Should I take both parts or just part 1 in November

[andorv]

Hi David,

I am planning to sit for the FRM exam this November and will start prep from 2nd week of May. I am coming out of college and will be having a job from June onwards. I wish to clear both Part 1 & 2 in one go. Is it too ambitious of me?

I have cleared CFA L1 and coming from math/physics, have a solid quant background. Just to give you a measure, it took me 3 months to prep for CFA L1 and I cleared it more than comfortably. I have calculated that I can devote 2 hours per weekday and a total of 10 hours on weekends summing up to 20 hours per week. Obviously these nos will fall when work load is high.

Will the time be enough? Should I go just for Part 1? To save time, I have also decided to bypass the core readings (except some parts) and trust BT completely.

 

[David Harper CFA FRM]

Hi Andorv

Yes, absolutely, in your case, this plan is reasonable (i.e., not aggressive, quite do-able with expectation of passing). Importantly conditional on (i) you've cleared CFA (much of the material will be familiar) and (ii) you have a solid quant background (some quant background, in my experience, is the #1 determinant of prep time required; without it, prep time easily doubles or triples).
... those without a bit of quant background should not necessarily follow this plan. Quite a few without quant background underestimate the exam

Plus you are organizing around a methodical schedule. If I have it right, before exceptions (weeks were work interferes), ~27 weeks @ target 20 hours = 540 hrs - exceptions. All in: reasonable with room to spare.

Re: "decided to bypass the core readings (except some parts) and trust BT completely" ... thanks but, er, I wish you wouldn't trust us utterly w/o core supplements. (the reason is due to the exam's tracking error. You will see the FRM has greater "tracking error" than the CFA, by which i mean assigned vs. tested. In practice, this implies a more disperse preparation to achieve confident state).

... it won't be quite ready for your start (May 10) but soon after, associated with our re-launch, we will have some planners (with gradients; e.g., cram, methodical) that will articulate my guidance (ie., which core i think are critical)

Hope that helps, thanks for liking BT! David

 

[andorv]

Hi David,

Thanks for the reply. I am pump[ed up with your encouragement.

You said that 540 hrs are reasonable with room to spare. I would like to ask you, for a candidate with good quant background like me, how much time is required for Parts 1 & 2 individually, both with and without core readings?I am asking so because in the worst case scenario if my job doesn't allow me my planned time, I need to have Plan B (i.e. taking just Part 1).

Your info about the tracking error has put me in a fix. I have gone through some of the core readings. They are great and I enjoy them BUT therefore very time consuming compared to the reading material of one of your competitors. Students face a moral dilemma between in-depth learning and maximizing exam performance given the time constraints. I think it would be a good idea to initiate a poll in this forum regarding how many BT users are or were actually using the core readings. People have also found some core readings very helpful and strongly advise going through them. You could also incorporate this aspect in the poll.

Having cleared CFA L1, people approach me all the time regarding prep and their only question is : should we study the CFAI books? Because I have gone through a lot of materials myself I am able to give them area by area guidance regarding what to read from where. But of course I have info about the background of the people and given the diversity of your students, you have a much more difficult task. But I just want to bring home the importance of this quandary.

 

[initiator]

My understanding was that you can only do/take one exam at a time as both exams are offered on the same day and at the same time. Please clarify!

thanks

 

[andorv]

Yes, you can take Part 1 in the morning and Part 2 in the evening.