Hi David,

I have enrolled for FRM 2008 and and i am totally new to this field.plz guide me how to prepare for FRM and from where should i start.Right now am reading John Hull.

Regards,
Anil

Hi Anil,

In case you don’t have the study guide and AIMs, I will upload them to the member section
(please check the member blog).

Hull is key, so that’s good. You may have noticed I answer this question, in its various forms, here on the forum. I trust you saw this sticky post.

My original plan with BT was:

1. Armed with the study guide and AIMs, start reading the core assigned
2. Next, supplement with my movie tutorials
3. Next, Read my notes (I yesterday published the Quant notes; see member 3rd column)
4. Then practice questions

and, new this year, please i really encourage:
5*. Work in a review of the EditGrid spreadsheets (I will soon be highlighting, in yellow, the more important ones to distinguish from those you can skip).

Okay, but admittedly, BT has evolved into a bit of a buffet as I have tried to respond to different stylistic preferences (while balancing sequential deployment). I sincerely, sincerely hope that, on balance, this is more useful. I realize some people prefer an exact plan.

But truly, I only feel strongly about the following two principles (and these apply regardless of the course provider):

1. That your plan starts with a review of core readings. If not all, then at least the essentials. (i forgot to provide a list, requested elsewhere on this forum, of the more critical readings versus the less critical readings. Ooops. I will post that list, of the critical readings, ASAP.)

2. That as you approach Fall, September, October, you have finished your review (core, notes, movies, XLS) such that you have largely cleared the deck to do practice questions. I honestly believe that if you’ve done your homework before Fall (i.e., been exposed at least twice, in whatever format, to the concepts) such that you are just taking practice questions near the end, you will pass.

The order/sequence of the in between, in my opinion, is not particularly consequential. e.g., last year, some customers just used the PPT as flashcards. This year, i sort of think, i am so massively deploying XLS, that a careful study of the XLS alone will put you in striking distance to pass (but not sufficient because they do not speak to the many qualitative elements, which frankly often reduce to lists).

So, okay: I’ll parse the core readings from essential versus not.  (I owe that on another thread). Aside from that, my soft suggestion for an order is: core, BT movies, BT notes, questions (and mix in XLS review).

Thanks, David

Hi David

I am really amazed by your approach of tackling the diverse queires raised by many of us. Keep it up. Ok here follows one more question from me. Please pardon if it sounds dumb!

I understand that you strongly recommend the studies in the following order:

1. Core reading
2. Screen Cast
3. BT notes
4. Practice questions.

However I believe that this 4 things has to be done simultaneously. For e.g. currently I am referring Core readings for Bond prices (Tuckman) since I am aware of some concepts over there and spend some time on the Early bird screencast which includes Quant, Debt, Credit risk etc. But however, the screencast and the core readings are not related. Should I stop this practice. Though I am able to grasp the Early bird screencast but core readings on Bond proces to some extent is going above my head.

Would appreciate if you could suggest me the correct method and flow so that consistency is maintained between the readings.

Since you are producing your notes on Quant first plus you have already produced screen cast on Quant, should I start my core reading pertaining to Quant and stop referring the Bond related Core readings?. Please suggest?

FYI- you must be aware that we, from India are still not able to buy your product so we are not able to view your latest screencasts and notes.

Thanks

Sumit

Hi Sumit,

Thanks, the forum is a great learning for me, too! (there aren’t any dumb questions here!). To tell the truth about the order, the only thing I believe strongly about the order is:

1. Core
2. What works for you
3. What works for you
4. Practice questions

So I personally only have two principles at work, here, in regard to order (but I don’t pretend to have cracked the code on this):

1st. that the year should start with a study of the core. Why? Because as the year proceeds, and stress mounts, you are naturally going to feel like you have less and less time to savor the core. IMO, the hardest thing to do vis a vis discipline is to attack the many readings early in the year. People who procrastinate until Sept have no chance of reading the core in their fullness.

4th (or 5th). That you finish the year, ahead of the test, with plenty of time allocated to practice questions. Again, people who procrastinate never find the time to do nearly as many practice questions.

I sincerly believe the in-between sequence can vary. “But however, the screencast and the core readings are not related. Should I stop this practice” No, I do not think that is a problem. Did you notice i blogged a credit spread option question? Maybe you are not ready for that...but still, it will not be wasted effort, IMO.

“the correct method and flow so that consistency is maintained between the readings.” Let’s admit one limiter is that I don’t deploy everything at once, right? The movies sequence over time. So, the best order I have is the STUDY GUIDE itself. The Study Guide is the order of my deployment....

“FYI- you must be aware that we, from India are still not able to buy your product so we are not able to view your latest screencasts and notes.” Yes, but GOOGLE CHECKOUT will be ready tomorrow, and I am told, it should work for India…

David

Hi David

Was just trying to locate the sample notes on Quant recently published by you but could not locate it. Can you please provide me the link.

thanks

Sumit

Sumit,

On the member page (premium tab), the notes are at the top of the third column. The Quant Notes (not samples, these are the ‘first discipline’ notes) are top of third column.

I realize the member page is getting quite dense - I am going to ask Lea (who designed this fabulous new site) for help on clarifying the member page a bit; e.g., we will colorize/highlight the new resources. In the meantime, everything is “most recent at top” and, i hope it is clear, we are going in order of the study guide…

David

David
I am about to start studying, have read through and number of posts on the forum and your subsequent replies which have been helpful - both the Q’s & A’s. Most of these have covered my questions and given me an understanding of how the BT course works. My plan is;

Effectively per your guidance on this forum;
1. Review Study Guide and AIMS,
2. Core Readings with early birds (depending on how my subsequent understanding of the fundamentals).
3. Screencasts and Notes from BT
4. Questions/XLS

In my case I am a good few years out of university and generally rusty in the study arena (the quant topics will be the main challange I suspect) I suspect purchasing and reviewing the core readings (v2) from Garp is more important in cases such as mine?

Your confirmation would be appreaciated.
Thanks and rgds
Dan

Hi Dan,

Your plan is exactly as I intended. Although you will note: I think, strictly speaking, in my opinion that any plan is a good plan that “bookends” the year with (i) a start by reading the core and (ii) a finish with rigorous finish with practice questions.

(btw, i just spoke with my developer and it looks like there is a 80% chance the 2008 quizzes will be downloadable/portable. I am very excited about sharing portable quiz functionality!)

“I suspect purchasing and reviewing the core readings (v2) from Garp is more important in cases such as mine?”
Since you say it that way, yes, I agree the core is important. A precious few can skip some/many of them, but they must know exactly why they can do this. For the vast majority of us, bypassing core reading is not advisable.

Also, I will add, if the quant is a hurdle (i am broken record here now) I really do think some of the EditGrid/XLS sheets ought to be helpful. (I will soon color code the more critical XLS, so they can be distinguished, as I have uploaded many).

Hope that helps, thanks! David