Exam Feedback May 2025 Part 1 Exam Feedback

[Nicole Seaman]

We hope that everyone did well on the FRM Part 1 exam! We would love to hear your feedback about your exam experience.

• How did it go?
• Did you encounter unexpected questions?
• Which topics were tested?
• Did you find it difficult?

Please also fill out the poll at the top of this post. We appreciate you taking the time to provide your feedback.

 

[kc]

Hello BT Staff,

I need some advices on an incident happened during the exam today.

The service provider provided rough sheets for any draftings during the exam, shortly after it started, I found that the rough sheets provided to me were previously used by someone. I immediately reported that and the staff gave me some new rough sheets. But I am still worried about any consequences may come after. Should I write an email to the GARP and report this incident ?

Thanks !

 

[Nicole Seaman]

Now that the Part 1 exams are finished, we've opened this thread for discussion. Please let us know how your exam went!

 

[Clay Carter]

Hello BT Staff,

I need some advices on an incident happened during the exam today.

The service provider provided rough sheets for any draftings during the exam, shortly after it started, I found that the rough sheets provided to me were previously used by someone. I immediately reported that and the staff gave me some new rough sheets. But I am still worried about any consequences may come after. Should I write an email to the GARP and report this incident ?

Thanks !

@kc That is a tough situation. I have never heard of something like this happening before. I am not entirely sure what to do.

 

[MMonk4392]

I found it to be quite difficult (I took all three GARP mock exams and found it more difficult than any of those). The questions were highly conceptual/qualitative, which many others have noted over the years. I think that ~20 questions at most required straightforward application of some formula with numerical answer choices. Many more required in-depth knowledge of theoretical principles.

Topics that I recall:

• Breakeven premium (not just expected payout) of an insurance contract given the mortality table
• I recall one question that involved application of Bayes' Theorem, but the table they provided was difficult to understand. The probability matrix contained conditional probabilities rather than marginal probabilities, so X and Y axes did not all sum to 100% (I hope this makes sense). It took me too long to figure out what it was saying--to my point above, many questions required higher knowledge of the formulas and how to easily manipulate them.
• Many bond-related questions. I received two different numerical questions on cheapest-to-deliver bonds and settlement prices, and at least 3 questions on non-parallel term structure shifts and KR01s. Also at least one straightforward one on accrued interest, given the prior coupon date and settlement date.
• A question regarding changes under Basel III
• 2 questions calculating the price of a call option using BSM, and N(d1) and N(d2) were provided. BSM questions were easier than I expected. There might have been a special case involving a discrete dividend, I can't recall.
• 2-3 questions about the mechanics of exchanges, comparing exchanges and OTC
• Which exotic option would be best as a substitute for short selling

I was also very surprised that I did NOT get any questions related to these topics:

• Not a single question on binomial trees (quantitative or qualitative)
• No-arbitrage price of a forward contract involving other factors such as lease rate, dividend yield, storage cost, etc.

I think my biggest struggle with Part 1 was not the difficulty of concepts themselves but the sheer breadth of material tested. There really was no stone left unturned. I do think all of the questions were covered in GARP's material, however so many of them were on such specific details that you had either memorized them or you hadn't, and couldn't reason through it.

I've read comments elsewhere that others received questions on topics I did not and vice versa, so it seems like the exam versions vary greatly from one another. Hopefully I passed, but if not, at least I know what to expect now

 

[SCham7768]

Is it me, or has GARP changed the Exam Results release date from "Early June" to "End of June"?

 

[Clay Carter]

Is it me, or has GARP changed the Exam Results release date from "Early June" to "End of June"?

@SCham7768 That is correct. GARP changed the release from the first week of June to June 26th. I haven't seen reasoning from GARP but my interpretation is that they need more time with all the global CBT windows before they can set the cutoff score for each exam.

 

[Nicole Seaman]

Now that GARP has released the exam results, please let us know how you did here: https://forum.bionicturtle.com/threads/may-2025-part-1-exam-results.25080/