Course Vital Source Transition

[RenanPN]

Notes from Nicole:

• Access Issues: If you have issues accessing materials in Vital Source, please contact our support team. If you have not received a response to your email, please make sure to check your spam folder.
• Offline Access: See the Vital Source website for instructions on how to access your materials offline.
• Printing/Downloading is not available. We transitioned to Vital Source to secure our study materials, as there were too many people selling and sharing our materials.

Hi! Do we still get to download the study notes and practice questions? I do not see this option in VitalSource - also, will I still have access to the materials in VitalSource once the subscription ends?

Thank you,

Renan

 

[Nicole Seaman]

Hi! Do we still get to download the study notes and practice questions? I do not see this option in VitalSource - also, will I still have access to the materials in VitalSource once the subscription ends?

Thank you,

Renan

@RenanPN We transitioned to Vital Sources, as it is a more secure platform so our materials can no longer be downloaded. Once your subscription ends, you will still have access to your materials in Vital Source, however, you will not have access to any new or updated materials after your subscription expires.

 

[Aaron1616]

Hello! I am new around (FRM part 1) and i was just getting used to the platform here before the recent switch to VitalSource. I understand the material cannot be downloaded anymore but is there a way to at least print the study notes ? I do not see that option on VitalSource.

Previously with the PDF files we could scroll down or back up through the notes very easily. With VitalSource it's very zoomed in and you have to select the pages 1 by 1. I see the advantages but i just wanted to point out these practical issues that might be small but over a very large material to go through it still matters to some extent.

 

[tdani3656]

Hi

@RenanPN We transitioned to Vital Sources, as it is a more secure platform so our materials can no longer be downloaded. Once your subscription ends, you will still have access to your materials in Vital Source, however, you will not have access to any new or updated materials after your subscription expires.

Hi Nicole,

I find the physical copies more useful for me as I am able to read & do the practice papers offline (just a pen, highlighter & calculator was all I needed)

And once I am done with the topic, questions I need to ask I just post.

As for the new system, problems has started to surface for me:

-I have limited access to internet and computer whenever I travel to places hence I always print physical copies and will only watch the instructional videos back when i am home
-It would take me a lot of time to try to work around all these hassles (finding places that have internet and power point, making sure my paper computer doesn't hang, and any other technical problems which may arise) which in turn builds up a lot frustration

As my schedule is very tight and I move from places to places, I really need to be able to use the physical copies else I would foresee a huge impact to my studies.

Please kindly advise.

Thank You,

Yours Sincerely
Daniel

 

[bagelcoffee]

Hi team,

I personally found Vital Source very hard to use: I cannot quickly scroll down on their web page to see the notes/questions. Instead, I have to use the right arrow - it takes seconds for a page to load and have to do it page by page. More importantly, not everyone has a stable Internet connection all the time.

It's also stated that this transition will learning more interactive but it's clearly not the case for me. For checking answers to practice questions, I was able to print questions and after finishing the exercise, I could check the answer in the local PDF reader directly. Now I will need to write down my answer (or alternatively students can take 5 secs to add annotation, which can be a wrong ans), navigate to ans sheet, go back to earlier pages, and correct my ans. In this aspect, this is not interactive at all. I suggest BT consolidate its own question bank and create nteractive CBT system (similar to the actual test one).

Understanding this will help to protect IP and security but just want to say that it makes my preparation much less efficient. Thank you.

 

[Moh]

hi @Nicole Seaman,

The new update of BT prevents printing of notes and practical questions, and this makes the study: more complicated, time consuming, and increase eye fatigue than before,please help us with this issue.

 

[Nicole Seaman]

hi @Nicole Seaman,

The new update of BT prevents printing of notes and practical questions, and this makes the study: more complicated, time consuming, and increase eye fatigue than before,please help us with this issue.

Hello @Moh We transitioned to Vital Source to secure our study materials, as there were too many people selling and sharing our downloaded materials. There is nothing that we can do to change this since we have made the decision to transition to this platform. If you are having issues with access, please contact our support team. Thank you.

 

[David Notter]

Hi

I have a question regarding the new e-reader. As far as I can tell there is no way to get the study sheet chapters as pdf in order to print them? I just ask as I'm used to studying with paper, rather than with an e-reader.
Is there any way to print the chapters?

