IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ: Publishing Process for 2018

[sandrasp]

Hi @Nicole Seaman ,
Could you please advise if the Formula sheet for 2018 will be updated soon? I don't see a tag "Coming soon" beside Formula Sheet. Or has it already been updated?
I noticed there are updates going on for videos of Book 4 - Valuation & Risk Models, could you also advise if questions under these sections are also going to be updated? Or are all questions in line with the LOS of 2018.
I have finished reading the notes but need to begin doing as many questions as I can, therefore worried if I will be using an old Formula sheet, or old questions that no longer apply for 2018 exam.

Thanks,

Sandra
ps: Hopefully this is the right conversation/forum topic to ask my question. If not please direct me to the correct post. thanks!

 

[Nicole Seaman]

Hello @sandrasp

@David Harper CFA FRM is currently working on the formula sheets, so I will need to check with him to see if they will be ready before the May exam. There are many practice questions already published in the study planner that are relevant to the current exam. Even if the practice questions were not written this year, we do not leave practice question sets published in the study planner if they are not relevant to the current curriculum. We will not be publishing anymore practice question sets before the May exam. David writes as many updated questions as possible before the exam, but time does not always allow us to update every single reading in the curriculum. He usually stops writing new practice questions in April so we can focus on other materials. Plus many, many hours are spent answering questions in the forum, as it gets extremely busy before the exam.

Thank you,

Nicole

 

[David Harper CFA FRM]

Thanks @Nicole Seaman Re: the new formula sheet: it will depend on how busy the forum support keeps me. I don't want rush the quality of it, I think it's better to plan that we will issue it sometime after the May exam. @sandrasp Nicole is totally right about the practice questions. They are already quite updated I am actually currently drafting new T4 PQs that will resume immediately after the May exam, but I want to focus on quality (not forum-driven deadlines). Thanks,

 

[sandrasp]

@David Harper CFA FRM , how updated in the Formula Sheet currently in the PART 1 review section? Was it including 2017 curriculum.
I'm kinda dissapointed, it looks like a very good tool to use for the May 2018 Part 1 exam that I'm writing, but unsure if I should now have to review it and edit it myself against the BT Notes to ensure it includes all the important formulas. I was going to use it as I do questions from now until the exam.
If I had known that material for 2018 constantly gets updated even after May, then maybe I should have written in November :/. I have tried to keep up to date with the BT Notes even after they get updated, but very hard to follow if something you read a month later gets updated. I understand your struggle that it's hard for you to update everything at once, but maybe give us a heads up, that it's best to write Exam 1 on November as material gets updated even after May.

Thanks,
Sandra

 

[David Harper CFA FRM]

Hi @sandrasp The existing formula sheet is entirely relevant (in Part 1 there have been approximately zero key formula changes from 2017 to 2018). The revision is almost entirely about quality, including efficiency and presentation (not new formulas). Same with most of our other ongoing updates, especially Part 1: they are mostly updates in quality (typos, better exhibits, presentation, etc). You are correct, it is a struggle, but candidly it's a struggle induced on all providers by GARP's approach (as knowledgeable observers know very well). We're way ahead of the curve; e.g., we identify and feed corrections to GARP [not very politic of me!]. And new practice questions, especially for Part 1, are generally additional sets that "pile on" to concepts that we already cover very well. As for the heads-up, we are totally transparent here in the forum. @Nicole Seaman can add something else if she wants. Thanks,

 

[key01023]

I figured a lot of topics have no videos. Learning from the notes especially when there is a lot of words is quite difficult for me especially when i do not have enough time. I want to ask if a topics do not have videos, does it generally mean they are less weighted in the exam? Thanks.

 

[Nicole Seaman]

I figured a lot of topics have no videos. Learning from the notes especially when there is a lot of words is quite difficult for me especially when i do not have enough time. I want to ask if a topics do not have videos, does it generally mean they are less weighted in the exam? Thanks.

