Exam Feedback May 2023 Part 1 Exam Feedback

[Nicole Seaman]

We hope that everyone did well on the FRM Part 1 exam! We would love to hear any feedback that you have about the exam. How did the exam go? Did you encounter unexpected questions? Thank you in advance for any feedback you can provide!

 

[yLam4028]

Surprising lots of questions related to Mortgage and securitisation
just to list a few that tested:
- CreditMetrics
- OIS
- MBS, Tranche PD
- PIT rating
- BCBS239 adaptability
- Dodd Frank Volcker Rule
- Hedge FX with option
- Key rate hedge
- Termed life insurance premium
- America option bounds
- Curve Steepening long short strategy

 

[DRade5174]

I had the feeling that I mis-prepared, expecting a largely quantitative exam and it was in contrast largely qualitative. I cannot but feel that GARP intentionally misleads candidates on their first attempt due to two reasons:

- They explicitly state that their mock exams are representative of the types of questions to be expected in the actual exam. This is just not the case. The mock exams are quite straightforward. The actual exam questions are more like "Josh is a hedge fund manager. He calculates a one-day 99% VaR. What temperature is the sun? a) Black b) A shade of black c) d d) not d"

- Many of the questions are designed not to test you on your actual knowledge but to test you on your bull**** tolerance. This is in my opinion quite childish and I do not see the academic point of doing that in a serious exam. The questions are intentionally long-worded and 90 percent of the text is irrelevant to the question. Many questions are just badly worded, as well, creating unnecessary ambiguity, which I also suspect is intentional (and if not, just bad quality), reducing it to pure guess work in the end.

In general, I am not very pleased by the recent exam, I came to expect something different, I guess, and I went out of the room having no clue at all whether I likely passed or not.

 

[JRein0274]

In my opinion it was a fair exam. Most questions were of qualitative nature (I’d say 70% to 75%). I didn’t feel properly prepared, because I wasn’t happy with my performance in the mock exams I took shortly before the actual exam. I felt that I did not cover all topics even though I put a good amount of work in all books. Luckily, this was not the case in the actual exam. I did not encounter unexpected questions, which doesn’t mean I could answer all questions correctly. But even for the questions I could not answer, I know where to look in the books or the BT materials to do so next time.

It cannot be stressed enough that you should be prepared for the qualitative questions. I talked to two guys who took the exam with me and both were doing only calculations in the final weeks before the exam and were overwhelmed by the qualitative nature of the exam. So go for the concepts at the end of each chapter and try to really understand them and not only memorize the answers. I was surprised on how close the questions were to some of the end of chapter concepts. Of course, the questions were designed to make you think about the answer but if you really understood the concepts, you could answer most of them. The BT study notes and videos were very helpful for me when I felt that I didn’t fully understand the concepts by just reading the GARP books.

The quantitative questions were mostly simple, especially compared for with the BT questions. Everyone who could master most of the quantitative BT questions shouldn't have had problems with the actual exam questions.

Of course, I cannot say with 100% certainty that I passed but I have a good feeling about the exam and If I should fail, I know which topics I need to cover again for the second time.

I have to thank the BT team for the good materials which helped me a lot in my preparation for the exam.

 

[PMuir6307]

I felt that the exam was fair. More qualitative than quantitative. The calculation questions were not too difficult and the theory questions really try to test your internalization of the material. The questions are rather short, not longer than three sentences. I managed to finish in time but I am not very confident about my performance. I can only wait and see, all the best to everyone.

 

[areddy]

Any idea on when to expect the FRM part 1 May 2023 results?

 

[HTahe8451]

Any idea on when to expect the FRM part 1 May 2023 results?

That’s my question too. Didn’t they said mid-June? We are getting closer to July now.

 

[YCHEN7458]

That’s my question too. Didn’t they said mid-June? We are getting closer to July now.

I somehow check it today using some hyperlinks, said I passed with 1111 (check reddit - FRM, someone taught the method)

 

[yLam4028]

dont know how to translate the numbers but all 75-100% quantiles. Passed. Thank you!

 

[YCHEN7458]

dont know how to translate the numbers but all 75-100% quantiles. Passed. Thank you!

it's 1111! Thanks for your help! Will you take L2 this November

 

[yLam4028]

it's 1111! Thanks for your help! Will you take L2 this November

dm me if you have any question

 

[DRade5174]

Passed 1111. No idea, how I did it, but I slowly start to accept that it is actually true.

 

[JRein0274]

Passed 1412. Congrats to all the others who passed. Thank you BT team for the excellent preparation.

 

[Laurent]

Passed too 1111. thanks for your help

 

[SNaya6782]

Passed with 1122. Thank you Bionic Turtle Team.

 

[PMuir6307]

I passed with 1322. Thank you to David and the Bionic Turtle team for the guidance.

 

[aanan9701]

Passed Part -1 with 1312. Thank you team BT for the guidance and providing top quality study materials which helped me sail through the exam in my first attempt.

 

[NBrzy6135]

I passed, 1221! I cannot believe it. I felt the exact same way as DRade5174.

Thank you!