Thanks a lot in advance

Best regards
David

 

[Nicole Seaman]

Hi

I have a question regarding the new e-reader. As far as I can tell there is no way to get the study sheet chapters as pdf in order to print them? I just ask as I'm used to studying with paper, rather than with an e-reader.
Is there any way to print the chapters?

Thanks a lot in advance

Best regards
David

Hello @DNott0464 Unfortunately, the PDFs are not able to be downloaded or printed in Vital Source.

 

[David Notter]

Hello @DNott0464 Unfortunately, the PDFs are not able to be downloaded or printed in Vital Source.

Hi
Thanks for your quick reply. Can you please check and figure out a way how I can print the chapters as I wasn't made aware before purchasing the bionic frm II package that it will only be available as an e-reader. A colleague of mine has the same question, so I suppose I'm not the only one with this issue.

Thanks a lot and kind regards
David

 

[Nicole Seaman]

Hi
Thanks for your quick reply. Can you please check and figure out a way how I can print the chapters as I wasn't made aware before purchasing the bionic frm II package that it will only be available as an e-reader. A colleague of mine has the same question, so I suppose I'm not the only one with this issue.

Thanks a lot and kind regards
David

Hello @DNott0464 Unfortunately, there is no option to print our ebooks from Vital Source at this time.

 

[Sahil1999]

Hi all,

I have been reading the forum on everyone's view on the VitalSource transition. Let me put out some facts here, because I'm familiar with the problem of plagiarising BT material on the ground level and have spoken to Nicole on the same multiple times.

In my country, when the notes were downloadable, local book store resellers would buy the subscription to print and sell them to students. The notes would go for 2000 INR ($25) and the PQ's would be available for 2500 INR ($31). Well I know for a fact that FRM is most popular in India and China and I'm pretty sure that these resellers have made at least a couple of million (around 1.5 million INR - ON THE LOWER SIDE). I know multiple FRM instructors who are not approved by GARP but provide their students BT questions as a part of their own study package, and these instructors are extremely popular in India, charging in a range of INR 15K-30K and including the BT questions as a part of their teaching service. These non-approved prep providers get about 350-400 students every year on an average. Well, we can do the math on the revenues that they are making by providing their video lessons and giving the students BT questions for practice.

I could have easily gone out and bought the pirated version of BT for $25 but I chose not to because of the sheer respect that I have for David's intellect. I chose to pay the subscription amount of $350 while I was making around $550/ month as a fresher on my job. Did that because I did not want to disrespect David's hard work.

BUT NOW WHAT I'M GOING TO TELL IS MORE IMPORTANT: The VitalSource transition will NOT solve the problem of plagiarism and I'll tell you why. GARP also transitioned to VitalSource and we can now only view the books on the VitalSource App / website. But, still the printed versions of GARP's Official books is also available here at a local reseller for $25. They simply take screenshots of each and every page to print the entire book and then sell it.

I'm comfortable with VitalSource as well personally. I prefer to read while I make my own notes. So, I'm truly indifferent but also sympathetic for the people who have been affected by the transition.

Maybe a better solution to this is to only allow BT subscription for registered FRM candidates.

Just felt like putting out what I know about BT plagiarism here on the forum, so that everyone can get some context about the intention.



Regards,
Sahil

 

[David Harper CFA FRM]

Hi @Aaron1616, @tdani3656, @bagelcoffee, @Moh, @MFole8227, Daniel (@tdani3656), @Manisangsu, @David Notter , @LCosi6229, @Sahil1999, and @cy123

(copy @JVera3537, @shubhamyadav, @RSHIV2781, @ethanyc and, and recently @SBash5958 who I realize have specific action items that in some cases hopefully have already been resolved, or in other cases, need to get resolved).

I appreciate the thoughtful comments above. First, let me admit that I did not give sufficient thought to the already-purchased members who have been involuntarily transitioned from naked PDFs to VitalSource. The reason is simple: I already use VS for our Money Education and GARP's FRM source reading assignments (and for my CFA book references). As a consumer of GARP's FRM VS format, I am not inconvenienced. I like the VS product. I go back and forth between PDFs and VS with ease; for me, they each have advantages. I apologize I didn't anticipate some of the transition issues above, that's on me. You feedback has taught us an invaluable lesson. Giving you advanced notice with information about our enhancements is critical. Thank you for that!