Hello @key01023

Please note that I moved your question to this thread, which discusses our publishing process. Please make sure to read the original post in this thread. We do not always have the time to create or update new materials for every single reading. This does not mean that the reading is not important or should be skipped. Are you currently studying from our materials or just inquiring about our materials before you purchase?

Nicole

 

[ABSMOGHE]

Hi.
As we all know the FRM syllabus is quite tedious, and the only thing that gets most of us out of this would be the guidance attained through the instructional videos posted by you on several topics.
While going through the study planner, I observed that for certain topics instructional videos were not posted alongside.
For instance
In MODULE 2, there do not seem to be any Instructional Videos uploaded for the following topics.
- De Laurentis: Developing, Validating and Using Internal Ratings, Chapters 2 & 3
- Siddique & Hasan, Stress Testing, Chapter 4

As I understand there are no videos posted for several other topics as well. However, most of them are either self-explanatory or theoretical in nature. However the above Chapters were a bit complex for me to understand without instructional videos. Hence, I wanted to request you to upload Videos on the same.
Thanks.

 

[Nicole Seaman]

Hi.
As we all know the FRM syllabus is quite tedious, and the only thing that gets most of us out of this would be the guidance attained through the instructional videos posted by you on several topics.
While going through the study planner, I observed that for certain topics instructional videos were not posted alongside.
For instance
In MODULE 2, there do not seem to be any Instructional Videos uploaded for the following topics.
- De Laurentis: Developing, Validating and Using Internal Ratings, Chapters 2 & 3
- Siddique & Hasan, Stress Testing, Chapter 4

As I understand there are no videos posted for several other topics as well. However, most of them are either self-explanatory or theoretical in nature. However the above Chapters were a bit complex for me to understand without instructional videos. Hence, I wanted to request you to upload Videos on the same.
Thanks.

Hello,

This has been discussed many times in the forum (in this thread and the updated materials threads), but we create and publish as many new materials as possible before the exam. There are some videos that are not good candidates for video, and we have to prioritize according to the readings that we feel should be published first. There is only so much time for us to create new materials (writing PQs and creating videos takes countless hours...we do not and cannot just throw them together, as we will not sacrifice quality). We also provide hours of customer service and forum support. We will not be publishing any other instructional videos before the November exam, as we are currently working on preparing updated formula sheets.

Thank you,

Nicole

 

[ABSMOGHE]

Hello,

This has been discussed many times in the forum (in this thread and the updated materials threads), but we create and publish as many new materials as possible before the exam. There are some videos that are not good candidates for video, and we have to prioritize according to the readings that we feel should be published first. There is only so much time for us to create new materials (writing PQs and creating videos takes countless hours...we do not and cannot just throw them together, as we will not sacrifice quality). We also provide hours of customer service and forum support. We will not be publishing any other instructional videos before the November exam, as we are currently working on preparing updated formula sheets.

Thank you,

Nicole

Hi Nicole.
I apologize for the repost, I was honestly unaware about the existence of this thread. Thank you for your reply stating the reason of not being able to post the Instructional Video, and I agree that the process of making the videos is quite a cumbersome task. So no worries on those grounds.
On a side note, I happened to come across a thread where David said he'd be spending most of his time preparing UPDATED Focus Videos. Hence, I wanted to confirm if the same would be released prior to the November 2018 Exam.
Thanks.

 

[Nicole Seaman]

Hi Nicole.
I apologize for the repost, I was honestly unaware about the existence of this thread. Thank you for your reply stating the reason of not being able to post the Instructional Video, and I agree that the process of making the videos is quite a cumbersome task. So no worries on those grounds.
On a side note, I happened to come across a thread where David said he'd be spending most of his time preparing UPDATED Focus Videos. Hence, I wanted to confirm if the same would be released prior to the November 2018 Exam.
Thanks.

Hello @ABSMOGHE

Thank you for your understanding. It certainly takes a lot of time to create quality videos, and we hope that the videos that we've published have been helpful in your studies. Unfortunately, due to time constraints, we will not have new FR videos published before the November exam.

Thank you,
Nicole