Passed FRM '08, Thank You David!

[dwilusz]

Hi David,

The inauguration AND FRM results on the same day... that was a lot to take in!

Passed the exam thanks to much help from both yourself and Schweser. Your in-depth coverage of the more technical topics was definitely superior to Schweser's, which I thought was too light and easy in places. Their "concept checkers" were a joke, which was surprising given that their CFA materials are generally good. Your Basel reference sheet is fantastic. Your cram sessions were awesome - the perfect thing to watch in the days just before the exam. The test was very hard, perhaps even unfair in places, and I was a bit surprised to learn that I passed, to be honest. Some subjects were tested repeatedly while others not at all. Having gone through CFA-2 earlier in the year probably helped as well (failed in 10th band unfortunately).

Just wanted to say thanks for all your efforts at Bionic Turtle. It's truly a great resource, and I would recommend it most highly to anyone sitting for the FRM. Keep up the great work!

All the best,
-Dave

 

[David Harper CFA FRM]

Dave,

Thanks for the feedback, thank you! Congrats on the result!

I especially appreciate this sentence and agree with your implication: "The test was very hard, perhaps even unfair in places, and I was a bit surprised to learn that I passed, to be honest."

I think there are two aspects to the perceived unfairness, one GARP needs to fix, the other is perhaps intrinsic to a modern risk cirriculum:

1.GARP needs to improve the "fairness" of the exam; i.e., the *alignment* between assignments, AIMs, sample questions and exams; IMO, there is too much tracking error that gives rise to arguable unfairness. This has been the primary focus of my f/back to them. GARP leadership has been very responsive frankly to this criticism so I am expectant/hopeful going forward.

2. But also, as the exam annually and dynamically updates the cirriculum with expert authors, I think the exam will always be hard to predict or extrapolate from recent papers. I think this is a virtuous element, quite aside from (1) above, in GARP's approach where they are discouraging "gaming" and "mere rote memorization." In defense of this approach, I must observe: well-prepared candidates do seem to pass even as they have *exactly* your feeling ("I was surprised").

So, I think your reaction is helpful guidance to any FRM candidate. Thanks again!

David

 

[Vijaya Kumar]

Hey Dave,

Congrats on the result. I am starting the preparation for FRM 2009. It would be of great help if you throw some light on the preparation method. If u have any schweser notes, send that as well to this e-mail id: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Thanks
Vijay