Exam Feedback October 2020 Part 2 Exam Feedback

[sandrasp]

Thanks. Well, I had access to both Kaplan and BT but due to lack of time mostly used Kaplan as it’s better structured and well organised. So I managed to read all their books and used their Q-Bank.
However, I regretted numerous times during my preparation that I bothered with Q-Bank at all (at least for Part II) as questions are simply too easy and not representative at all (Mocks are better though). And if I had to retake the exam I would definitely use BT questions. But I would probably still read Schweser notes though.

Thanks for your reply! I have read Schweser notes and I'm also working on their mocks too. I will definitely also use BT for their questions, hopefully they reinforce me and hopefully get me to a pass.

 

[mattheweidinger]

Has the passing rate been published?

 

[MongoBongo]

Has the passing rate been published?

Kaplan Schweser has published the passing rates:
42% for part 1
61% for part 2

Source: https://www.schweser.com/frm/blog/become-a-financial-risk-manager/how-hard-is-the-frm-exam

 

[SheOlya]

Kaplan Schweser has published the passing rates:
42% for part 1
61% for part 2

Source: https://www.schweser.com/frm/blog/become-a-financial-risk-manager/how-hard-is-the-frm-exam

I think this is wrong, they meant May 2019 not May 2020. The post is dated to April 2020. I think the official pass rates for October 2020 are not published yet.

 

[Nicole Seaman]

So basically, Nicole, what you're telling me after reading this thread....a longer, less transparent, and more frustrating version of the waiting game has commenced again

I do hope that this is not the case, although it is definitely a waiting game when it comes to approving work experience. I've seen it take up to 2 months for some people. :/

 

[Nicole Seaman]

Kaplan Schweser has published the passing rates:
42% for part 1
61% for part 2

Source: https://www.schweser.com/frm/blog/become-a-financial-risk-manager/how-hard-is-the-frm-exam

I'm not sure if this is accurate, as the post is dated April 2020. The pass rates for May 2019 were 42% for Part 1 and 60% for Part 2 so this may be pertaining to 2019 and not 2020. The pass rate is not usually immediately released. I always watch for the pass rate announcement and then we will update our pass rate comparison chart that shows the pass rate over the past few years.

 

[Hedwig_who_has_red_socks]

I just want to say to those who didn't make it, never ever give up.

 

[ashishishere]

Hi All - Are there any sample writeups which can be referred to for 'work experience' process for FRM Certification? Any do's and dont's suggestions will be highly appreciated. Thanks in advance

 

[Nicole Seaman]

Hi All - Are there any sample writeups which can be referred to for 'work experience' process for FRM Certification? Any do's and dont's suggestions will be highly appreciated. Thanks in advance

@ashishishere I am not aware of any specific instructions or sample writeups, but I know that people have discussed the work experience process in the forum over the years. You can use the search function to look for threads that discuss "work experience". I think that this would be very helpful to candidates, so I am going to add this to our task list so we can compile some information from some of our members who have already gone through the process. I will also to create a thread so we can take suggestions from our members, as this would be extremely useful in the future.

 

[horovma]

Thanks. Well, I had access to both Kaplan and BT but due to lack of time mostly used Kaplan as it’s better structured and well organised. So I managed to read all their books and used their Q-Bank.
However, I regretted numerous times during my preparation that I bothered with Q-Bank at all (at least for Part II) as questions are simply too easy and not representative at all (Mocks are better though). And if I had to retake the exam I would definitely use BT questions. But I would probably still read Schweser notes though.

I took both also.

I had limited time to study (ok i dedicated limited time which is not good) so i did intensive last-month revision based on Kaplan and BT.
I have to admit that for level 2, i was quite disappointed by BT this time. The explanations are good and a useful complement to Kaplan (although sometimes way too detailed), but the questions seemed to me sometimes completely beyond the scope of the work programme, where i could not have guessed the answer neither based on BT lessons or Kaplan lessons. So i have to admit that i eventually made quite limited use of BT questions (or i did not take time to focus on understanding the questions where the answer could not even be found based on BT's study notes). I found the 2 kaplan practice exams (plus the FRM exams) very useful and that proved to be sufficient for me (complemented by the questions of BT which seemed to be in the scope - despite more challenging that in Kaplan,, which was why it was a useful complement).