At the same time, we are not reverting back to naked PDFs. Recently conducted research indicates that we have lost more in sales to stolen PDFs than we sold to good customers (multiples more in fact. Think decimation). That's on me, too, because the cumulative opportunity cost of all that piracy is tremendous. To see the quantified estimates was personally devastating. I've spent years fighting with pirates, and many of them are utterly shameless while at the same time innovative in their theft. A business needs sales to continue, and it needs profits to reinvest. Nicole and I have always been deeply grateful for the good customer who paid for the product. We are confident the vast majority of our customers will understand our need to protect our intellectual property.

Sahil makes a great point that VS is an imperfect solution to piracy. Agreed. Eventually (sooner rather than later) the product will transition to a state-of-the-art LMS. CeriFi, our parent company, has already started to deploy this LMS in the market at our sibling companies and the feedback is tremendous. This LMS is our ultimate destination and I'm confident it will be the home "we've always been looking for." For example, finally the practice questions will be delivered interactively.

In the meantime, please support VS as the current platform. I reject the statement above that VS is subpar (nor does it require continuous internet, give me a break on that one, please). As mentioned, I use it for three product sets myself. VitalSource eBooks are used by universities, corporations, and regulatory bodies like GARP all over the world. It is not a second-class solution, it appears to be a world-class product; e.g., see https://www.vitalsource.com/testimonials.

We do have some more help coming, in terms of features and support/instruction on utilizing the VS platform. But my audience knows I'm not a salesperson, so I won't spin the motivation: the piracy was absolutely killing us, and I'm so relieved we are finally going to protect the IP that we've spent the last 15+ years building. (At the same time, it's also true that VS has cool features, some of which I haven't availed myself).

But, okay, regarding the handful who previously purchased and still won't be satisfied by our upcoming communications: if you have not already, please contact support@bionicturtle.com to arrange a time to discuss this transition in more detail. In the last nine years that Nicole and I have worked together, we've taken every single unhappy customer seriously and sincerely. I can't recall the last time we let somebody leave us unhappy! Let's connect and figure out something that works for you.

Thank you, David H.

 

[Jdiezn]

Hi @David Harper CFA FRM @Nicole Seaman ,

Thanks for your Job and I understand your point of view in the transition to VS (but I also prefer to have a printable option). I have one question related with the update dynamic. I take some notes in the book but, and in the case that you update one book, Will I lose all my notes? I have some fear with that (I’ve invested a lot of hours in that and I don’t have a backup of this)

Thanks!

Regards,
Jorge

 

[TWong8032]

I will try my best in vital source.

 

[MZHAO0430]

Hi thanks for notice. Still want to know whether I can get PDF version of notes cause it is so difficult to take note and greatly impact my learning efficiency

 

[AKurk2639]

Alternative opinion here: I purchased my study package just recently and was a bit terrified after reading all these forum messages on "how horrible Vital Source reader is".

However, after trying it myself, I can confirm that the app actually made an excellent impression (I used it on my ipad): it has offline function, it works smothly, you can make hand-written (with your apple pencil) and typed notes, use search function and create index cards.

As a new tool, it probably still requires some time to get used to, but in general the app is quite a good solution for ipad stype learners like me.

P.s. As far as I know, another FRM preparation company uses Vital Source for their ebooks as well, so it seems to be a new kind of a copy-write protected standard in the field.

 

[RBros9071]

Hi Nicole, how do I print materials from Vital Source in a good quality? I can live with the watermark but whenever I try to print the page it looks blurred.

I dont really want to stare in the screen all the time I am studying, is there a way to print it in a higher quality?

 

[coffee_achiever]

I spend so much time in front of a computer, I loathe reading from a screen.

Looks like we're essentially not allowed to print out the book FRM Part 1: Foundations of Risk Management from https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com. I understand why, but it's SO inconvenient. We spend our lives reading endless text on a monitor, it just sucks to read 300 pages without respite. Even just printing 10 pages here and there so I can read before falling asleep without taking electronics to bed with me would be nice.

The website essentially doesn't allow printing. They say they allow 5 pages, which is a lie: they only allow 4, and when you DO print it, it only prints one side of a page (the back side is wasted space) and there's a HUGE watermark that makes reading unenjoyable.

I know I'm not going to convince anyone to change company policy, but I just wanted my voice to be heard. For the "premium" subscribers it would be nice to have printing rights for the extra cost of the subscription.

I wouldn't even mind paying for a printed copy of the book on top of the $900. I don't suppose a physical copy is available for purchase?