November 2008 Exam Results

[John Felletter]

Hello David:
I just received word that I passed the exam. I finished in the top quartile in 3 areas, and the second quartile in the other 2 (Market and Quant).
Full kudos to your program because I did not use any other resources other than yours and the Schweser Cram book. I did not read any of the source readings, and didn't sign up for the program until early September. Also, I do not work directly in Risk so many of the concepts were foreign to me prior to the program.
Thank you much for your well directed program, and I look forward to continued membership.
John

 

[David Harper CFA FRM]

John,

Thanks for your kind feedback; that's why we are here, so it is a terrific thing to hear.

At the same time, you are obviously skilled because not everybody could pull this off; i.e., be tested on a range of 588 learning outcomes without deep, prior experience and a short preparation window. I admire, and am thrilled for, your result, but would you agree this is the "extreme sport" approach? (especially not reading the source, I have not been willing to advise skipping the source readings)

Since you successfully sat for the exam, I'd be interested in your view on what you think is the *ideal* preparation time-window (e.g., somebody elsewhere here quoted 290 hours), knowing what you now know...since the exam is so difficult for many (see GARP's own forum - 2007 would appear to be the most difficult exam in recent memory, based on GARP's forum thread), I hesitate to encourage the notion that you can show up without heavy prep...I am constantly asked "when should I start, how much time will it take?" so your views on this are appreciated....but thanks for taking the time to post here!

David

 

[jyothi1965]

Hello David

At last the good news, yes I have passed the FRM 2007 exam in addition to the PRM exams and that gives me a unique position vis-a-vis others. My scores were Market and Ops Risk - 1st quartile, Credit Risk and Quant - 2st Quartile, Investment Risk - 3rd quartile. In a certain sense, these scores were what I wanted as I had tailored my efforts both in the exam as well as in the preparatory efforts along the weightages - so I was in the first quartile where it mattered the most (Market risk - 30%, and Ops Risk - 25%) I was a bit disappointed with Credit Risk, but the questions were horrendous and threw my out of sync.....in the exam.

As I have mentioned, passing /failing is incidental and what is important to me is the learning that I achieved at BT. Your portal is probably THE BEST financial risk management portal in the world and that is not just for FRM/PRM candidates, but for people in the industry who feel out of touch and who need to get back to basics. There is so much to learn from you and your tutorials. Apart from the content which is top rate, the opportunity to interact with you (and with others) and clarify issues has been singularly helpful in boosting my knowledge levels. BT is now a habit with me...I check the website daily to see what is new and learn...

Many many thanks for all the help and incredible support. This is not the end of the story and going forward I would like to continue to associate with BT. Learning never stops.

Best regards

Jyothi

 

[malghani]

Hi David

Joining the party,I have also passed the FRM Exam. My scores are Market Risk - 1st quartile and rest all 2nd Quartile. I was expecting the credit risk and op risk also in 1st quartile bur nevertheless I am happy as far as I passed the exam. I would like congratulate to everyone who has passed the exam.

This was possible only because of your tremendous support and guidance by you. I am sure every one assocaited with BT will agree the tiredless efforts, which you put in making easier for us to understate each and every topic with cram sessions etc. Many many thanks for that.

Last I will continue to assocaited with BT in whatever possible way. We may some forum for sustaining members can share our experience with 2008 candidates.

Thanks

Rajesh Malghani

 

[kswaroop]

Hi David,
I am glad to inform you that I managed top-quartile in the three areas having 80% weight, and overall successful rating in the FRM 2007 exam.

Being in high visibility high pressure project through last year, I had only managed a cursory glance through Jorion's book. In a last ditch, desperate measure, I took you study package on 26-Oct, just three weeks before the exam - and what a difference it made! The videos had the most significant positive impact on my preparation, and by far the best training I have attended in my 15 years of professional life. Since you had made the videos down loadable, they will remain my prized possessions in time to come. I only hope I am able to upgrade them at modest cost from year to year.

A big thank you, couldn't have done without your help.
Krishna,
London

 

[vivek]

Hola Peeples,

Whoever said that the Internet has made life easy was a sadist.

The results were declared late Wednesday evening. I received it in my mailbox Thursday morning. The 12 hours of waiting in limbo sure didn't make life easy. Glad to say it was worth the wait. After seven hours of restless sleep laced with perspiration and the stink of what I had eaten last night, it transpired so that I have cleared. In top quartiles (except for quant where I was placed in the third quantile).

Un-freaking-believable!! Given that my examination was more akin to a "darken-the-ovals" spree. Much happiness ensues!!

