Exam Feedback May 2022 Part 1 Exam Feedback

[Nicole Seaman]

We hope that everyone did well on the FRM Part 1 exams over the past two weeks! We would love to hear any feedback that you have about the exam, especially any helpful information that you can provide about the new CBT format. How did the exam go? Did you encounter unexpected questions? Thank you in advance for any feedback you can provide!

 

[theKid]

The Nov 2021/May 2021 thread was very helpful - so thank you! For me personally there was a 70/30 split between qualitative and quantitative. I have been reading on reddit and this forum a few weeks before the exam on 'understanding' the concepts inside & out as opposed to cranking out practice questions and this was true.

The quantitative questions were easy and straightforward. You have to know the formulas inside & out... and BT does a great job of doing so.
The qualitative questions are tough.. in the sense that it is very vague. Half of the qualitative I think I can get right from BT readings+GARP readings... There other half I can narrow down to 2 options... and it was a matter of choosing the 'best' out of the 2 which I'm not that comfortable on... but hoping I get half of those right.

Honestly if I was given 2 extra weeks I would have gotten the same score since the questions are more designed on 'what would be the best choice if you were presented this case'. lol.

For those of you taking the August 2022 exam (or if I failed and retook) I would just read over and over the notes + EOC questions from GARP. I know people say reading doesn't really help but you pick up new passive knowledge every time you read and those knowledge might steer you to pick one qualitative option (correctly) over another.

BOL everyone

 

[RLee3611]

Mine was about 70/30 qualitative/quantitative split as well. For the quantitative questions, every example had dividends. Make sure you don't only memorize the basic formulas for non-dividend paying stocks (BSM, Put Call Parity, etc)

Topics:

• Bootstrapping forward rates from spot rates
• Calculating Forward Exchange Rates
• Portfolio Performance (Sharpe, Treynor, Information Ratio, etc)
• CAPM
• Coherent Risk Measures
• Effect of coupons on YTM
• Standard Deviation of a portfolio of 2 bonds
• Options
• Probabilities - Calculating conditional probabilities
• Time Series - Mean Regression
• Hedge Ratios
• Forward Rate Agreements
• Clean vs Dirty Bond Pricing
• Binomial Pricing
• Black Scholes
• Duration and Convexity
• Properties of TBAs
• Treasury Futures
• Monte Carlo sampling error
• Foreign Exchange risk
• Confidence Intervals
• Credit Risk calculations
• ERM Strategies
• OLS Estimators

 

[Madina Nigmatova]

What about the discussion of FRM Part II May 2022?

 

[Nicole Seaman]

What about the discussion of FRM Part II May 2022?

@Madina Nigmatova

I will be posting a new thread for Part 2 feedback shortly. We usually post a thread the Monday after the exam, but yesterday was a holiday here in the U.S., so we were not in the office. Thank you for your patience.

 

[jakob1010]

Official results are in!!! Thanks to David and Nicole for this excellent course! I would not have passed without it.

 

[theKid]

Yay 2/1/1/1.
Thanks to BT, the reddit community, the nov 2021, may 2021, nov 2020 forum, and the BT forums. Definitely pushed my score higher than it would have been. The GARP official textbooks were low key the best way to answer the theoretical questions, and BT was best for quantitative. On to part 2! I think I'm going to use the same study technique as I did for part 1
i,e
BT Study notes
BT Practice questions
BT EOC questions
(all while making notes)
GARP official textbooks
GARP EOC Questions
(then read forums on question types in the may 2022 P2/nov 2021 P2/may 2021 exam)

 

[RLee3611]

Passed as well, thanks David and Nicole!

 

[jlapienis]

Passed! Thanks for this excellent course!

 

[Kai]

PASSED!!! I could not have done so without BT. Thank you, David and Nicole, for all of your hard work, excellent resources, and continual support.

 

[JTima5250]

Results are in and I passed!! I cannot believe it since I was convinced without a shadow of doubt that I had surely failed it, and was even prepared to start studying again to retake it. My quartiles were 1,3,2,3 - seems hard to believe I passed with 3's in quant and valuation, but the 1 in foundations of Risk I believe is what saved me. I had a hard time with the exam and felt like I was guessing between 2 answers every time. Lots of probability questions, so make sure you know them in and out (I didnt). I agree with others that the split was 70% qualitative and 30% quant. Would love to hear what results others received.

 

[mszvitacs]

Passed with 1122
Bionic Turtle was really helpful, thank you for that

 

[Ehsan.FRM]

Failed!
I am not surprised because I was not ready. But, my first experience was 2021 July and honestly it was far easier than this round.
2022 May was far more quantitative.

 

[enjofaes]

Same here. Thanks @David Harper CFA FRM @Nicole Seaman

Now let's go to Part 2 & Certification

 

[Seb Serrano]

Passed. Thank you BT!

