Course Study Plan Guide

[Nicole Seaman]

Hello David,
FRM part 2 topic 3 is quite in-dept and long and there's only 1 month to go before and exam, and I am quite at a loss which parts I should focus on more than others. So exam-wise, are there particular parts that I need to study more in-depth, reading through the garp books and stuff?? And it seems like there are some parts where in garp books, the pages are way longer than the study notes you have provided. For instance, for the topic: Failure in dealer banks, the garp books cover alot while the study notes cover only 5 pages. So can I just assume that those parts won't be highly testable?? Please I need your advice on studying operational risk underfrm part 2.

Hello.
I am wondering whether it is enough to only look through and sstudy the notes you have provided for this topic: credit risk. I have the garp books but don't have enough time to go through it all. So I have hardly read the book. I am only studying with the notes and video on the study planner. Will that suffice???Or if not, is there specific parts under this topic that I need to focus on more exam-wise? Please I need your advice. Thank you.

Hello @christylee

I've moved both of your posts to this thread, which discusses the study plans of other members. Regarding a study plan, we recommend that you follow the learning objectives in the FRM curriculum. You cannot assume that there will be readings that won't be tested. GARP provides the learning objectives to guide FRM candidates so they know exactly what CAN be tested on the exam. We do not ever see the actual GARP exams so we can only recommend that you study the concepts in the learning objectives that GARP has provided and make sure that you are comfortable with them.

It is really not possible for us to guide you as an individual regarding the BT notes being enough for you to pass the exam. We have many members that have passed the exam only using our materials, but there have been others that have used the GARP books in addition to our materials. Our materials cover the learning objectives in the FRM syllabus, but they are a summary of the source readings. You are really the only one who can determine if that is sufficient for you. It may help for you to read through the pages in this thread so you can see what other members have recommended, but everyone is different.

Nicole

 

[Ganesh S Tanpure]

Hi, I am November 2019 FRM Part I aspirant.

My question here is, by referring BT study guides & Videos, will I become proficient with usage of Calculator as well? (I am using 'Texas Instruments BA II Plus' calc)

Ganesh

 

[David Harper CFA FRM]

Hi @Ganesh S Tanpure Yes, if you use your calculator along with solving problems, you cannot help but gain proficiency with the calculator. The core material does not generally teach the calculator alongside the concepts; that is, it does not "embed" calculator steps into the content. Frankly, calculator proficiency is not a "deep skill" and mostly it is a matter of some repetitive practice, so we don't think it makes sense to embed calculator steps with along with the material. In fact, I think to embed calculator steps would be terribly inefficient simply because 80%+ of the calculator usage is application of the same, straightforward arithmetic functions.

But please note that we have recently started a forum devoted to calculator video tutorials, please see here https://forum.bionicturtle.com/forums/financial-calculator-tutorials.101/

• Please note these are numbered, so I do recommend starting with TIBA - 01 (my review of the essential settings) here at https://forum.bionicturtle.com/threads/ti-ba-ii-calculator-essential-settings-tiba-01.22264/
• But your question is good because all candidates must practice with the calculator before sitting for the exam. There is no point is spending hundreds of hours studying difficult concepts yet skipping this basic skill: calculator proficiency is required in order to complete quantitative problems in a reasonable period of time. So please make sure you plan includes plenty of calculator practice, which should not be a change of plan if you already plan to revise many practice questions. I hope that's helpful!

 

[Nejc]

So a lot of prep providers are mentioning on Youtube that studying from the GARP's material is too lengthy and not exactly aligned with the learning outcomes (e.g. explaining something that is not required to know). Common remark across providers is also that it's best to not change studying material during preparation process and just to stick to one. So if I got it right, best approach is to study BT's notes in detail and to consolidate GARP's books just for some additional reference if needed. Can someone confirm this? Thank you!

1) I'm a bit worried that 73% of students are passing because they come here just for questions while having Schweser's notes. Just want to be confident in the strategy from the beginning so that I can start executing it.

2) Don't know to what extent BT alignes with the yearly updated learning outcomes and what the gaps are.

 

[Syed Rabeel]

Hi,
I have decent knowledge of financial products, as I work in Treasury Operations dept. Dont know much about VaR, Stress Testing and Hypothication. Quants, I have studied just basics in my university.

I dont have time to prepare from multiple FRM preparation providers and want to stick with one. Is Bionic Turtle enough? I have over 4 months till Nov-2019 exam. I dont intend to buy official GARP books. Will Kalpan Scheweser be better for me?

Also, Should I follow the study planner sequence (top to bottom) for each of the four topics? Searching online, I noticed that it is better to complete topic 2 (Quant) first, then topic 1 (Intro to Risk). Is that correct?

Will appreciate your response. Thank you.

 

[snoekie1959]

I have very similar question, albeit more granular. Taking into consideration the limited time resources (almost all of us work full time), if we have access to both BT notes and videos, is it safe to assume that what is covered in the notes is covered in the videos and visa versa? Secondly, should the order of learning be first notes and/or videos and then completing each readings BT questions?

 

[Mkaim]

Hi,
I have decent knowledge of financial products, as I work in Treasury Operations dept. Dont know much about VaR, Stress Testing and Hypothication. Quants, I have studied just basics in my university.

I dont have time to prepare from multiple FRM preparation providers and want to stick with one. Is Bionic Turtle enough? I have over 4 months till Nov-2019 exam. I dont intend to buy official GARP books. Will Kalpan Scheweser be better for me?

Also, Should I follow the study planner sequence (top to bottom) for each of the four topics? Searching online, I noticed that it is better to complete topic 2 (Quant) first, then topic 1 (Intro to Risk). Is that correct?

Will appreciate your response. Thank you.

May I ask whether you need to pass it this year? I would say give yourself 6 months at least because unlike the CFA level 2 and 3, this exam is offered twice a year. By delaying the exam for another 6 months you may end up increasing the odds of passing, this is assuming you remain disciplined for at least 6 months. I would say follow the study planner and do a lot of practice problems. If you get the time, try and understand the Excel files that David has created.

When I was studying, I actually read the GARP material. Rough estimates below.

1) Read the GARP material (didn't understand 50% of the material).
2) Read the notes (understood 75% of the material).
3) Watched the videos (understood 85% of the material).
4) Did a lot of practice problems and participated on the forums (understood most of the material).

As far as Kaplan is concerned, it's pretty much crap for the FRM. This forum helped me a lot!

 

[ctrickle45]

i'll let you know in 4 days - i only used BT and didn't bother with the books - they are useless imo and barely contain any practice questions

 

[Detective]

Yes, it’s enough.

I would still recommend source readings for any reading that does not have end of chapter questions. So essentially all of part 1 (Foundations in risk management) and few of other readings in part 2-4 (one that comes to mind is Country risk article). I didn’t buy GARP books and just found readings online.

4 months is more than enough, especially if comfortable with Quant, but you do need to be diligent and clock some decent hours some weekends.

Doing practice questions is key so I’d try to do some after each reading.

Ideally you would write your own notes for each learning objective, but that turned out to be not sustainable for me long-term (i.e. I got lazy).

Didn’t watch videos but I think videos make a lot more sense when you know the subject matter, so maybe you can do:

Skim Notes -> watch video -> read notes carefully -> do practice problems on that section

Rinse and repeat.

 

[Harshit Chawla]

Hi
I'm new here, an frankly, a little overwhelmed by the amount of resources that are available here on BT. I'm planning to sit for Part 1 in November.
Does BT provide a recommended order in which we should study/ go through the material? I read somewhere that the curriculum is not very well structured and I need to go through some topics in other subjects before I can study some in other parts of the curriculum.

Does this look like a fine plan to follow? :
1. Quantitative analysis
2. FMP
3. Valuation and risk models
4. Foundations of Risk Management

Also, I have never used a prep provider that provides so many additional resources to use (excel sheets, study planner, etc.), so is there any introductory video for BT which I can watch to really get a hold of the BT way of prep?

