2014 FRM Publishing Calendar

[David Harper CFA FRM]

HI @AnuragSeth Good observation

• Yes, with respect to the Study Guide, Elton Chapters 5, 13, and 14 (from 2013 and prior) have been reduced to Elton Chapter 13 in 2014;
• We are in the process of updating this reading section, at the moment, but I am going to retain Chapter 5; the Note reflects our desired state: Study Notes: Elton & Gruber, Chapter 13 (A. 5); i.e., we retain Chapter 5 but as an Appendix to maintain consistency with Study Guide.

However, I'm definitely retaining Chapter 5 and, for example the highly relevant questions related to portfolio variance (P1.T1.57 portfolio return and volatility). Those are clearly important setup and highly testable. It's more accurate to say that dropping Chapter 5 is a bit of a mistake as without this Chapter 5 the mean-variance framework is not comprehensively introduced.

So, I'm highly confident that it's wrong to infer portfolio return and volatility questions aren't relevant just because Chapter 5 was dropped, I hope that helps,

 

[ahir.bharat2014]

Hi,
I just came across the changes guide by GARP. It can be accessed at the following link: http://www.garp.org/media/1216435/frm_study_guide_changes_2014-web.pdf

 

[Ekin4112]

Hi, I would like to know would there be any notes on the "Understanding and Communicating Risk Appetite" reading? The calendar indicates that it would up on the last week of January or am I misunderstood it?

 

[David Harper CFA FRM]

Hi @Ekin4112 The calendar is just an approximate target (I'm also writing totally new practice questions at the same time!). We're publishing new R4 (Amenc notes today) and R5 (Understanding and Communicating Risk ... ) this week.

 

[Ekin4112]

Thanks for the quick reply!

 

[ahir.bharat2014]

Hi,
I cannot download the excel. It seems to be corrupted. Could you please check

 

[Nicole Seaman]

Hi,
I cannot download the excel. It seems to be corrupted. Could you please check

@ahir.bharat2014
I apologize that you are unable to download the excel file. I just checked to make sure the file is not corrupt and was able to download and view the spreadsheet with no issues. Can you tell me if there is a specific error you are getting when trying to download the file?

 

[frm_risk]

Just out of curiosity, is it possible to "subscribe" to some mailing list or get email updates when new study material is posted? I was wondering if such a feature already exists that I don't know of. If there is no such feature, no worries. Thanks.

 

[David Harper CFA FRM]

Hi @frm_risk we don't have that feature, however it is already on our list of developer tickets for our developer. It's been requested, and it actually would make our life easier, so personally I cannot wait to add it To be candid, we have prioritized some bugs associated with the new site launch (e.g., this forum needs an update, is manifesting some post issues). Thank you for the suggestion!

 

[frm_risk]

@David Harper CFA FRM CIPM : Completely understand. I just wanted to ensure that I am not missing out on something just because I don't know how to set it up. Btw, working in the '(financial) software' industry, I totally understand that the developer must surely have many open tickets to worry about

 

[AnuragSeth]

Hi David

Is the EMH (Efficient Market Hypothesis) part of this year curriculum?
Anurag

 

[Nicole Seaman]

@AnuragSeth

I have looked through the 2014 GARP curriculum and was not able to find anything about the Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH) for this year. After looking at our AIM analysis, it looks like the reading on EMH was discontinued in 2011. If I find that there is anything on the EMH for this year, I will be sure to let you know.

Thank you,

Nicole Manley

 

[David Harper CFA FRM]

That's a helpful observation @Nicole M about the EMH: I agree. In terms of formal AIMs, EMH was discontinued (before that, it was on the syllabus going back almost to the beginning). But EMH in fact never lent itself to diverse examination; in practice, there are a limited number of questions that can be asked in multiple-item format, directly of EMH, it seems, but I do think it's quite possible that EMH "died formally" (to the exam) after the financial crisis, in favor of continued focus on the CAPM assumptions. CAPM assumptions are "alive" in the current exam. I do think EHM makes an indirect appearance (as an implicit assumption) in several concepts. Thanks,

 

[b679878]

Instead of just having a 'New' banner that deletes at a certain point - it would be helpful if the Study Planner included a last reviewed or uploaded date. Then each user could asses if it is new to them.

