Completely Lost in Quant

[James M K]

Hello,

I am sure this has been addressed before but I have searched everywhere and really couldnt find the exact answer I am looking for.

I just started the Quant book, from GARP, and by page 20 I am already pretty lost. I understand the basic concepts covered up to that point (probability, basic stats) but do not feel comfortable with the material given I am a bit rusty at quant and GARP books provide very little explaining in terms of the formulas and numbers, which is my biggest concern.

I have seen a lot of people say that you don't have to be an expert at Quant to pass, a basic understanding of addition/subtraction/multiplication can get you through it. I find that VERY hard to believe. I am completely lost and would sincerely appreciate any help on this- recommending another study material provider (Bionic Turtle or Kaplan) , any YouTube videos, or additional resources are greatly appreciated.

Also, I assume you need to remember SOME formulas for the exam but what is the level of detail they will ask in the FRM ? Is it in the formulaic language in the GARP books?

 

[ShaktiRathore]

Hi,
I have personally studied the Bionic material and its worth the investment.
please also see:
https://forum.bionicturtle.com/threads/frm-exam-and-study-summary.7880/
https://forum.bionicturtle.com/thre...cturtle-notes-and-garp-books.6106/#post-19165
thanks

 

[Nicole Seaman]

Hello,

To add to ShaktiRathore's comments above, I also suggest that you visit this forum thread where others have shared their study guides to help new FRM candidates in creating their own study plan: https://forum.bionicturtle.com/threads/bionic-turtle-study-plan-guide.8670/#post-36255. Also, our testimonials page would help to shed some light on how our subscribers feel that Bionic Turtle helped them in passing the FRM exam. All of our testimonials originate in the forum, and are posted by members who have purchased our materials. I hope this helps!

Nicole

 

[James M K]

Appreciate the replies, those links are helpful. I am becoming more and more hopeless here and am starting to realize I need to completely re-learn calculus. . .Im not sure purchasing BT or Kaplan would help with that. Am I right to assume this? For example, I am struggling with the simple integration involved in basic PDFs. I only assume it goes downhill from here. Please any recommendations here

 

[brian.field]

The is a minimum level of "mathematics", including an even more basic understanding of calculus, required for the exam. I don't the exam would ever actual test one's ability to integrate though - that would probably be too easy of a question. That being said, I think you are getting a bit too concerned with the quant. Quant is 25% of the exam and so, there is a lot other than quant. Moreover, much of the quant is completely unrelated to any "calculus", so I would keep moving ahead with the material. I would also add that re-learning calculus is like committing to learn a language.....it just isn't a reasonable thing to commit to within a short period of time in my mind. What do you mean by relearning calculus? Differentiation? Integration? Single variable? Multi-variable? Stochastic? Calculus of Variations? etc.

 

[Mkaim]

Hello,

I am sure this has been addressed before but I have searched everywhere and really couldnt find the exact answer I am looking for.

I just started the Quant book, from GARP, and by page 20 I am already pretty lost. I understand the basic concepts covered up to that point (probability, basic stats) but do not feel comfortable with the material given I am a bit rusty at quant and GARP books provide very little explaining in terms of the formulas and numbers, which is my biggest concern.

I have seen a lot of people say that you don't have to be an expert at Quant to pass, a basic understanding of addition/subtraction/multiplication can get you through it. I find that VERY hard to believe. I am completely lost and would sincerely appreciate any help on this- recommending another study material provider (Bionic Turtle or Kaplan) , any YouTube videos, or additional resources are greatly appreciated.

Also, I assume you need to remember SOME formulas for the exam but what is the level of detail they will ask in the FRM ? Is it in the formulaic language in the GARP books?

How you're feeling right now is EXACTLY how I felt when I was reviewing the quant material. I ended up spending a month on half of quant and soon realized I was screwing myself over by doing that. As @brian.field mentioned, it's 25% of the exam, and if you can understand even 50% of it and have a good understanding of other materials that are less quant heavy you'll be in a good place. No one is going to test you on calculus, but you need to have a good understanding of the bigger picture.

Here was my process for studying:
1) Go over the GARP book quickly - Chances are it's going to sound like a foreign language in the beginning, but it gives you the insight nothing else does. If you don't understand something then don't waste time and keep it moving.
2) Go over the BT Notes - If you don't understand something then don't waste time and keep it moving.
3) Watch the BT summary videos - If you still don't understand, then search the topic on the BT home screen to see if others have asked the same question. If you still don't get it, look for additional BT videos on their youtube channel.
4) Do the problems - I must say that I didn't do all the problems in quant and maybe did 50% as there are a lot of problems on the subject. Do as many as you can.
5) Use the forum to ask questions that haven't already been discussed, or if you need additional clarity.

