Practice exam scores!

[brian.field]

Please share your information (if you can) for future test takers!

In my studies for Actuarial Exams at The Infinite Actuary, I found it extremely helpful when students would report their practice exam scores and then, after taking the actual exam, report their result. I think this will give us a better idea of how well prepared we are for the actual test, compared to our peers.
I have 6 practice exams, namely, the following (feel free to add other practice exams):

Schweser's 2013 Practice Exam #1: SCORE:
Schweser's 2013 Practice Exam #2: SCORE:
GARP's 2011 Practice Exam: SCORE:
GARP's 2012 Practice Exam: SCORE:
GARP's 2013 Practice Exam: SCORE:
Schweser's 2013 Final Review Exam: SCORE:

NOVEMBER 2014 FRM Part II Exam Result: PASS / FAIL and QUANTILES

Best of luck!

Brian

 

[brian.field]

Can people please share your practice exam scores? Although I decided to postpone my part 2 exam until November, I really think that this information is valuable for all of us.

Best of luck on the 16th!!!!

Brian

 

[tosuhn]

hi @brianhfield mind sharing the Schweser practice exams?
regards,
Sun

 

[prebhan27]

I have done the practice exam 2015 from GARP recently and I am feeling very unconfident right now: 8/25, considering only those questions that I finished in 60 min.
What is your experience? Is the GARP pratice exam, regarding time pressure and level of difficulty, possibly harder than the actual exam ?

 

[murrayf]

From the intro to the practice exam:

"These Practice Exams are based on a sample of questions from the 2011 through 2014 FRM Exams and are suggestive of the questions that will be in the 2015 FRM Examination."

There is always discussion about the difficulty compared to the actual, but they should not be far off. Review the questions you got wrong, do some BT questions along the same lines, and try another exam.

Doing the same myself (scoring 68% and 76% for 2011, 2012), and completing 25 questions in an hour was a shock. Not sure I can do that for 4 hours .....

Edit: my results, all Part 1:

BT Mock A 75 minutes 52%
Garp 2011 60 minutes 68%
Garp 2012 60 minutes 76%
Garp 2013 60 minutes 68%

 

[ShaktiRathore]

Hi
The practice exam are representative of actual exam,i dont think they are different in terms of difficulty but yes its possible David a little more tough so that it provides you with enough practice so that you can handle less difficult exam quesrions with ease.
Thanks

 

[BTO]

I am scoring in the 60%/70% as well. I don't know which is more depressing, that I find it tougher than expected or that there are many in the same boat as me!

 

[prebhan27]

From my GARP account I only get the 2015 Practice Exam. Can I ask you, where you have the older GARP Practice exams (2013,2012 etc) from ?

 

[Delo]

@prebhan27 ..check here
https://forum.bionicturtle.com/threads/practice-exam-scores-and-actual-exam-result.7650/#post-34370

 

[td]

I followed the link and didn't have the appropriate permissions to view the 2010-2014 practice exams. Can anyone post a link here? I am a BT subscriber so am not sure why I can't access the files.
Thanks

 

[JC5]

I am scoring in the 60%/70% as well. I don't know which is more depressing, that I find it tougher than expected or that there are many in the same boat as me!

For what it's worth ...
BT questions seem tougher and contain multiple steps (build upon itself) compare to GARP. You only have about 2.5 minutes per question so the calculations will not be as complex for every exam question. Some questions are simply plugging numbers into a formula. Also, you don't need a perfect score just a passing score.

At this point in the game I would recommend perfecting what you know and try to grasp some of the "easier" concepts you have not mastered. It may just be too late in the game to fully understand complex concepts when you can understand multiple easier concepts. Work on the GARP exams questions to become familiar with how questions are asked.

 

[prebhan27]

@ckat.. Thanks for the links, but I unfortunately have the same problems as td, above. You might be so kind to post the links here?

 

[Delo]

@prebhan27 ..Attached

 

[prebhan27]

Thanks @ckat . Great help !

 

[BTO]

For what it's worth ...
BT questions seem tougher and contain multiple steps (build upon itself) compare to GARP. You only have about 2.5 minutes per question so the calculations will not be as complex for every exam question. Some questions are simply plugging numbers into a formula. Also, you don't need a perfect score just a passing score.

At this point in the game I would recommend perfecting what you know and try to grasp some of the "easier" concepts you have not mastered. It may just be too late in the game to fully understand complex concepts when you can understand multiple easier concepts. Work on the GARP exams questions to become familiar with how questions are asked.

Thanks. I know from part 1 that GARP exams aren't as tough as BT's but this is my GARP Part 2 FRM practice exam score range! I guess Part 1 exam was easier given crossover knowledge from CFA but part 2...just haven't prepared as well. Forget many of the formulas and qualitative elements as soon as I finish reading them!

 

[murrayf]

From reading past comments it seems that candidates with practice scores around 70% did ok. Can anyone comment? At what level should we start to gain some confidence?

 

[BTO]

From reading past comments it seems that candidates with practice scores around 70% did ok. Can anyone comment? At what level should we start to gain some confidence?

Naturally comfort level with this things is very subjective - function of individual risk aversion? For Part 1 last year, my worst score was probably in the mid 80%. That gave me comfort that even if under exam condition I drop a bit, it should still be in the ball park of a pass and it was. Maybe I aimed to high.

 

[ami44]

I agree, 70% with practice exams seems OK to me. For part one I had around 70% with Schweser practice exams and I passed with 1211.

 

[tosuhn]

Feeling panic..
Have only been getting 60% for the practice exams

 

[ami44]

Feeling panic..
Have only been getting 60% for the practice exams

If the score is from BT exam, I believe you have a good chance to pass.