A big THANK YOU to David and his team for the tremendous effort. Although the entire material was excellent, I would be partial to the Basel readings coverage. It was simply brilliant! Take a bow ...

NOTE OF CAUTION: When David says "Do not skip the core readings", its in your best interest to take him very, very seriously. You'd be committing harakiri if you do.

 

[narayananvenkat]

Hi David

heartening to listen to succes story of our members. Just as amatter of info for our members could you explain the grading and the grade requirement to pass the exam.

Regards

 

[David Harper CFA FRM]

Jyothi: I knew you would pass (do you hear this all the time!). I lucked out when you joined, I should pay you for your contributions...perhaps we can negotiate your fee going forward, as I have come to depend on you? Please pity my weak dollar in this negotiation

Rajesh: Congrats, thank you for the update. So, glad you benefited from the cram sessions...

Krisha: That makes us blush. This is our mission ("having a positive impact," and you say) so thank you for reaffirming it!

Viv: You are a funny writer, maybe a bit more detail than I require (i'm okay not knowing what you ate the night before). Where was that comedic relief when I needed it sometime around October, ha ha. Seriously, so glad you liked the Basel material: every year it is my special mission to reduce and improve our summary of that monster piece of framework. thank you!

Narayan: I have a call with GARP this Tuesday, and I hope to get some information on both the 2007 exam and the upcoming 2008 exam. (I don't even have the 2007 exam itself yet, which i am hungry to see, of course). I will update if/when i learn something about the grading; or maybe GARP will simply say something about what they plan to publish about that. At the moment, I don't know anything about 2007 pass parameters.

 

[dakshina]

David,

I had a wonderful time learning 'with' you, through your tutorials...and shall continue to do so..
Best wishes to all

Dakshina

 

[chooann]

Hi David,

I am an observer to your website and have found your notes and forum very interesting. I used your free materials for the FRM 2007 exam in addition to some old schweser notes and the core readings (from my workplace library).

I am happy to inform you that I have passed the exams with 1st and 2nd quartiles placements for all the modules. I would like to say THANK YOU for creating such a site where candidates of the FRM exam have an avenue to learn and discuss about the LOs.

I am grateful to find that there are individuals like yourself that see education more important than mere profit making. As the cost of FRM is quite high, I think many like me, found it difficult to buy the study materials hence your website has provided a platform to study at an affordable cost. Also, I have seen that for some of your members, you have extended their membership to the next year for one reason or another. This is rarely seen in this age and time and again, I would like to say that this is a really good deed that you are doing.

I have only worked for 3 years and my work is directly related to Basel 2 and with this qualification in hand, it has boosted my confidence in this area. I wish to do more than merely attaining academic qualification but to make a difference in applying the knowledge that I have obtain to benefit the financial sector.

I hope you will continue your effort in educating people online worldwide and perhaps do some lecture series. Thanks alot.

 

[rdcunha]

Firstly I would like to thank you for the effort you put in preparing your videos, ipod casts, spreadsheets etc. I really appreciate your effort in making things simple for us. I realize how painful it is to go through the readings (ocassionally time and time again) and try and grasp the concept and explain it in language that a common person like me can follow and retain. I have gone though your videos at least a couple of times and learnt some new things every time I played them.

I was not aware of bionic turtle till much later into my study. I received an email from you and just tried having a look. Was very impressed with the sample material and decided to sign up even though I had purchased a competitors material. But I was instantly hooked to the videocasts and the competitors material complemented well too. So the email works well to get people hooked.

What you do well:
• Quick access to the website
• Explanations and examples are very lucid and easy to follow
• The powerpoints/video casts are very well made
• Speedy response rate for any queries posted on the forum
• Excellent spreadsheets to follow the thought process

Some suggestions:
• Combine topics where ever possible. For example VaR is all over the place. The exam questions don’t distinguish between Credit risk, market risk etc. So it would be fantastic if all the Var concepts could be at one place so as to distinguish between them and know when to apply them. I know you arrange the material based on the AIMs but there are several AIMs out of order and the clubbing process makes it so much easier to understand.
• Spread sheets are fantastic. Only the organization was difficult to find and the colour coding etc. If a table could be created showing the name of the file, the chapter it pertains to, the section it pertains to (market risk, credit risk), the date uploaded etc. you get the idea. And will be useful if the database is sortable by the headings.
• Question writing … I noted you are in process of finding someone to revamp the question writing.

Just in case you are still wondering, I passed!!

Thanks once again and BT will surely be recommended to all aspiring FRMs!!