Note thought that the quantitative aspects of the actual exams were closer to the level of Kaplan than that of BT.
So i was a little bit disappointed (note that on the contrary BT level 1 test proved very useful).

 

[Nicole Seaman]

I took both also.

I had limited time to study (ok i dedicated limited time which is not good) so i did intensive last-month revision based on Kaplan and BT.
I have to admit that for level 2, i was quite disappointed by BT this time. The explanations are good and a useful complement to Kaplan (although sometimes way too detailed), but the questions seemed to me sometimes completely beyond the scope of the work programme, where i could not have guessed the answer neither based on BT lessons or Kaplan lessons. So i have to admit that i eventually made quite limited use of BT questions (or i did not take time to focus on understanding the questions where the answer could not even be found based on BT's study notes). I found the 2 kaplan practice exams (plus the FRM exams) very useful and that proved to be sufficient for me (complemented by the questions of BT which seemed to be in the scope - despite more challenging that in Kaplan,, which was why it was a useful complement).

Note thought that the quantitative aspects of the actual exams were closer to the level of Kaplan than that of BT.
So i was a little bit disappointed (note that on the contrary BT level 1 test proved very useful).

@horovma

I just wanted to point out, in case new members see your comment, that BT questions are intentionally harder than the exam questions, as we are trying to help our members to learn the concepts in-depth for real-world situations rather than just memorizing them for the exam. This is one reason that our forum is an excellent resource because we post all of our practice questions here so members can ask questions and discuss the concepts. David spends many hours writing the practice questions to make sure that the concepts are fully covered so our members go into the exam with confidence.

 

[seevvlee]

Hi all!

Any feedback on certification? Seems a little slow isn't it?

Maybe they lumped us into the recently released batch of Nov 2020 to review at one go. Means another 4 to 6 weeks?

 

[randomname]

No feedback so far, 6 weeks now is indeed a bit slow just for checking this small piece of information

 

[mattheweidinger]

Does anyone know what the percentage of passing candidates was? I can't find it online.

 

[SheOlya]

No, seems like they have not released any passing rate. Not sure whether they want to release one pass rate for whole 2020 batch?!

 

[Nicole Seaman]

Hello @mattheweidinger

I posted this in the November feedback thread also, but I wanted to make sure it was here in the October thread also. I don't believe they have released the pass rate for the 2020 exams yet. I can try to find out from GARP when they plan on doing this, but we always post it in the forum when they release them.

 

[mattheweidinger]

Hello @mattheweidinger

I posted this in the November feedback thread also, but I wanted to make sure it was here in the October thread also. I don't believe they have released the pass rate for the 2020 exams yet. I can try to find out from GARP when they plan on doing this, but we always post it in the forum when they release them.

Thanks, @Nicole Seaman. I know that you also replied in the other thread, but I'll post my comments here for simplicity.

I am just curious how the different (candidate) sample sizes will factor into minimum passing scores and passing rates at each of October, November and January exams, given that there were so many deferrals, double deferrals, triple deferrals, etc.

From what I know only Montreal, Paris and Melbourne wrote exams in January?

 

[taknev]

Thanks, @Nicole Seaman. I know that you also replied in the other thread, but I'll post my comments here for simplicity.

I am just curious how the different (candidate) sample sizes will factor into minimum passing scores and passing rates at each of October, November and January exams, given that there were so many deferrals, double deferrals, triple deferrals, etc.

From what I know only Montreal, Paris and Melbourne wrote exams in January?

Large number of candidates from India too took the Jan 2021 exam. This was bcos Nov 2020 exam was postponed.

 

[mattheweidinger]

Large number of candidates from India too took the Jan 2021 exam. This was bcos Nov 2020 exam was postponed.

Do you know how many people wrote in India? Sorry for being a bugger about this

I wonder if there is a list of cities where the exams were held in Jan 2021. Seems it will be a small list, considering the Jan exams only apply to deferred May/October 2020 and November 2020 tests...

 

[Nicole Seaman]

Pass Rates: I will cross-post this on the other feedback threads, but I contacted GARP regarding the pass rates, and they said pass rates for the October and November exams will be released around February 1st. I don't have any other information than this but wanted to let everyone know so you aren't continuing to look for the pass rates before they are actually released.