Exam Feedback November 2019 Part 1 Exam Feedback

[DoctorEximius]

@DoctorEximius

While we obviously have no problem with candidates using other prep providers and visiting our forum, we definitely do not appreciate people coming to our forum to talk about how they've used stolen BT materials. We do not offer any free mock exams so your comment tells everyone that you've used illegally obtained materials (yes, it is illegal to sell or share BT materials). It amazes me that people are willing to not only use our materials that were not purchased on our website, but they also have no problem coming to our forum to talk about it.

To all of our loyal members who purchased our materials the right way (on our website), we truly appreciate it! It shows that you know how hard we work to provide you with materials that will help you to pass the exam. David and I are not robots here. We are two people who spend endless hours preparing these materials and we greatly appreciate our customer's loyalty.

Really? I found the free mock exams here.

https://www.bionicturtle.com/courses/part-i-review/

Did I misunderstand something? I was saying that I used all the free BT mock exams I can find (from the official BT site), but it didn't mean I stole anything from BT, and I don't think I paid for these exams but forgot my payment history.

I apologize if my comments caused any confusion, but I ensure you that I DIDN'T STEAL any BT materials.

 

[Nicole Seaman]

Really? I found the free mock exams here.

https://www.bionicturtle.com/courses/part-i-review/

Did I misunderstand something? I was saying that I used all the free BT mock exams I can find (from the official BT site), but it didn't mean I stole anything from BT, and I don't think I paid for these exams but forgot my payment history.

I apologize if my comments caused any confusion, but I ensure you that I DIDN'T STEAL any BT materials.

The link that you've provided can only be accessed by paid members. I'm not sure how you retrieved them from that link since there is no order information on your account. However, the reason for my post is that we have people every year come to our forum to talk about using Bionic Turtle's materials without purchasing them. It gets very frustrating to hear this. I apologize for sounding harsh in my first comment or assuming that you used stolen materials if you were somehow able to gain access to our paid materials as a free member. I've checked the link that you provided and I cannot view the mock exam as a free member.

 

[randrema]

The link that you've provided can only be accessed by paid members. I'm not sure how you retrieved them from that link since there is no order information on your account. However, the reason for my post is that we have people every year come to our forum to talk about using Bionic Turtle's materials without purchasing them. It gets very frustrating to hear this.

Hi Nicole, I just click on the link and I find out that the mock is available even if I have just the free acount. Though, I did not do this mock as I just discover it. May be a bug in your system that allow free user to access the mock? You can see attached a print screen.

 

[Nicole Seaman]

Hi Nicole, I just click on the link and I find out that the mock is available even if I have just the free acount. Though, I did not do this mock as I just discover it. May be a bug in your system that allow free user to access the mock? You can see attached a print screen.

We appreciate you pointing this out. I've taken down all mock exams until our IT team can figure out if there is a bug or not. Thank you.

 

[Zhaina]

Please, help me to understand. My quartiles are 2223... but it's a fail. Why? I think it a good result. I read that somebody has 2323 and passed. Could someone explain me why? Is it a mistake of GARP system? Should I write a letter them? Thanks.

 

[David Harper CFA FRM]

Please, help me to understand. My quartiles are 2223... but it's a fail. Why? I think it a good result. I read that somebody has 2323 and passed. Could someone explain me why? Is it a mistake of GARP system? Should I write a letter them? Thanks.

Hi @Zhaina Very sorry for the result ... it sounds like you were very close. Please see my post here https://forum.bionicturtle.com/threads/quartiles-and-weights-exam-results.9883/post-45570 My XLS is hypothetical as the exam is not transparent, but just to illustrate how this is possible, here is version of the same XLS (at https://www.dropbox.com/s/ikhbkm0571fdchh/1019-garp-frm-scoring-exam.xlsx?dl=0) which naively assumes a 60 score (out of P1 = 100) is required for passing (my 60 is completely made-up, please know that it's imaginary!) and then shows how, in this example that I created just for you: a 3/3/2/2 passes, but a 2/2/2/3 fails:

 

[Guest 61086]

I think quartiles are just indicate range of scores of individuals but the pass/fail decision must be based on a definite cut off or plethora of other sub-cutoffs. Now, even if 2 people have same quartiles, they may have different totals marks which might have been crucial in determining the pass/fail decision. However, there might be other decisive factors considered by GARP which i am oblivious.

 

[antogiar]

Hi @Zhaina Very sorry for the result ... it sounds like you were very close. Please see my post here https://forum.bionicturtle.com/threads/quartiles-and-weights-exam-results.9883/post-45570 My XLS is hypothetical as the exam is not transparent, but just to illustrate how this is possible, here is version of the same XLS (at https://www.dropbox.com/s/ikhbkm0571fdchh/1019-garp-frm-scoring-exam.xlsx?dl=0) which naively assumes a 60 score (out of P1 = 100) is required for passing (my 60 is completely made-up, please know that it's imaginary!) and then shows how, in this example that I created just for you: a 3/3/2/2 passes, but a 2/2/2/3 fails:

Other thing to consider is that the quartile refers about candidates performance and not fixed range of right answers. Is it possible that being in the 2nd quartile of an easy section (due to random easy questions pick) you are above 75% right answers or over 50% right answers in the 3rd quartile.

