Course Questions about BT Quizzes & PQs

[AUola2165]

I just completed the "Part 1 Full Length Interactive Mock Exam 1". I scored 57% which I guess is OK at this point of preparation. But I have a few questions, not so much regarding the actual exam questions but the overall set-up of the exam:


1. It seems as the interactive quiz doesn't allow to go back on questions or leave a question unanswered (in order to go back on it and think more about it). Once a question is answered, there is no way on changing it. Is this done on purpose or is it a glitch? I have never sat in a FRM exam so is this the way the actual FRM exam is set up?

2. The BT exam contains terminology (such as "Margrabe variation", "Capital Multiplier") that doesn't exist in the GARP FRM curriculum, only in the BT material. Is this something we should expect in the actual FRM exam? Do the FRM exam question come directly from the actual GARP FRM curriculum?

3. The questions were rather wordy. Maybe it's because English isn't my first language but reading through 2-4-paragraph questions, first trying to understand what the question is all about, then actually solving the problem, takes a lot of time, more than the 2,5-3,5min allotted per question.. Are the actual FRM exams comparable to the BT exam when it comes to the length of the questions? For example, CFA-exams tend to be, aside from Level 3 AM-session, quite straight to the point with questions max 2 sentence.

4. Where are the exam question discussed on the BT forum? Some questions have link to the threads, some don't. For example, if I want to ask a question regarding "2. question", what search term should I use? How is, for example, "BT2012.P1.03" supposed to be interpreted?

 

[David Harper CFA FRM]

HI @AUola2165

1. @Nicole Seaman do you happen to know the answer to this ...
2. The PQs (including Mock) are always written against the then-prevailing assigned material. If a PQ was written in 2019 but GARP switched authors/assignments, some terminology will "leak". All EPPs have this problem, but less well understood is that GARP's exams don't perfectly match the current readings either! So, yes, you can expect some tracking error (is what I call it) also in the exam. Both EPPs and GARP are really teaching/testing on a rolling average: the last 3-5 years of material inform the 80%+ material. At the same time, a reading that is totally new in 2023 is far less likely to be tested on its literal terms because it hasn't quite seasoned; it is more likely to be tested in the 2nd, 3rd year etc.
3. Re: Too wordy is actually not a gripe we've gotten. Lately, the exam has been more wordy. TBH, I'm lately writing more wordy narrative introductions because GARP has increased the proportion of conceptual question. In summary with respect to "too wordy," on average, I do not think we are more wordy. Now, to your point raised here, our questions do take the time to carefully define terminology and ensure precise, coherent setups (which sometimes GARP is too sloppy about!). Re: difficult level: this is a different dimension, yes? As I think you know, we are known write PQs that, on average, are harder than the exam. This is absolutely true.
4. I don't know exactly what you mean. You can search on any quasi-unique term in the text. Plus we have tags (that I wish more customers knew about). For example, https://forum.bionicturtle.com/tags/tracking-error/ or (Andrew Ang the P1.T9 author) https://forum.bionicturtle.com/tags/ang/

Hope that's helpful!

 

[Nicole Seaman]

@AUola2165

• Regarding your first question: "It seems as the interactive quiz doesn't allow to go back on questions or leave a question unanswered (in order to go back on it and think more about it). Once a question is answered, there is no way on changing it. Is this done on purpose or is it a glitch? I have never sat in a FRM exam so is this the way the actual FRM exam is set up?"
  
  This is the way our quizzes are currently set up. Unfortunately, we are not able to change that because the quiz feature on the platform that we use does not allow you to go back or click out of the quiz in any way. Our BT quiz format is not set up to replicate the FRM exam. We don't see the actual FRM exams, so we haven't seen their exact setup. Exciting news!! In 2024, we will be changing the way that our PQ bank and quizzes are set up. There will be more interactive features, and it will be much more user-friendly.

• Regarding your last question: "Where are the exam question discussed on the BT forum? Some questions have link to the threads, some don't. For example, if I want to ask a question regarding "2. question", what search term should I use? How is, for example, "BT2012.P1.03" supposed to be interpreted?"

