FRM® Exam Preparation Tips and Recommendations
Many of Bionic Turtle’s members have provided feedback with suggestions on the best practices for FRM exam preparation. Whether you use Bionic Turtle’s materials solely for your FRM exam preparation, or as a supplement to the GARP® core books, depends on your individual education and experience.
Exam Study Hours
- Exam study hours vary depending on your individual knowledge of the FRM concepts. For some guidance, a GARP survey conducted in May 2015, FRM Exam Part I candidates indicated that, on average, individuals devoted about 240 hours to exam preparation. Individual figures, however, varied from less than 100 hours (10%) to more than 400 hours (14%).
- Don’t think that you can “wing” it with your FRM exam preparation. If you put the time in to study, you will get the results. There is no magical way to skip parts or cram your studying into a month and pass the exam. Take the time to study. Start reviewing the material as early as possible. You can register 6 months prior to the exam and Bionic Turtle gives you a year of access so why not start early. There is no harm in being prepared. The worst thing you can do is just leave it all until 2 months before the exam. Start early and you will have flexibility.
Maximizing the Value of Your FRM® exam preparation
- Study all of the materials available. Bionic Turtle provides premium FRM® preparation materials, including expert-led live online review sessions for Part 1, comprehensive study notes, practice questions, instructional videos, and other resources aligned with the FRM®curriculum. While core readings from GARP® are essential, our study notes are designed to clarify and simplify complex concepts, offering a concise yet thorough summary to support your exam preparation.
- Complete all of the Bionic Turtle practice questions. Bionic Turtle's practice questions match—and often exceed—the difficulty level of the actual FRM® exam, ensuring you master the fundamental concepts required for success. Our team of experts writes new practice questions weekly, which are published as chapter-level PDFs in the study planner and integrated into our interactive PQ platform. Each question is linked to a dedicated thread in our forum, allowing candidates to engage in discussions, ask questions, and deepen their understanding of specific concepts.
- Watch the Bionic Turtle videos. Our instructional videos are designed to break down complex concepts into clear, actionable insights. Each video includes PowerPoint slides, providing a structured framework for note-taking as you follow along. This combination of visual aids and expert-led explanations ensures a deeper understanding of the material and helps reinforce key concepts, making your study sessions more effective and engaging.
- Watch the focus review videos. These videos deliver high-impact, targeted reviews of the most testable concepts for each topic in the curriculum. With the FRM® packed full of details, knowing which concepts matter most is critical. Unlike instructional videos that cover every chapter, these concise reviews prioritize the key concepts you need for exam success.
- Take the mock exams. These are carefully designed to mirror the structure and difficulty of the actual exam, helping you identify strengths and areas for improvement. By practicing under exam-like conditions, you’ll build familiarity with the question format, enhance time management skills, and solidify your understanding of key topics. Incorporating these mock exams into your study routine is an essential step toward achieving exam success.
- Utilize the Forum as much as possible. Bionic Turtle’s active FRM® forum includes over 70,000 members engaging daily in discussions on every topic in the curriculum. The forum is an invaluable resource to ensure you fully grasp the concepts tested in the FRM® exam. Our team of experts provides daily support so your questions are answered promptly, keeping your studies on track and your understanding clear.
Other Study Recommendations
- Create a weekly study plan. Due to the sizeable amount of material covered in the exam, it is suggested that you create a weekly study schedule that will help you learn the material over an extended period. Bionic Turtle offers a complete Study Planner to help you organize your study plan so you can keep track of the topics, readings, and materials that you have completed.
- The FRM Study Guide contains a full listing of all the readings that are recommended for your FRM exam preparation. Key concepts appear as bullet points at the beginning of each section of the Study Guide and are intended to help candidates identify the major themes and knowledge areas associated with each section. The FRM Study Guide can be downloaded on the GARP website.
- The FRM Learning Objectives was developed to assist FRM candidates in their exam preparation by outlining learning objectives and suggesting strategies for completing the reading material detailed in the FRM Study Guide. The manual also contains a sample 15-week study plan and can be downloaded from the GARP website.
- Practice Exams. Candidates are strongly encouraged to download and take the FRM practice exams during their preparation, which are available on the GARP website. Practice exams will provide candidates with a good sense of the question types to expect when sitting for the actual FRM Exam and will allow the candidate to estimate how much time they can expect to spend answering individual questions. Each practice exam contains multiple-choice questions, and the downloaded file includes candidate answer sheets, exam questions, exam answer keys, and detailed explanations for all answers.
- FRM Books. While there are no requirements for a candidate to purchase the FRM Books, it is strongly recommended for their exam preparation. Proper preparation for the exam without the information contained in these readings would be difficult. To facilitate candidates’ exam preparation, readings listed and described in the FRM Study Guide are available in the FRM books. Some of the readings, including all of the readings in the Current Issues and Regulatory Reference sections, are freely available on the GARP website.
Each and every FRM candidate will have different techniques geared toward their individual needs during their FRM exam preparation. All of the suggestions that are listed here provide an excellent start to candidates who are beginning their studies, as it has been stated many times, by FRM Exam candidates, that in the beginning, it can be very overwhelming to figure out where to begin and how to organize their FRM exam preparation.
For more information about the FRM exam, including how to register for the exam and important deadlines, read through our other informational articles: