Questions in regards to BT products

[ArbitUP]

After conquering the CFA exams I figured I’d further help my career and bolster my knowledge by jumping into the FRM gauntlet (Part 1 in May). I was a bit disappointed with Schweser in regards to the prep for the CFA exams, but they got me through the tests without cracking open a CFA Institute book. Frankly, I’m a visual learner as well as I like to pound out tons of practice questions. Either way I’ve stumbled upon Bionic Turtle, and I’m interested in your program for Part 1.

What is the difference between Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3? From I can tell the difference from 2 and 3 are the Learning Spreadsheets? What exactly are these?

Secondly, what does your video series entail? About how many hours for Part 1? How is it structured?

And lastly, the practice questions: how many do you have for Part 1? Is it a program (such as Schweser QBank) or just a workbook of questions?

Also could you compare and contrast your Tier 3 package versus what Schweser offers, more specifically, what makes you guys better?

And lastly, can your product substitute the FRM materials that GARP wants you to purchase? Now obviously I know everyone is different, so I guess my question is more about the depth of your product. Does it cover all the material in depth, multiple questions on all the material, etc. While I want to use a 3rd party provider as my primary study tool, I also don’t want to get blind sided constantly with questions not in your material (of course I understand this may happen once or twice).

Thanks for your time.

 

[David Harper CFA FRM]

Hi Matt,

Thanks for your interest. As you have many questions and they repeat several already here in forum and/or our FAQ, I asked Suzanne to handle your question (although, she was just pulled away for a genuine emergency, so she'll answer when she can).

Suzanne knows better but I don't think we have an answer for "what make us better" than Schweser. First, we don't take the time to make competitive comparisons; we don't own their material. Second, the intent of this forum (the upper half is public) is to build our authority and trust as a helpful resource (to monetize, yes, but to monetize as an outcome of first being helpful and trustworthy). That goal will be undermined, or at the very least diluted, if we started explicit selling messages of the compare and contrast sort.

I respect Schweser's study note products (I used them when I sat for the FRM years ago), I have referred buyers to them when it feels like the right fit (yes, here in this forum), and we have many customers who use Schweser notes + BT (i.e., both).

But Suzanne will help with your list, as soon as she returns from her emergency. Thanks for your interest!

 

[Irena]

I was a bit disappointed with Schweser in regards to the prep for the CFA exams, but they got me through the tests without cracking open a CFA Institute book. Frankly, I’m a visual learner as well as I like to pound out tons of practice questions.

Hi matthanuf06

I think it was my friend (who works at ECB in Frankfurt and passed all CFA and FRM exams) who told me that in his opinion the CFA books from Scwheser were much better than the FRM books. However, I must add that he took the exams some years ago. He first passed CFA, then FRM. On the other hand, I borrowed Schweser's CFA study books from a library and my general impression was that they were well structured. With the FRM books I had a feeling that I am getting incomplete information, and I had to google a lot. Acording to what you said I tend to believe that you might be disappointed with their FRM offer too.

Schweser's materials (and google) got me through FRM Part 1 without ordering anything else, and I scored in the top quartile in each of the four exam topics. However, there were too many times when I felt that I was just trying to memorize something for the exam and will forget it soon after. All in all I would say that the package they offer is great, if only the books were a bit better (I would have liked to know how the forumlas that we were using were derived, even if that is only written in a small print; there were some formulas that were only written in special forms (i.e. no dividends) but exam required a more general one...), the practice questions harder, and the test exams a bit more realistic (way too many memorization questions, for example I scored between 55-60% on their mock exams, and 65-85% on the old FRM exams available through GARP, and I believe that much more than 60% in the actual exam).

I decided to purchase BT for FRM Part II. After a couple of days I am still unsure of my strategy as I can't quite decide on how to distribute my work over the next 3 months (Schweser had the calendar where you told it on which days you can study, and the calendar told you what you should then do on these days, and you could just start studying), but with the forum on hand I no longer feel like being alone with my books. Maybe the simplest way I could describe the difference is that Schweser feels like a global institution, where you are just a number and if there is something you don't like, that's your problem. They also only answer to the questions related to their books, videos, exams, question banks, but not to others. Bionic Turtle feels like a small organization where everyone matters, they have their flaws but are trying to improve, and what you think matters. You can ask whatever you like.

That's all I can tell you at the moment. Hope that helps.
Irena

 

[Suzanne Evans]

After conquering the CFA exams I figured I’d further help my career and bolster my knowledge by jumping into the FRM gauntlet (Part 1 in May). I was a bit disappointed with Schweser in regards to the prep for the CFA exams, but they got me through the tests without cracking open a CFA Institute book. Frankly, I’m a visual learner as well as I like to pound out tons of practice questions. Either way I’ve stumbled upon Bionic Turtle, and I’m interested in your program for Part 1.

What is the difference between Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3? From I can tell the difference from 2 and 3 are the Learning Spreadsheets? What exactly are these?

Secondly, what does your video series entail? About how many hours for Part 1? How is it structured?

And lastly, the practice questions: how many do you have for Part 1? Is it a program (such as Schweser QBank) or just a workbook of questions?

Also could you compare and contrast your Tier 3 package versus what Schweser offers, more specifically, what makes you guys better?

And lastly, can your product substitute the FRM materials that GARP wants you to purchase? Now obviously I know everyone is different, so I guess my question is more about the depth of your product. Does it cover all the material in depth, multiple questions on all the material, etc. While I want to use a 3rd party provider as my primary study tool, I also don’t want to get blind sided constantly with questions not in your material (of course I understand this may happen once or twice).

Thanks for your time.

Hi.

I apologize for the delay, as David said I've been dealing with a family emergency.

If you look at our products page you will see the difference in the 3 tier offerings. You are correct that from Tier 2 to 3 the difference is learning spreadsheets. We were the first to complement instruction with our huge library of custom-built "learning spreadsheets." Both Excel and online formats. Advanced learners tend to use these.

Our video series review all of the concepts through all of the topics. I think it might help if you view our samples, see here.

For our paid members, we recommend that you utilize the study planner.

If you are asking about how many hours you should use to prepare, you can see here.

We have thousands of practice questions. David writes practice questions daily through the work week and all of the questions are at the very least 3 parts each. If you think of it that way, its really 3 questions wrapped into 1.

We do not ship any contents. All of the contents are available online for you to download at your convenience.

As far as the GARP contents go, please see here and here.

Should you have any additional questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to ask.

Thanks,
Suzanne