 

[ABCDE]

While practicing with BT, the frustration made me almost ready to fail in the first attempt.....whenever that time I told myself learning was more important than the exam itself and just did the practices patiently and appreciated them even though they were torturing me.
I passed with 1111 as a result and really appreciate all BT staff (lots of lots of thanks to David's always patient and thorough answers) and other members who spent their time posting their questions, thoughts and answers in the forum to help others. They cleared lots of questions of mine and I'm really thankful for their time. I wish I could also contribute more to the forum later like others by even just asking some 'stupid' (mines not theirs) questions while preparing for level 2.
And cheers everyone, no matter passed or not, we all learnt something new and learning is more important than the exam.

 

[vikram1987]

When do they update the list of passed candidates on their website?

 

[randrema]

When do they update the list of passed candidates on their website?

I see this link with the pass rate but not the passed candidates list
https://www.300hours.com/articles/t...-financial-risk-management-frm-qualification#

 

[antogiar]

I see this link with the pass rate but not the passed candidates list
https://www.300hours.com/articles/t...-financial-risk-management-frm-qualification#

Where did they find the pass rate ?

 

[Jorge.Beca]

Passed 3212 !!!!

 

[randrema]

Where did they find the pass rate ?

I don’t know but as said garp did anounce the pass rate

 

[stevoDE]

Passed with 1212 which was surprising as I felt it could have gone either way coming out of the exam. Only purchased BT materials 2 weeks prior to the exam but glad I did. Will be using only BT for Part II in November. Customer service from Wiley was appalling.

 

[randomname]

I passed the exam but did not receive any e-mail by GARP. Anyone else?

GARP page says: "Exam results are pass/fail and are emailed approximately six weeks after the exam. Candidates will receive quartile results comparing their performance to other candidates."

 

[vikram1987]

I passed the exam but did not receive any e-mail by GARP. Anyone else?

GARP page says: "Exam results are pass/fail and are emailed approximately six weeks after the exam. Candidates will receive quartile results comparing their performance to other candidates."

Hi,
They sent a mail informing that the results have been declared.

 

[Nicole Seaman]

FYI, the pass rate for Part 1 is: 45.9%

We will update our pass rate chart HERE soon!

 

[Branislav]

Dear colleagues,
I did pretty bad (3342). I have gone trough all almost all material and mock exams which by the are real representer of exam ( on mine opinion, thanks @David Harper CFA FRM ), still failed due to time problem mostly and maybe exam strategy. I would appriciate support on following:
1. do anybody have speed problem, and what is advice to overcoming it?
2. did you first went randomly trough questions, looking for "winners" ( eg straightforward quant questions), or textual questions first?
3. did you maybe during learning stayed focused on more "valuable" parts ( valuation & RM and Financial M&P)?


Thanks a lot in advance

 

[wool]

Dear colleagues,
I did pretty bad (3342). I have gone trough all almost all material and mock exams which by the are real representer of exam ( on mine opinion, thanks @David Harper CFA FRM ), still failed due to time problem mostly and maybe exam strategy. I would appriciate support on following:
1. do anybody have speed problem, and what is advice to overcoming it?
2. did you first went randomly trough questions, looking for "winners" ( eg straightforward quant questions), or textual questions first?
3. did you maybe during learning stayed focused on more "valuable" parts ( valuation & RM and Financial M&P)?


Thanks a lot in advance

Hey @Branislav,
I am quoting some pointers i looked out for the part 1 exam:
1. After writing once, one must have already gained a clear understanding of where one is faltering via honest introspection. Once you have identified that start going through concepts once again and try to solve questions around those. Now, since you have already appeared once, you have an edge regarding what questions might come up and what questions one wants to solve to gain deeper understanding of the subject(which i think is wise if one wants to work in Risk although may be tedious if one is short of time). Choose accordingly to your objective.
2. To sit down and solve a paper for 4 hours straight might be overwhelming in the beginning for people who have been out of college for quite some time but I tried to overcome that by tranching my study sessions to be as long as possible till by productivity visibly declined. And say while solving, practice questions don't look at answers right away coz that sways the attention as one jumps to multiple connected concepts as well like in my case, beyond the intended qs. I had rather note down a word indicating the related topics i want to explore related to a particular qs and move on gaining some mileage however meager be my score total.
3. Some of my FRM friends and some on the FORUM advised to complete text based first and then the quant based ones (or vice-versa) but i stuck to solving them in a sequence so as to save time and also keep a realistic track of 'solving rate' per hour. If i am faltering, then I need to catch up sooner than later into the exam.
4. Although I am not sure if there are section based cutoffs, I think its better to hammer sections one is more confident and tread carefully thru ones where one is a laggard. I had mine so I tried my best to work on weak areas a little more to boost my confidence.

Overall, these are just thoughts I had like to share with you and it's not any expert advice. Above all, I hope you don't quit coz of this failure and stay persistent till you make it. All the Best and Best of Luck