New to the site. Just passed CFA Level II. I won’t start studying for Level III until early next year so i thought i will tackle FRM Level 1 for the next three months (no not seeking a dose of alphabet soup…i do want to become a risk analyst!).
Any suggestions what the best training provider/study material is for Level 1?
I’m reading differing opinions on here - some suggest official GARP books, others mention kaplan schweser, bionic turtle etc.
I used CFAI books for CFA I and II which was enough…would reading the GARP books get me through for FRM?
I used Kaplan Schweser for Part 1 and passed. Your knowledge from CFA L1/L2 is going to go a long way for you.
The problem with Schweser is the practice questions are not hard enough, so you may want to use Bionic Turtle for practice questions. It does bring the cost up substantially, but it will drastically improve your changes of passing.
Hi, hands up! I also passed CFA Level II this Jun, but will sit Level III next year, now for FRM Part I this Nov.
I have almost finished reading the first 2 books of Schweser notes, the key concepts required for the exam are presented in a very succinct way, but it may be a bit difficult to comprehend if you don’t have enough quantitative background, e.g. the statistics part in Quantitative method. But of course, past exam-takers’ experience was that, the actual exam will test them far LESS calculations as everyone expected, so I think it’s enough to read Schweser for understanding.
I think it is a great to be pursuing the “alphabet soup” (as everyone seems to call multiple letters after a name)
I earned my FRM and really enjoyed the experience. I am just starting the CFA process now…and I want as many letters after my name as I can earn and that I find valuable. (CERA, ASA, FSA are others that I might pursue later - if only for the challenge).
I cannot recommend Bionic Turtle enough. My name is throughout that forum too as I was very active there - please feel free tor each out if I can assist with your prep.
I’m a CAIA charterholder and CFA Level 2 candidate. Decided to pursue the FRM since the material interested me. I’ve put in at least a solid 100/150 hours of studying to this point. I bought Schweser for my studies, in addition I have used Schweser for both the CFA and CAIA. Out of the 3, Schweser is by far weakest for the FRM. I used other materials besides Schweser for CFA and CAIA studies, but if I had only used Schweser I would still feel somewhat confident going into the exam. I don’t feel that is the case for FRM. It does have some merit and is a good summary, but is not comprehensive or difficult enough IMO. As people have stated, you can pass the exam just using Schweser, but I feel like you are playing with fire if that is the route you are going to choose and at best will fall somewhere slightly above the minimum passing score. (I’m generalizing, obviously people have different backgrounds).
In terms of Bionic Turtle, I have a love hate relationship with it. David is great and the content and questions are challenging and have definitely increased my knowledge. After taking 1 mock exam from FRM, the questions from Bionic Turtle were much more representative of what I saw in the mock. As for my frustration with Bionic Turtle, I can usually follow the questions and answers just fine, but the formatting drives me insane. Maybe it is just me, but it has begun to wear on me. Don’t get me wrong, overall I feel BT is a must have, but that would be my only gripe.
That is an interesting take and I tend to agree. The formatting of the BT materials can sometimes impede those of us that want to be most efficient. That being said, I believe it to be the only prep provider that is genuinely interested in your success with the FRM and, incidentally, Schweser was absolute garbage when I prepared for the FRM. The BT forum is unparalleled in terms of value and convenience.
I am sitting for both FRM ( November) and CFA level 1 ( December) exam . I read all your comments . It’s help a lot. But I want to ask, if please you could help Sharing your past soft FRM Materials. I have a very limited budget
i am in the same boat - passed level 2 few days back and registered for the Nov FRM exam. My observations are quite similar too. Kaplan questions behind the chapter are not representative. BT questions are great but i struggle with the format and sometimes the notations too. Quite frankly there aren’t much more options available too.
GARP has its own questions in the website , which i think is very good for practice.
Kaplan has a separate question bank, which could also be good material for practice.
Overall i think a combination of Kaplan and BT (and GARP readings) is the right strategy. Certain aspects that require depth of understanding (like derivs,int rates, BSM, VAR and models, CAPM/CML/SML) need to be supplemented with BT questions, maybe even the original J Hull questions
Sorry for late response. Yes that’s all they got really, don’t think it’s in a printable format. More like online practice. I have however been told that these are much like past questions
Newbie here. Passed the CFA, relied heavily on EOCs and Blue Boxes. Does GARP offer the same question depth in their textbooks, or is third party a must for level 1?
GARP readings are selection of curated readings from different books - which they consolidate in their text books as official reading material. Expect no blue boxes (not like its organized in CFA) and no EOC either. GARP website has some questions and a sample paper for practise - but it is nothing like CFA system.
My personal view is that 3rd party prep provider is necessary. BT and KS are some of the popular choices.
Bionic Turtle is pretty good compared to other providers especially for FRM Part 2. Personally I would prefer BT. Just stick to GARP official books and solve BT questions sets, GARP practice exams and BT mocks for practice. That will be sufficient.
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