > Anythoughts or experience about preparation of FRM > exam? In my experience the exam is pretty hard but passing grade is very low. It’s enough to read through material once and review once.
So just Schweser is good for FRM?
I took Lv.1 a year ago with Schweser and the source material. The 2007 version schweser notes did not explain some of the concepts that well. But they’ve revised it since and came out with a CAIA Qbank, so I don’t know. How is uppermark for CAIA lv.2 compared to Schweser? I’m considering switching course providers in the event I plan on taking lv.2.
rohufish Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > you should look at doing the PRM instead/also. > much more quant/practical than FRM curriculum. Do both! Can’t hurt.
Used Schweser for CAIA (in addition to the text books). Passed in flying colors. Have heard of uppermark, but did not want to take a chance.
I was waiting for the answers and just bought UpperMark suite package( 3 Handbooks,1130 online testbank questions,formula sheet). Gone through 2 handbook so far, handbook materials are really well explained with many examples. However level of difficulty of online testbank questions are looks quite easy. I’m worry about whether test questions will be same level as this and also wonder about how the schweser test bank questions are.
The Schweser CAIA 2008 notes are very well written IMO with good end-of-chapter questions…I haven’t yet tried the QBank though (anyone else not able to access Schweser CAIA 2008 online QBank?).
Have you ever tried kaplan 2007 Schweser CAIA notes? I thought they were a bit lacking in the Quant/Credit derivatives/real estate section for level 1. Did Schweser revamp all their CAIA materials? I’m curious how Kaplan compares with Uppermark for level 2.
btw, did anyone get the uppermark/kaplan flashcards for lv. 2/or level 1? Are they any good?
“Check the websites; Schweser is $600 for the basic package while Uppermark is $500.” Both are $599 for equivalent packages: the $499 Uppermark package doesn’t include flascards, whereas the Schweser one does. Not sure if the Flashcards are worth $100, all I (and I’d imagine most of us) really care is which one has the better study note.
Uppermark charge considerably more for oversea shipping, especially for the Express service (more than twice what Kaplan). In fact Kaplan’s express service is cheaper than Uppermark’s economic. Without much else to go by, I am somewhat leaning toward Schweser at the moment. The one thing that I would miss from Uppermark would be the formula sheet. @sternwolf: Were you able to verify whether Uppermark did a better job at explaining the areas you thought weren’t done very well in Schweser? @bostonkev: Could you please let us know how many questions is in the Q-Bank once it works? Thanks. One thing I can’t seem to find in the Uppermark website, is an Errata section. Did I miss it, or do they solely make mistakes?
sternwolf Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > btw, did anyone get the uppermark/kaplan > flashcards for lv. 2/or level 1? Are they any > good? Flashcards for Schweser CAIA L1 are “very” good. Of course you do lose the detailed writing, graphs, and calculations…but everything else is there pretty much. They are pretty much the two volumes worth in flashcard form.