Testimonials
Hi David, Your excel file once again prove that it is very helpful to illustrate concept by numbers and graph. It is very nice to visualize it. I find it so unique in BT that no other souce of training can be compared with. Click here for forum post.
I was not a bionic turtle candidate but profited immensely from David Harper's posts during my successful campaign for the FRM 2009 (full) examination. Please convey my gratitude to him - he is the best in the world and everyone knows it. I would have written to him personally, but do not have his ID; would appreciate if you forwarded this mail to him.
Needless to add, I look forward to reading his posts and keep learning.
Very timesaving when preparing for the FRM.
Hi David,
I was going through this entire conversation and I couldn’t resist to mention here that your attitude towards the queries and the clarity and openness of your responses is just amazing. I’ve never witnessed this standard before.
No wonder the appreciaton levels in testimonials is so high.
Keep it up.
I was going through this entire conversation and I couldn’t resist to mention here that your attitude towards the queries and the clarity and openness of your responses is just amazing. I’ve never witnessed this standard before.
No wonder the appreciaton levels in testimonials is so high.
Keep it up.
Bionic Turtle helped in reinforcing the FRM concepts through screencasts and practice
questions. Reading the material (from notes or required readings) is not enough
; validation of the required knowledge through active listening using the BT screencasts
and a disciplined-approach in answering practice questions proved effective in
my case. I got 7 out of 9 of the topics at 1st quartile.
My background is engineering and I started from ground zero but David was such a
great help! He is simply THE FRM provider. I passed Level 1 and 2 (Full exam) while
my colleagues who are experienced bankers (and did not use Bionic Turtle) failed
. The tutorials are simply the best - concise, precise, simple and clear. And the
teaching is first class! And David provided prompt almost immediate replies to
questions. Bionic Turtle is heads and shoulders over the rest - by miles and miles
. It is simply THE BEST - there simply is no other.
It was the Sunday - 6 days before the exam, my FRM Level 1 exam preparation was all going haywire - the only readings I had completed till then were the Hull Chapters. My friends said that spending $200 odd (A quarter of my monthly salary) on BT Level 1 training would be a waste, but to me it seemed inevitable - my prep was getting so out of control. And looking back, certainly it looks like one of the best financial risks I have ever taken in my life.
So, I registered, put all the videos into my iPod and then it all took off. What followed were 4 days of David's voice into my ears - relentlessly feeding the fundamentals into my mind. And to my happiest shock ever, on Friday I absolutely cruised through when I attempted the sample paper. Finally on the exam on Saturday, it wasn't much of a surprise when I attempted 98 out of the 100 questions and was doubtful only about a couple of my attempts.
I am not at all endorsing that there are any shortcuts to FRM prep. I confess that I have a very strong mathematical background and I was lucky enough to have laid a strong foundation by completing the Hull readings till the week before the exam. One certainly needs to graft through Hull (and hopefully enjoy it), but rest of the portion of the Level 1 course is quite straightforward (given one is comfortable about the math). That done, what is required is a focused training material which not only covers the exam oriented portion, but also keeps one hooked onto it and is a net value addition in terms of practical financial knowledge - in other words, "David's Videos".
I look forward to BT's level 2 training, and this time despite busy work schedules I better do it in a more planned way - David's videos + some interesting portions of related readings seems to be the plan so as to ensure maximum learning and retention.
So, I registered, put all the videos into my iPod and then it all took off. What followed were 4 days of David's voice into my ears - relentlessly feeding the fundamentals into my mind. And to my happiest shock ever, on Friday I absolutely cruised through when I attempted the sample paper. Finally on the exam on Saturday, it wasn't much of a surprise when I attempted 98 out of the 100 questions and was doubtful only about a couple of my attempts.
I am not at all endorsing that there are any shortcuts to FRM prep. I confess that I have a very strong mathematical background and I was lucky enough to have laid a strong foundation by completing the Hull readings till the week before the exam. One certainly needs to graft through Hull (and hopefully enjoy it), but rest of the portion of the Level 1 course is quite straightforward (given one is comfortable about the math). That done, what is required is a focused training material which not only covers the exam oriented portion, but also keeps one hooked onto it and is a net value addition in terms of practical financial knowledge - in other words, "David's Videos".