 

[wookan06]

Passed with top quartiles for all four modules. Thanks @David Harper CFA FRM and @Nicole Seaman for all the effort.

 

[v.modaher]

Passed with 3,2,2,2 and I’m so pleased. This was my 2nd attempt my original results were 1,2,3,4. Bionic turtle made all the difference thanks @David Harper CFA FRM and @Nicole Seaman for your support and patience.

on to part 2

 

[Kai]

I'm pleased to have passed my second attempt at part 1! Many thanks to the BT Team and this forum for the tidbits of knowledge to succeed. My turn to share how the FRM Part 1 May 2022 test went for me.

It seemed like others receive individualized questions on the CBT testing. I didn't get any questions on risk-neutral probabilities or currency swaps, amongst some other topics that I really prepared for, which is natural given the limited questions they can ask. Even having prepared extensively, I still found the questions challenging in the way that they were asked - especially the qualitative ones.

The overall test was much more qualitative versus straight calculation questions, but many of the questions required several times rereading. About 70% qualitative, 30% quantitative breakdown.

Some exam topics I remember being asked:

• Two marginal probabilities questions
• Several hazard rate problems
• Given (0,1), (0,2), (0,3), and (0,4) hazard rates. What was the likelihood of default between the end of years 3 and 4?
• Conditional probabilities galore - given some symbology of Probability of X and Y and Union between the two, what was true
• INR currency question
• Arbitrage for theoretical commodity futures
• For a given equation, interpret what the terms were
• Calculate EWMA given the volatility, lambda, and return
• Question testing on the difference between EWMA and GARCH, essentially on there being no long-term mean reversion of data
• ARMA model long-run mean
• GARP ethics question: allow contractors to take religious and local holidays, or hire an outside consultant to draft the code of ethics
• FRA valuation given a set of spot rates
• Impact of trade .. this was hard, I think the point was that exchange rates were the predictor of interest rates
• Analysts discussing which bond duration to use (Macaulay or Modified), you need to pick the modified and then calculate the change to bond price from that calculation
• Questions on which financial instrument to use for a bread company that wanted to hedge its exposure to wheat price changes
• An implicit Vasicek Model question about what a single factor model entails
• ERM - 2 questions
• Monte Carlo vs Bootstrapping - 2 questions
• Effective Convexity Calculation
• Calculating confidence Interval and needing to know whether to reject the null hypothesis that wasn't given average stock excess return, 10 years of data, and variance. Supposed the default null was that there were 0 returns, what was the critical t value?
• Calculate Monte Carlo call option, but had two dividends given - couldn't figure out whether to subtract from K or S and neither gave the right answer
• Choosing between different sovereign bonds and which trade to make an arbitrage
• Gamma hedging and needing to know which side of the trade to make to balance and bring it back to delta neutral
• Several ethics questions
• Lognormal model and needing to interpret the expected rate of return from it given Mean and standard deviation
• Board vs CRO responsibility
• Internal audit role - select which is the right action describing responsibilities
• Corporate bond characteristics
• A couple of questions on recommending the right financial product to use - Asian options vs options
• A new trader that can only trade vanilla options, needed to choose which one fit the definition of plain vanilla among cash or nothing and other exotics
• Qualitative interest rate swap question on the right calculation to use
• Calculate currency option given d1, d2, spot exchange rate, strike, and interest rates
• One question about null hypothesis setup, but all the answers looked wrong. The only guess I could make was based on the alternative hypothesis, which wanted everything beyond a given range
• Quantitative statements about the convenience yield
• 2 - Orange County/ Landesbanken case studies
• 1 - SML relationship Testing, of how the change in risk-free rate and expected rate of return would affect the slope
• 2 - CAPM questions, one diving for beta and another solving for the expected rate of return
• Information Ratio vs. Sharpe Ratio - based on the requirement for active return, needed to know that the higher IR the better. All the calculations were correct in the answers
• Picking the right reason for hedging- needed to know that it was for creating more certain outcomes
• What would recommend to the board - use of options or swaps

 

[Oxana C]

I passed with 1;2;1;2! Yay! Many thanks to the whole BT team, @David Harper CFA FRM and @Nicole Seaman ! I would have not done it without you.

Such a rewarding feeling when you get your pass results!

I agree with others that the exam was about 70 % qualitative, and 30% quant.
Garp text books definitely helped too.

Regards,
Oxana

 

[janehe1111]

PASSED!!! I could not have done so without BT. Thank you, David and Nicole, for all of your hard work, excellent resources, and continual support.

I couldn't agree with you more about the BT support from everyone in the forum!

PASSED!!! I could not have done so without BT. Thank you, David and Nicole, for all of your hard work, excellent resources, and continual support.