Level 1 Question breakdown and passing criteria

[LeeBrittain]

Hi,

Is there any sense as to how many of the questions will be mathematical in nature vs. conceptual in nature? Is a good strategy to answer all of the conceptual questions first since they should take less time on average to answer than the mathematical questions? Is the pass/fail criteria determined by your total score, or do you have to have a passing rate in all 4 of the sections?

Thanks,
Lee

 

[David Harper CFA FRM]

Hi Lee,

For Level 1 (Part 1), the current exam is running highly mathematical (where i'd define as questions with numerical answers requiring some calculation). There is a lot of feedback here in the "About" on the last ~ six exams, and especially recently, the math seems to run well over 50% (probably over ~2/3rds) . (L2 much less so, L2 reverses this mix).

Re: strategy: I'd hesitate to opine on that, it's an interesting idea. The reason i don't have a strong view is (i) many of the math questions aren't greatly time consuming, they are less math than word problems which, once you "realize" the question, the answer is a quick calculation and (ii) some of the conceptual questions get quite wordy.

Re: passing: the FRM does not have ex ante passing criteria. (which is not fun for candidates who like to know where the goal posts are placed).

• Each of the topics is WEIGHTED (T1 = 20%, T2 = 20%, T3 = 30%, T4 =30%) but you have a single final score (Y) which includes no penalties for incorrect answers (i.e., you should guess rather than leave a blank)
• The average of the Top 5% (I read this as NOT the 5th percentile but rather as the average of the top 5%). Call this value (T)
• GARP selects (calibrates) a ratio, presumably in part to control the overall passing ratio. So they set passing score (S) = Some percentage of (T). For example, maybe this passing score S = 70% * T
  (I just made up 70%, I have no idea about this ratio)
• You pass if your Y >= S

Bottom line: it's grading on a curve (which is frankly necessary given their exam methodology)

I hope that helps, David

 

[David Harper CFA FRM]

Lee,

I think this post on analystforum today is interesting (from an Nov 2010 test taker):

More than 75% of the exam will be quantitative. You will basically spend three hours using your calculator. You will need to use two formulas in some questions to get the answer. There may be a number of questions that test the same concept and require the use of the same formula. Do not be surprised if some of the questions will require much more than the 2.4 minutes allocated. Skip those and concentrate on the other questions. There were a dozen questions that would have taken me more than 10 minutes to answer on the Nov 2010 exam due to the many steps involved. I answered some of those at the end and guessed the rest since time was short. The majority of qualitative questions were straight forward with a few tricky questions that required a deeper knowledge.

Source: http://www.analystforum.com/comment/91307975#comment-91307975

 

[Sourav]

Do you really get 4 hours to do FRM Level 1? I though it was 2 hours.

 

[David Harper CFA FRM]

Hi Sourav,

No, each level (part) is four hours (http://www.garp.org/frm/overview/faqs/taking-the-frm-exam.aspx). L1 = 100 questions, L2 = 80 questions (subject to change)

Thanks, David

 

[ebb]

Really? It is subject to change?

 

[David Harper CFA FRM]

i don't think it will, but that's what they have explicitly posted, so I am just CYA (CMA?) .... David