I look forward to BT's level 2 training, and this time despite busy work schedules I better do it in a more planned way - David's videos + some interesting portions of related readings seems to be the plan so as to ensure maximum learning and retention.
Hey…I passed the FRM exam too. I committed myself only to Schweser, and sometimes Bionic Turtle..Love the site. Thanks!
Hi David and Suzanne!
I AM PUMPED!!! I passed the 2009 FRM exam!
Thanks so much for all your hard work on those tutorials and answering my questions along with everybody elses!!
I work in energy, not finance. I have been out of school 15 years, and have a limited quantitative background. My strength was to continually throw as many hours at this thing as I could from Jan to exam day (i.e. there was no summer vacation).
I did not use GARP material or other providers - there was just soooo much on the bionic turtle website, I focused on that. I think I hit pretty much everything on your site. I tried to stay ahead of you by watching all the 2008 videos prior to the 2009 season getting into full swing. I also watched all the youtube videos multiple times - and I used that as clarification if I couldn’t get a concept in the regular videos. I watched all the 2009 videos twice. I appreciated you going over every single learning aim with the bulls-eye on exam content and not unnecessary tangents. I took special note of any offhand comments about aim “testability.”
Your early bird seminars really helped me understand the math concepts. If there was something I wanted further elaboration on, I found it at a math turtorial site or wikipedia. Your answers were very thorough and you never responded with, “what a stupid question!” All the study notes divided by topic, the questions sheets, the flash cards, the spreadsheets, not to mention the tutorials were so clear and visually alive I thought this must be the “FRM for dummies” course provider - but who cares, I passed.
I did go through all the spreadsheets on the site. I usually stopped the video and went to the spreadsheet as soon as you mentioned it so I would know what you were talking about. I know you would say “read this, read that,” ...but I didn’t have the time - I depended on bionic for the highlights. I worried during the course what if David has a heart-attack or worse and then I’m in big trouble (not to mention David)...but at that point I figured I would rely on the 2008 stuff.
I did all the questions and blogs you posted which was exhausting. It wasn’t just one question, but the dozen follow-ups that really impressed into one the depth of the concepts being taught. Most follow-up questions I had I found had already been answered in prior years. I used google to search the bionic turtle site and it would take me to exactly where I needed to be.
I don’t have any suggestions for changing for the exam. That exam was very difficult as all the other comments attest. The only thing I did was skip all the long and hard questions until I would find a question I could do and only after that, did I come back and have another look. This is not as easy it sounds because your confidence goes down - particularly in the morning session. I also did not leave the room during the exam, or hand in my exam early, but used every second they gave me.
I will be getting another membership to bionic turtle this year just so I can engrain these concepts into my brain, stay on top of the material, without the added stress of exam preparation.
Anyways, what can I do but say, THANKS A LOT!
I AM PUMPED!!! I passed the 2009 FRM exam!
Thanks so much for all your hard work on those tutorials and answering my questions along with everybody elses!!
I work in energy, not finance. I have been out of school 15 years, and have a limited quantitative background. My strength was to continually throw as many hours at this thing as I could from Jan to exam day (i.e. there was no summer vacation).
I did not use GARP material or other providers - there was just soooo much on the bionic turtle website, I focused on that. I think I hit pretty much everything on your site. I tried to stay ahead of you by watching all the 2008 videos prior to the 2009 season getting into full swing. I also watched all the youtube videos multiple times - and I used that as clarification if I couldn’t get a concept in the regular videos. I watched all the 2009 videos twice. I appreciated you going over every single learning aim with the bulls-eye on exam content and not unnecessary tangents. I took special note of any offhand comments about aim “testability.”
