Exam Feedback November 2015 Part 2 FRM Exam Feedback

[krenate]

And by the way - if you receive this after exam (so called "please provide feedback") survey demand - is it logical to forward it to those who passed or it is received only by those who failed? What do you think? Or third variant - it`s automatic and is sent to everybody who attended the exam

it is automatic...the pass rate is not cutoff,... it is the rate how many people have managed to pass the exam among registered ones....I also marked exogenous...because...first of all...to trade you can in different amounts..it was not mentioned if the size of trade does influence the price... but anyway.. I think I have failed....the exam is quite tricky...

 

[nickyz]

Don`t worry about these results too much - in order to succeed you have to make this exam - your hobby - like David did And he is absolutely right because if you are interested in the subject - you may contemplate a lot more and delve a mile deeper than if its just a burden. Just look beyond your cognizance and in the end - despite the result - you will understand the very crux of research and science - cause every step we make is a challenge itself!

 

[a.lesnar]

it is automatic...the pass rate is not cutoff,... it is the rate how many people have managed to pass the exam among registered ones....I also marked exogenous...because...first of all...to trade you can in different amounts..it was not mentioned if the size of trade does influence the price... but anyway.. I think I have failed....the exam is quite tricky...

Hello
the denominator in the equation for the pass rate includes all registered people (also those that did not come to do the exam) or only those people that actually sat for the exam?
Thanks

 

[krenate]

Hello
the denominator in the equation for the pass rate includes all registered people (also those that did not come to do the exam) or only those people that actually sat for the exam?
Thanks

I am not so sure of it... I think everybody who was registered for the day and did not ask for a delay....

 

[Aenny]

Hello
the denominator in the equation for the pass rate includes all registered people (also those that did not come to do the exam) or only those people that actually sat for the exam?
Thanks

I was wondering about that too last year.
People which do not show up, also do not fill out the answer sheet and therefore I think they are not included in the pass/not-pass calculation.
I think last year some guys agreed to that as well, but unfortunately I have no official resource for that.

 

[Aenny]

And by the way - if you receive this after exam (so called "please provide feedback") survey demand - is it logical to forward it to those who passed or it is received only by those who failed? What do you think? Or third variant - it`s automatic and is sent to everybody who attended the exam

everybody gets that -

 

[Tipo]

Can someone here share their thoughts on how prepared were you with regards to using BT for P2?

I just purchased the P2 package and noticed a pretty huge difference in the amount of content available vs P1 (used BT as well)
For instance, there were quite a number of revision videos in P1 which i liked which helped summaries and narrow down the content. However for P2 i didn't notice much revision videos. In fact, I dont think there were any

Also, are there any specific topics that you guys hoped you have placed more focus on?

 

[Aenny]

Hi Tipo,
im my point of view part 2 is way more qualitative than quantitative. So within my preperation I did significantly less calculation examples than question on content and specific financial products.
I think the practice questions do cover the learning outcomes quite good and the summarys (study notes) are well compressing the main points. Maybe you get a little bit overwhelmed by the number pages full of text, but I think they are written quite understandable and comprehensible.
I did not purchase the viedos so unfortuantely I can not help you with that.
I think I was good prepared but that is contracdicted due to a bias, because there are no results out yet, so that means at this time not soo much regarding actual passing or fail.
But I can not say I was surprised by the questions on the actual exam and felt quite confident. (Here again, whach for self-assessment bias)

I hope that helps?

 

[Sidewinder]

Im reading that about 42'000 people were registrated for the 2015 Exams. That means (if you asume 50/50) that 21'000 people have attended the November exam and hence (lets say) 40% P2 in Nov? So 8'400 People? Would this be realistic?

 

[Remo86]

The waiting is endless!!! ... is killing me!!!

 

[brian.field]

At least you have a chance! ....I didn't even sit for it m since I wasn't prepared....

 

[Aenny]

The waiting is endless!!! ... is killing me!!!

Me too! At least now there is some time for distraction due to christmas and new year. Let's enjoy the holidays and shift all worries and nervous tension to the beginning of the next year.
Wishing all BT members merry christmas and a happy new year, hopefully by getting the best present afterwards by a positiv result!

 

[Aenny]

At least you have a chance! ....I didn't even sit for it m since I wasn't prepared....

As I see your posts all around this forum, I know you put a lot of afford into preperation. Therefore I just wanted to express my admiration, because it needs a lot of commitment and courage to prospone the exam for the next cycle! Hats off!

 

[brian.field]

Ha! @Aenny - that is very nice of you to say! If I had the necessary commitment to begin with, I wouldn't have had to postpone it!!! Alas, I have work responsibilities and more importantly, 2 children under 4 at home....

I will join you soon with the designation my friend! (I am more than certain that you passed!)

Best,

Brian

 

[soubhg]

I have selected the answer saying... serial correlation/independence...

Yes, it would be serial correlation.
Although I am late in this forum to comment, but better late than never.