You need to commit yourself to covering the material and don't jump to conclusions regarding pass/fail unless you've been over all the material. Given your comfort level, you should cover all the material by the end of September, this should give you enough time to go over difficult concepts again and do practice problems (exams etc...) for a month before the exam.

 

[brian.field]

This is a perfect example of why the forum is so valuable - @Mkaim 's advice is spot on. In fact, I would recommend reading the entire curriculum numerous times if necessary.....I needed to do so for both parts....and I am still not sure if I will pass part 2.

Here is wishing for the best (for you and for the rest of us!)

Brian

 

[James M K]

Thanks again for all the help. Reassuring that you were in similar spot @Mkaim

Will definitely be using the forum throughout my studying. If anyone has any other tips that will help me learn the stats skills needed for the FRM, would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Mkaim]

Thanks again for all the help. Reassuring that you were in similar spot @Mkaim

Will definitely be using the forum throughout my studying. If anyone has any other tips that will help me learn the stats skills needed for the FRM, would be greatly appreciated!

NP - Wouldn't be surprised if most people felt the same way to be honest. But hey, it would be as interesting if it wasn't challenging. The best sense of accomplishment comes from the most challenging goals. Failure is only an option if you make it one. @Mkaim 's words of wisdom for the day.

 

[QuantMan2318]

Hi, @James M K
In addition to what @Mkaim has stated, which I agree wholeheartedly, I want to share some additional tips, try searching for the topics that you don't understand on Youtube, chances are you get a lot of videos that were posted by @David Harper CFA FRM in his earlier days from this https://www.youtube.com/user/bionicturtledotcom/videos, which are quite useful to understand the basics.

In addition, your requirement being quant, there are two guys on Youtube who are fascinating, https://www.youtube.com/user/patrickJMT who covers Math concepts, some of which is useful for FRM as well as Ben Lambert who covers some econometrics required for the FRM https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3tFZR3eL1bDY8CqZDOQh-w

Note that you don't need all these in great detail, but they are very useful to understand the concepts given in the GARP material

Thanks

 

[Mkaim]

Hi, @James M K
In addition to what @Mkaim has stated, which I agree wholeheartedly, I want to share some additional tips, try searching for the topics that you don't understand on Youtube, chances are you get a lot of videos that were posted by @David Harper CFA FRM in his earlier days from this https://www.youtube.com/user/bionicturtledotcom/videos, which are quite useful to understand the basics.

In addition, your requirement being quant, there are two guys on Youtube who are fascinating, https://www.youtube.com/user/patrickJMT who covers Math concepts, some of which is useful for FRM as well as Ben Lambert who covers some econometrics required for the FRM https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3tFZR3eL1bDY8CqZDOQh-w

Note that you don't need all these in great detail, but they are very useful to understand the concepts given in the GARP material

Thanks

Thanks @QuantMan2318 - In terms of older BT (David's) videos, I find it a lot easier to just go to their youtube channel, as mentioned in my earlier post, at https://www.youtube.com/user/bionicturtledotcom ; it's a centralized location for all of David's videos whether they are older or newer. It's much easier than typing a topic in youtube and then skimming through to find David's videos.

Keeping on the same topic of alternative sources as @QuantMan2318 - if you want someone who teaches statistics in, as I put it, baby terms then please try Brandon Foltz on youtube. His videos are a bit longer (30 mins each) but man is he good at making people comfortable with statistics. Khan academy videos are also awesome.

 

[NadiaSayyam]

Thank you so much mkaim.

 

[Member 41305]

Thanks all: I've looked over the forum and I was just wondering whether there was an overview anywhere / that David had produced that showed the areas (within Quant) that are the most probable in the exam - versus those which have very little probability of ever being asked. My goal is to just pass the exam (Part 1!) and Quants is a new language so it strikes me as practical to be 100% comfortable on the areas that are very likely to come up versus spending little (none!) time on those areas which are very unlikely to come up and which I'm very unlikely to understand even if I spent the next year reading continuously! I can then just move on and get comfortable with the rest of the syllabus! Thanks.

 

[Johnkrause1]

Hi Rob, I found the Part 1 Review to be very useful. It is about a 120 page summary reviewing the major elements from each of the four topic areas. To be honest I think there is high chance one can pass the exam using this without going into to much detail into the individual topic parts. I'd recommend to obtain a firm grasp of the review for quant and if necessary delve further into the readings if you require further clarification

 

[farahm]

One thing is for sure, GARP loves probability ,I would focus on that then statistics. Those would be the most important topics to master. I would not worry about integrals for example.

 

[VSafa4412]

NP - Wouldn't be surprised if most people felt the same way to be honest. But hey, it would be as interesting if it wasn't challenging. The best sense of accomplishment comes from the most challenging goals. Failure is only an option if you make it one. @Mkaim 's words of wisdom for the day.

There's a difference between challenging and overwhelming, however. The former is motivating, the latter can be demoralizing.