There are no actual exam questions in our study materials or in the forum, as nobody ever has access to the actual FRM exams that GARP administers. There is a section in the forum that discusses GARP's practice exam questions. All of the other practice questions that are in the forum are the PQs that David has written. There are forum links in the PQ PDFs in the study planner for each practice question. You can ask questions about those specific questions in that PQs forum thread. For the Mock exams, you can download the answer key from the study planner and every forum link for each question is included there. ​

​

Also, your screenshot shows 2012 PQs that David wrote. Those are very old questions. I recommend studying the practice questions that are in your purchased study materials. The practice question PDFs in the study planner cover the most recent concepts that are covered in the FRM exam. The PQs in the forum are the same as the PQs in the study planner PDFs. I don't recommend studying the PQs directly from the forum. Our study planner is designed to help you keep track of the topics and chapters that you have studied. You can mark items complete or go back to them later on. Studying the PQs directly from the forum doesn't allow that.​

​

I encourage you to go through the FAQ section of our forum to familiarize yourself with the way that BT is set up and to learn how to create a study plan that works for you. We also have a helpful blog with information on incorporating the forum into your study plan: https://www.bionicturtle.com/utilizing-the-bionic-turtle-frm-forum.

I hope this information helps to further explain! Thank you.

​

 

[AUola2165]

@AUola2165

• Regarding your first question: "It seems as the interactive quiz doesn't allow to go back on questions or leave a question unanswered (in order to go back on it and think more about it). Once a question is answered, there is no way on changing it. Is this done on purpose or is it a glitch? I have never sat in a FRM exam so is this the way the actual FRM exam is set up?"
  
  This is the way our quizzes are currently set up. Unfortunately, we are not able to change that because the quiz feature on the platform that we use does not allow you to go back or click out of the quiz in any way. Our BT quiz format is not set up to replicate the FRM exam. We don't see the actual FRM exams, so we haven't seen their exact setup. Exciting news!! In 2024, we will be changing the way that our PQ bank and quizzes are set up. There will be more interactive features, and it will be much more user-friendly.

• Regarding your last question: "Where are the exam question discussed on the BT forum? Some questions have link to the threads, some don't. For example, if I want to ask a question regarding "2. question", what search term should I use? How is, for example, "BT2012.P1.03" supposed to be interpreted?"

There are no actual exam questions in our study materials or in the forum, as nobody ever has access to the actual FRM exams that GARP administers. There is a section in the forum that discusses GARP's practice exam questions. All of the other practice questions that are in the forum are the PQs that David has written. There are forum links in the PQ PDFs in the study planner for each practice question. You can ask questions about those specific questions in that PQs forum thread. For the Mock exams, you can download the answer key from the study planner and every forum link for each question is included there. ​

​

Also, your screenshot shows 2012 PQs that David wrote. Those are very old questions. I recommend studying the practice questions that are in your purchased study materials. The practice question PDFs in the study planner cover the most recent concepts that are covered in the FRM exam. The PQs in the forum are the same as the PQs in the study planner PDFs. I don't recommend studying the PQs directly from the forum. Our study planner is designed to help you keep track of the topics and chapters that you have studied. You can mark items complete or go back to them later on. Studying the PQs directly from the forum doesn't allow that.​

​

I encourage you to go through the FAQ section of our forum to familiarize yourself with the way that BT is set up and to learn how to create a study plan that works for you. We also have a helpful blog with information on incorporating the forum into your study plan: https://www.bionicturtle.com/utilizing-the-bionic-turtle-frm-forum.

I hope this information helps to further explain! Thank you.

​

Thanks Nicole, and apologizes for my choice of words, I wasn't very clear in my previous message. What I meant with "exam questions" is in fact the BT Mock exams found in the BT material. I am in the process of going through my answers to the Mock #1 and I'd wish to avoid starting a new thread for questions which have probably been asked in this forum. So, for example, if I have wish to search the forum for a question #45 from BT Mock #1, what search term should I use?

 

[Nicole Seaman]

Thanks Nicole, and apologizes for my choice of words, I wasn't very clear in my previous message. What I meant with "exam questions" is in fact the BT Mock exams found in the BT material. I am in the process of going through my answers to the Mock #1 and I'd wish to avoid starting a new thread for questions which have probably been asked in this forum. So, for example, if I have wish to search the forum for a question #45 from BT Mock #1, what search term should I use?

Hello @AUola2165 When you click on the Mock Exams in the study planner, you will see an orange button at the top that says "Download Answer Key". Every mock exam question has a forum thread associated with it, and each forum thread is listed in that answer key.