Your early bird seminars really helped me understand the math concepts. If there was something I wanted further elaboration on, I found it at a math turtorial site or wikipedia. Your answers were very thorough and you never responded with, “what a stupid question!” All the study notes divided by topic, the questions sheets, the flash cards, the spreadsheets, not to mention the tutorials were so clear and visually alive I thought this must be the “FRM for dummies” course provider - but who cares, I passed.
I did go through all the spreadsheets on the site. I usually stopped the video and went to the spreadsheet as soon as you mentioned it so I would know what you were talking about. I know you would say “read this, read that,” ...but I didn’t have the time - I depended on bionic for the highlights. I worried during the course what if David has a heart-attack or worse and then I’m in big trouble (not to mention David)...but at that point I figured I would rely on the 2008 stuff.
I did all the questions and blogs you posted which was exhausting. It wasn’t just one question, but the dozen follow-ups that really impressed into one the depth of the concepts being taught. Most follow-up questions I had I found had already been answered in prior years. I used google to search the bionic turtle site and it would take me to exactly where I needed to be.
I don’t have any suggestions for changing for the exam. That exam was very difficult as all the other comments attest. The only thing I did was skip all the long and hard questions until I would find a question I could do and only after that, did I come back and have another look. This is not as easy it sounds because your confidence goes down - particularly in the morning session. I also did not leave the room during the exam, or hand in my exam early, but used every second they gave me.
I will be getting another membership to bionic turtle this year just so I can engrain these concepts into my brain, stay on top of the material, without the added stress of exam preparation.
Anyways, what can I do but say, THANKS A LOT!
Hi David,
I passed the FRM 2009 exams. Thank you for your movie tutorials and your forum. Bionic turtle is a good supplement to Core Reading and GARP Practice Questions. I found the morning session tough as i did not have enough time towards the end. But i persevere with the afternoon session which thankfully is more manageable. I have 6 sections in1st quartile, 2 sections in 2nd quartile and 1 sections in 3rd quartile.
My feedbacks on improving Bionic Turtle study package is appreciate the roll out to be earlier so that students have more time for ideas to sink in.
Anyway for those who think of studying level 1, i think the 2009 study materials are equally relevant as i have seen only 2 new core readings.There are more changes on Level 2 2010 materials but mainly in the last section on Current Topics.
Maybe David, you could leverage on the current 2009 Bionic Turtle materials to shorten preparation time. Your Excel spreadsheets are also awesome. I think you can perhaps re-use the relevant ones.
One other idea is maybe you can use the feedbacks on 2009 actual FRM exam questions to come up with questions which are more reflective of future FRM exams.I am sure those who have taken the exams before would be happy to contribute to give an insight on exams questions.
I will still be happy to visit your website anytime as i am an avid fan of your blog. Now i can enjoy them without the pressures of exams.
Thank you for a good job done.
I passed the FRM 2009 exams. Thank you for your movie tutorials and your forum. Bionic turtle is a good supplement to Core Reading and GARP Practice Questions. I found the morning session tough as i did not have enough time towards the end. But i persevere with the afternoon session which thankfully is more manageable. I have 6 sections in1st quartile, 2 sections in 2nd quartile and 1 sections in 3rd quartile.
My feedbacks on improving Bionic Turtle study package is appreciate the roll out to be earlier so that students have more time for ideas to sink in.
Anyway for those who think of studying level 1, i think the 2009 study materials are equally relevant as i have seen only 2 new core readings.There are more changes on Level 2 2010 materials but mainly in the last section on Current Topics.
Maybe David, you could leverage on the current 2009 Bionic Turtle materials to shorten preparation time. Your Excel spreadsheets are also awesome. I think you can perhaps re-use the relevant ones.
One other idea is maybe you can use the feedbacks on 2009 actual FRM exam questions to come up with questions which are more reflective of future FRM exams.I am sure those who have taken the exams before would be happy to contribute to give an insight on exams questions.
I will still be happy to visit your website anytime as i am an avid fan of your blog. Now i can enjoy them without the pressures of exams.
Thank you for a good job done.
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- David , great stuff , thanks for helping me pass FRM Full exam Nov 2009 , your website is so compelling that even now I keenly … 08 Mar 2010
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