Using the Site

[LL]

Hi David / Suzanne
I am new to BT and made level 1 tier 3 purchase.
I am having few doubts. Would appreciate if you can explain on this.

1. When I clicked on the Practice Questions under 'how to', I see that there are lot of questions posted prior to 2012.
My doubt is while preparing for May 2012 level 1, do I need to work on the questions posted prior to 2012 also or just restrict myself to 2012 ?
How would I come to know that the 'essential' questions posted by you in 2011/2010/2009 hold essential for 2012 as well ?

2. My second questions is on similar grounds. While accessing the study planner, I see so many listings under 'Suggested' which are as old as 2007 (which includes past years excels, notes, questions etc.). Should I restrict the preparation to just 2012 material or stretch it to prior years material too ?

 

[Suzanne Evans]

Hi LL,

In reference to #1: David writes practice questions daily which does go to the how-to section. These are also the same questions that are in the forum, here. After we complete a "set" (which is typically done by readings) we will then compile the questions of each set into a pdf document for our premium members. The pdf documents can be found in the how-to section or in the planner (which is were we typically like to send paid members). Yes, all of David's practice questions are relevant. I would follow the practice questions in the study planner. You will notice the practice questions are marked with a (?) icon.

In reference to #2: I didn't realize that older content was showing up and that was an error on our end. Those entries from 2007 should not have been in the planner. I have sense removed them. The 2011 content will remain in the study planner until the 2012 has been published. As you can see I have published the 2012 T1 and T5 study notes and removed the 2011 from the planner.

Thanks,
Suzanne

 

[David Harper CFA FRM]

Hi LL, I hope Suzanne's answer suffices because I just wanted to thank you for uploading a picture to the profile, I assume it's not really you but it's still a nice touch

 

[LL]

Suzanne / David,
Thank you for your response. Just to be more clear on this, when I am at the study planner, I see questions set titled 'T1 Modern Portfolio Theory & Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) (Elton & Gruber)'.
Is this the compiled set of all the questions for T1 ? I am a little confused as the questions start from question number 57. How do you do the numbering of the questions ?

David,
Thank you ! Yes, this pic is not me But I love this character. She is called 'Boo' and is from the movie 'Monsters Inc'
Monsters Inc is one of the best movies from Pixar.

 

[David Harper CFA FRM]

Hi LL,

I admit the questions sequence can be confusing. We are trying to improve, and in our defense, the key issue is that I write a new one each day, so it would be easier to organize a static set (and a lot less work!). But how it works:

In the Planner is: you are meant to SORT BY TOPIC. Each PDF practice question SET is a set of questions linked to a READING (or set of READINGS). The numbering systems is so we can reference in the forum and shows the sequence; e.g.,

• The Allen Case Studies is PDF document "T1. Allen Chapter 4.pdf" with questions P1.T1.50 to .56, then after those I wrote:
• The Elton MPT & CAPM PDF (yours above) which includes questions P1.T1.57 to .61

So, the document titles are meant to be the usable reference while the questions have an underlying sequence. However, it's always more confusing at the start of the year (now): as the year progresses, we will streamline and consolidate the PQ PDFs, but it takes time to both add new questions and impose structure.

Thanks for the background on the picture. That is so cool. I don't even know Boo and i already think she is adorable ... I can't believe my newphew didn't take me to see Monsters Inc, I am going to have to insist now! Thanks!

 

[LL]

Thanks David.

I am getting the hang of it now.
So 'T1. Allen Chapter 4.pdf' was published in 2010 and 'T1 Modern Portfolio Theory & Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) (Elton & Gruber)' in 2012.
I hope that means that we still have to solve the 2010 sheet and it still holds essential for 2012.
Is my understanding correct ?
Earlier I thought that I just need to follow 2012 material. But I think I am wrong in this assumption.

 

[Suzanne Evans]

Thanks David.

I am getting the hang of it now.
So 'T1. Allen Chapter 4.pdf' was published in 2010 and 'T1 Modern Portfolio Theory & Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) (Elton & Gruber)' in 2012.
I hope that means that we still have to solve the 2010 sheet and it still holds essential for 2012.
Is my understanding correct ?
Earlier I thought that I just need to follow 2012 material. But I think I am wrong in this assumption.

LL,

Yes, that is correct. Allen, Chapter 4 is still part of the 2012 curriculum.

Thanks,
Suzanne

 

[Hend Abuenein]

Hello Suzanne and David,

This is about using the site.

I have found over the past week or so that the questions you post everyday don't appear (for my account at least) in the How-to page, nor in the planner page.

I found about this by following your blog on google reader.

When you post a new question and it shows in the reader, I follow the link and it opens the question from the How-to page (mot the forum). This is a sample of what I will see

But if I don't open the reader and go directly to the How-to page, or the planner, and search for the same question (the same date, relevance, part and topic) this is what will appear :

I think you're posting more questions and groups of material than I can see in my account.

I started thinking this since you promised to publish groups of questions but I can't see them, knowing how you keep your word.

Please tell me if I'm doing something wrong. The first picture above shows on the right a column of T5 question that I can only find in the forum, but none of them appears in the How-to or planner.