Expected review date would also be handy on the Study Planner, instead of a seperate excel file

 

[ahir.bharat2014]

Or you could have a column or list for all the notes publishes / updated so far an keep adding to the list. I am personally finding it difficult to study as the notes are available past the target dates so I cannot keep a track of what readings could be done and what readings are to be updated.

 

[masterwu2014]

Or you could have a column or list for all the notes publishes / updated so far an keep adding to the list. I am personally finding it difficult to study as the notes are available past the target dates so I cannot keep a track of what readings could be done and what readings are to be updated.

 

[masterwu2014]

i think i might have to agree with this post to a certain degree david; you see, i am printing out all of the study notes, problem sets, etc. And even though i am getting a tablet to help me sort out all of the bulk data in this material, i am having difficulty in printing out a study note (for example miller by itself in topic 2 is over 80+ pages) just to have to reprint it if the material gets revised/updated. So basically it would help out quite a bit if we could have some sort of better system or know before hand possibly which documents are going to be revised/new.

i know you are prob. swamped with quite a bit of work o do, but if you could possibly have nicole or someone else setup some kind of better system for us it would be really a lot more helpful for us as well. thanks in advance.

-masterwu2014.

 

[David Harper CFA FRM]

Hi @masterwu2014 I was just chatting with @Nicole M and we agree with you (we certainly see the value). The calendar doesn't work for me either because it's stressful; e.g., I'm ahead on PQ but behind on notes, such that my pacing is irregular. (this is always a more acute problem Jan to March, than the rest of the year). Nicole and I have two solutions:

1. Short-term fix: she is going to include in the summary (associated with the entry) an "Updated Date" (Says Nicole: "I already have to type out the summary for each item I publish. It wouldn't be difficult for me to add in an 'updated date' sentence at the beginning or end of the summary. It would be on the first page so they would see it right when they click on the item.")
2. Long-term fix: we think we can add two date fields to the outer Study Planner view (i.e., rather than on the item page for maximum view convenience):
   
   Updated on DD/MM/YY and
   Next Revision Expected: DD/MM/YY (in many cases this will be EMPTY as an update is not on the horizon). Lack of an entry here will signify not imminent revision is planned.
   
   But, from the outer study planner, I would think this approach actually beats any calendar and would provide the necessary information? What do you think?

 

[masterwu2014]

Hi @masterwu2014 I was just chatting with @Nicole M and we agree with you (we certainly see the value). The calendar doesn't work for me either because it's stressful; e.g., I'm ahead on PQ but behind on notes, such that my pacing is irregular. (this is always a more acute problem Jan to March, than the rest of the year). Nicole and I have two solutions:

1. Short-term fix: she is going to include in the summary (associated with the entry) an "Updated Date" (Says Nicole: "I already have to type out the summary for each item I publish. It wouldn't be difficult for me to add in an 'updated date' sentence at the beginning or end of the summary. It would be on the first page so they would see it right when they click on the item.")
2. Long-term fix: we think we can add two date fields to the outer Study Planner view (i.e., rather than on the item page for maximum view convenience):
   
   Updated on DD/MM/YY and
   Next Revision Expected: DD/MM/YY (in many cases this will be EMPTY as an update is not on the horizon). Lack of an entry here will signify not imminent revision is planned.
   
   But, from the outer study planner, I would think this approach actually beats any calendar and would provide the necessary information? What do you think?

Agreed i this might work best for all parties involved.

-masterwu2014.

 

[Nicole Seaman]

@masterwu2014,

You will notice that on the materials that have been updated for 2014, there is now a date in the title showing when it was updated. As David noted before, we will look into a more long-term fix for this, but I think that this will be a good start to helping users to differentiate between the old and new materials right now. Thank you for your input on this. It is always helpful to get ideas from our users.