My overall impression on the exam: It is tricky. Specially after preparing with Kaplan Schweser this time, I found questions were quite trickier than expected. To be precise, I found questions were designed for practitioners. Few direct questions. I took Part I quite long ago, and I guess quants was something where paper can be more predictable.
I found too much stress on VaR calculation, backtesting, CVA etc. Many topics such as structured finance, credit risk were not tested sufficiently as compared to the material devoted to it. Case studies are a new surprise - did not intercept such questions - Chinese bank one was lengthy and the regression based one was computationally challenging. The language of many questions were dicey , I felt , and hence was difficult to choose between 2 answers (after you eliminate two). Quantitative questions were based on formula I had not used for problem (just learnt and used first time in the exam , eg. CVA). Some well celebrated quants questions such as binomial interest rate and interest rate rates were missing.
At this point do not recall much of the responses. Will start recollecting questions and responses and post in this forum. Might need to take it again.

Queries: Would be great if you share your study strategy for the exam specially, the materials referred, questions practices to maximize the chance of passing. How much change do you see in the May-2016 FRM II curricula from this time around?

Regarding financial risk professions: As I have felt in this exam, a practitioner's perspective is obviously helpful in clearing the exam. Instead of exploring opportunities in fin risk after clearing FRM II (which is the ultimate goal), would like to explore right away. What channels, methods and preparedness do you recommend.

Thanks in advance to all fellow FRMians

regards,
Soubhik

 

[soubhg]

In my opinion, the exam first of should be more diversified, they cannot ask 8 questions from 2 pages only, like backtesting VaR, and CVar, MVar, 10% of the exam only on that, afterwards I totally disagree that the exam was easy, the wording at least in 30 questions was completely misleading, like on netting, CVar or MVar, regarding to policy risk as well...and truly speaking the exam does not reflect the study material at least in 50% of cases... for the most of calculations you needed more than 3 minutes per question... the questions were also too long and not clearly worded...let us wait until 5 of January...but I do not feel, like I have passed, after part I, I was sure about 50% of cases, because the exam was more quantitave..and in this case.... I really do not know how to study for the part II, and, moreover, I got the impression that on Credit Risk were more than 20 questions and on Market Risk less, and Market Risk was also not diversified

Krenate - I second your point - 1.Exam not diversified properly. 2. Wordings/articulations in many a questions are not clear 3.Exam does not reflect material properly, even in terms of problems..
Wondering if that would be the way part II questions will be designed going forward. In that case, (and if I do not pass) , would of course need a different study strategy.

 

[soubhg]

Here, there was a limit given to the OC account- don't remember the value. So, after deducting for senior and mezzanine, the OC could get its limit and then the remaining could still go to equity.
But the confusion is whether L-B goes to equity first or OC first. I have seen both conventions being used in Schweser and I wasn't sure at that time. Since OC limit was given, I went ahead with giving OC first followed by equity.

I think for intermediate years, OC takes precedence over Equity tranche holder..this is because OC is the reserve for terminal yr principal payment which is a larger amount.
In the terminal year, anyway , OC is dissolved and the order becomes: Sr Tranche > Mezanine Tranche > Equity Tranche

 

[HERO]

Do you think that GARP will send the results before the official day (Jan 5th 2016)...

 

[Nicole Seaman]

Yes, it would be serial correlation.
Although I am late in this forum to comment, but better late than never.

My overall impression on the exam: It is tricky. Specially after preparing with Kaplan Schweser this time, I found questions were quite trickier than expected. To be precise, I found questions were designed for practitioners. Few direct questions. I took Part I quite long ago, and I guess quants was something where paper can be more predictable.
I found too much stress on VaR calculation, backtesting, CVA etc. Many topics such as structured finance, credit risk were not tested sufficiently as compared to the material devoted to it. Case studies are a new surprise - did not intercept such questions - Chinese bank one was lengthy and the regression based one was computationally challenging. The language of many questions were dicey , I felt , and hence was difficult to choose between 2 answers (after you eliminate two). Quantitative questions were based on formula I had not used for problem (just learnt and used first time in the exam , eg. CVA). Some well celebrated quants questions such as binomial interest rate and interest rate rates were missing.
At this point do not recall much of the responses. Will start recollecting questions and responses and post in this forum. Might need to take it again.

Queries: Would be great if you share your study strategy for the exam specially, the materials referred, questions practices to maximize the chance of passing. How much change do you see in the May-2016 FRM II curricula from this time around?

Regarding financial risk professions: As I have felt in this exam, a practitioner's perspective is obviously helpful in clearing the exam. Instead of exploring opportunities in fin risk after clearing FRM II (which is the ultimate goal), would like to explore right away. What channels, methods and preparedness do you recommend.

Thanks in advance to all fellow FRMians

regards,
Soubhik

@soubhg

Regarding your question about how much will change in the 2016 GARP curriculum, I just wanted to point out our curriculum analysis spreadsheet is posted in the announcements section of the forum. Each year, we create this spreadsheet as a quick reference to the changes that are made from year to year. Here is the link to that post: https://forum.bionicturtle.com/threads/2015-2016-curriculum-change-analysis.9173/. This is also a thread in our forum where our members have posted their study plans: https://forum.bionicturtle.com/threads/bionic-turtle-study-plan-guide.8670/. I hope these help!

Nicole

 

[soubhg01]

Do you think that GARP will send the results before the official day (Jan 5th 2016)...

GARP is very particular about the dates. Last time I got results on the date announced beforehand.