 

[Nicole Seaman]

Hi
I'm new here, an frankly, a little overwhelmed by the amount of resources that are available here on BT. I'm planning to sit for Part 1 in November.
Does BT provide a recommended order in which we should study/ go through the material? I read somewhere that the curriculum is not very well structured and I need to go through some topics in other subjects before I can study some in other parts of the curriculum.

Does this look like a fine plan to follow? :
1. Quantitative analysis
2. FMP
3. Valuation and risk models
4. Foundations of Risk Management

Also, I have never used a prep provider that provides so many additional resources to use (excel sheets, study planner, etc.), so is there any introductory video for BT which I can watch to really get a hold of the BT way of prep?

Hello @Harshit Chawla

I moved your post to this thread, which has a great deal of information from other members who have shared their study plans. We do not have an introductory video on how to use our materials because we are a self-study program, which means that everyone uses our materials differently. If you read through the posts in this thread, it should help you to come up with a study plan that fits your needs.

 

[hnoorshn]

Hello,

Can someone recommend two or three books that cover most of the Quant stuff that is tested in FRM L1. I have started reading
Calculus: A Complete Introduction by Hugh Neill, but I don't think one book can cover everything.

Thank You.

 

[Detective]

You don’t need to use any calculus on this exam. Your time is better invested going over the quant book GARP assigns (e.g. Miller). Focus on probability concepts and calculations (e.g. Bayes’ Rule).

 

[hnoorshn]

You don’t need to use any calculus on this exam. Your time is better invested going over the quant book GARP assigns (e.g. Miller). Focus on probability concepts and calculations (e.g. Bayes’ Rule).

I have mentioned this before that i barely have any math knowledge. From what i have read I assume I will need to know basic differentiation and Integration. That is why I bought a book on Calculus.

 

[Detective]

I have mentioned this before that i barely have any math knowledge. From what i have read I assume I will need to know basic differentiation and Integration. That is why I bought a book on Calculus.

I took L1 this May and there was not a single problem I could recall that required the need to take a derivative or integral (assuming you had a working calculator). Is basic knowledge of calculus helpful in general and does it provide a deeper understanding of some of the concepts? It sure does, but if I were in your shoes, ~4 months to the exam with limited math knowledge, I would not spend my time trying to learn calculus and instead focus on the math that will be tested on the exam. Maybe others can chime in on their own experience.

 

[hnoorshn]

I took L1 this May and there was not a single problem I could recall that required the need to take a derivative or integral (assuming you had a working calculator). Is basic knowledge of calculus helpful in general and does it provide a deeper understanding of some of the concepts? It sure does, but if I were in your shoes, ~4 months to the exam with limited math knowledge, I would not spend my time trying to learn calculus and instead focus on the math that will be tested on the exam. Maybe others can chime in on their own experience.

4 Months ? I am not appearing this cycle. So I have time and time is the only thing that is on my side.

 

[Detective]

4 Months ? I am not appearing this cycle. So I have time and time is the only thing that is on my side.

I see. In that case, you're right you do have time. Good luck.

 

[Smerchant]

I am also studying right now for the November Exam and having trouble grasping some of the equations. At this point I am going to keep pushing through the concepts but I do find myself looking at plug and chug questions for a good amount of time before moving on.

 

[Smerchant]

Hey quick question? The way the study material is set up is to do the practice questions first but it makes more sense to go over study material first. Do you suggest to do the practice questions first?

 

[Nicole Seaman]

Hey quick question? The way the study material is set up is to do the practice questions first but it makes more sense to go over study material first. Do you suggest to do the practice questions first?

Hello @Smerchant

There really isn't a reason (besides the set up in the back end of the website) that the practice question sets are listed before the other materials in the study planner. Since Bionic Turtle is a self-study program, everyone studies differently. There are some people who choose to watch the instructional videos before even looking at the study notes so it is best if you create your own study plan that will work for you personally. The study planner is not set up "in order" of which materials to study first and last. I hope that helps!

Nicole