Difficult to understand the concept!!!

[edmundkan]

Hi, David,

I have enrolled your FRM program for 2009. I tried hard to study both your notes and videos but find it difficult to understand. As i am not familiar with any risk issue and also not working in risk-related field. Is it I have to read the GARP core readings to reinforce my understanding? But i think it is too much to me!!!

 

[Suzanne Evans]

I would definitely suggest starting by viewing our webinars from earlier this year. These webinars are reviews of the math concepts you will need to know in order to do well on the FRM. Some of them were recorded and placed on the website for you to view at your convenience. In order to view any webinars, you will need to download the codec from here - https://www2.gotomeeting.com/codec?Portal=www.gotomeeting.com

Webinar #1 - http://www.bionicturtle.com/learn/article/early_bird_webinar_1_follow_up/

Webinar #2 was not recorded unfortunately.

Webinar #3 - http://www.bionicturtle.com/learn/article/early_bird_webinar_3_follow-up_webinar_frm_quant/

Webinar #4 and #5 are available for download through the FRM premium content section.

After viewing the webinars, I would start with Video Tutorial 1.a.i. on the FRM content page. This is where David teaches about
the first concept of the year - "Foundations of Risk Management".


GARP lists the books needed for the suggested readings in their study guide available at the website (http://www.garp.com). If you are asking whether you still need to read those or not, I would say that we really can not predict that. Here is the answer that David normally provides customers:


"In brief (and I’ve talked at some length to GARP about the best right answer), my view is:
a. I can’t tell you because individuals vary
b. Since I don’t know you, and since the exam is very difficult, I recommend (as a default position) everybody read the core/assigned, if for no other reason than it’s the first,best “pass” among repeated exposures.
c. Your ability to forgo core/assigned readings is largely a function of how you arrive in aptitude. And, specifically, quantitative aptitude. A good test here is to scan the assigned Gujarati, Jorion, or K. Dowd. If you are in a “strange land” with these, I strongly suggest you plan to read the source; if, however, you are at ease (at home), you are rare and perhaps you don’t need all of them."

A good book to start studying would be Jorion's Value at Risk or Gujarati's Essentials of Econometrics. I think both of these books are a great start to studying for your FRM exam!

Should you have any additional questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to ask.

Thanks,
Suzanne
Bionic Turtle

 

[David Harper CFA FRM]

Hi edmund,

First, you can write Suzanne for a refund. She is at: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). (I am not saying you should do that, but rather, that we will do that)

Second, I do actually empathize, but I sincerely think the level of difficulty for someone with no background is a function of the FRM (and the new FRM), not bionicturtle. I would not have written an exam this ambitious (but then again, they don't have to teach it!). I am always getting the question: do I need to read the assignments? And, I say, yes I think so (knowing that some will not need to because they have an experience advantage). I myself have three designations and the FRM is the most difficult, it is the most difficult financial exam (IMO). Last year, GARP surveyed candidates and found the study time was 200 - 400 hours. That's before they expanded the exam. This full 2009 exam is an overwhelming amount of material, there can be no doubt, it implies several hundred hours of study.

Third, if it's overwhelming, have you considered (or are you doing) just sitting for the Level I? This 2009 Full FRM is a special year b/c it is truncated (i.e., GARP issued AIMs later in the year): the content that must be absorbed for the full by November is just about breathtaking...We at BT do have to move at a cadence to meet this; e.g., in an ideal world, I might spend more time savoring over Gujarati, but you can see why we have to move at a certain pace to cover the entire exam

Finally, if you want my one sincere piece of advice (that i follow myself, b/c frankly it is lot for me too; I am around the clock working on the expanded material), here it is: like any huge goal, the only way i know how to tackle is with a plan and then "one small step at a time." If you've ever mountain climbed, there is a point of view that you shouldn't look at the whole mountain, rather the one step in front of you.

Hope that helps, back to recording for me! David

 

[David Harper CFA FRM]

Hi Suzanne! We posted at the same time...thank you for that advice, I forgot already about the Early Birds, that is great advice indeed! Thank you! David