Thanks

 

[Suzanne Evans]

Hello Suzanne and David,

This is about using the site.

I have found over the past week or so that the questions you post everyday don't appear (for my account at least) in the How-to page, nor in the planner page.

I found about this by following your blog on google reader.

When you post a new question and it shows in the reader, I follow the link and it opens the question from the How-to page (mot the forum). This is a sample of what I will see

But if I don't open the reader and go directly to the How-to page, or the planner, and search for the same question (the same date, relevance, part and topic) this is what will appear :

I think you're posting more questions and groups of material than I can see in my account.

I started thinking this since you promised to publish groups of questions but I can't see them, knowing how you keep your word.

Please tell me if I'm doing something wrong. The first picture above shows on the right a column of T5 question that I can only find in the forum, but none of them appears in the How-to or planner.

Thanks

Hi Hend,

Yes, I already see the problem of why you don't see them. We do post practice questions daily through the work week. The filters P1, P2, and P1+P2 are for the paid contents. When the practice questions are published, they are published as free. The only contents that are published under the P1+P2 are the paid assets which would be the pdf documents that you are seeing. If you select the free filter, you will see the practice questions that are written daily.

Thanks,
Suzanne

 

[Hend Abuenein]

Thank you
It wouldn't occur to me, being a paying customer, to look in the free section.
That clarifies it.

 

[David Harper CFA FRM]

Hend,

Suzanne is merely clarifying your question about viewing in the free section. In fact, due to density of the publishing schedule, we do not recommend paying customer use it. Rather, the study planner is expressly designed for paid members, the planner at http://www.bionicturtle.com/my-account/study-planner

As previously discussed, all practice questions are bundled into the more convenient PDFs in the planner. Everything useful arrives into the Study Planner, but in a more convenient format. For a paid member, the key reason to vary from the planner is simply to discuss in the forum. Thanks!

 

[ArbitUP]

I'm a bit confused as well. I just paid for Part 1, Tier 3. I see your calendar with when the items for this year are released, for example you are in the middle of doing the notes, and the videos are next month.

Yet when I look in How-to, I see tons of old videos, and tons of old notes. Some of them in the "free" section. Do I need to go back and read any of the old notes, or are the files that are going to be posted for this year going to be enough? For example is 2012 T1 Foundations good enough to cover that topic, or do I need to look at other notes as well? Same with the videos and spreadsheets. Do I need to be hunting down old information on the site in order to be totally prepared, or will your 2012 information fully cover everything that was previously posted?

 

[David Harper CFA FRM]

Hi Matt,

(Thanks for your purchase). As a paid customer, we really mean for you to use the Study Planner: http://www.bionicturtle.com/my-account/study-planner
That sorts by topic, we do keep the last year's resource, until it gets replaced by this year's update. But, for example, you'll see that it only lists the 2012 T1. Foundations Study Notes.

Yes, the 2012 information will (eventually) contain everything you need; but in the meantime, the 2011 references (that are relevant) remain in the Study Planner ... as we post fresh stuff, Suzanne moves the outdated material out of the planner. I hope that explains, thanks!

 

[Hend Abuenein]

Hi,

I got BT forums page set as one of my home pages, I just opened and forum recognized me as usual.
I went to the study planner and page didn't recognize me, tried to log in but username and/or password were rejected.
I hit the back button, and here I am , on the forums I'm recognized by the same username.

This happened before about a month ago.

 

[David Harper CFA FRM]

Hi Hend,

Thanks for the feedback. We did just take the site down to perform some upgrades. Our developer just tested your account and it seems to currently work (i.e., access the study planner). I think/hope it's fine now? Thanks,

 

[Hend Abuenein]

Thank you for your response David, but actually no, it didn't.
Trying to log in from the study planner page returned :

The following errors were encountered

• The existing username and/or password you submitted are not valid

Return to Previous Page

 

[David Harper CFA FRM]

Hi Hend, okay, sorry ... this is very unusual (but suspiciously coincident with our upgrade). Shawn and Suzanne are working on it now ... thanks,

 

[Suzanne Evans]

Thank you for your response David, but actually no, it didn't.
Trying to log in from the study planner page returned :

The following errors were encountered

• The existing username and/or password you submitted are not valid

Return to Previous Page

Hi Hend,

I would like to reset your password, however, before I do that I'd like to see if you can clear your cookies first and then see if you login fresh if that clears everything up. It sounds like you may have your computer remember you and when you go to the BT site, you are automatically already logged in. If you clear your cookies, that very well could clear up the issue. If you were already logged in during the upgrade, that could be the cause for the bug. If clearing your cookies doesn't work then we will go to step #2 and reset your password.

I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Thank you,
Suzanne

 

[Hend Abuenein]

Thank you Suzanne. I'll do that now. And if I can't log in after clearing the cookies, I'll write to you email.

 

[Suzanne Evans]

Thank you Suzanne. I'll do that now. And if I can't log in after clearing the cookies, I'll write to you email.

Thank you. I greatly appreciate it. Incase you need my email, [email protected]

Thanks again Hend!

Suzanne