May 2012 Exam Results

Suzanne and Davıd,

I am really thankful. Though I was unsure at the beginning, later I realized how helpful your study materials and practice questions are. I really liked BT materials and will recommend to all of my friends.

Good luck to all other candidates
 
Is it called selection bias? No one in this forum commented they failed their FRM yet. It seems that everyone has passed.

Anything I noticed is that people in this forum are the stronger test taker. Look at their post. Mostly 1-1-1-1. I guess those 4-4-4-4 will not come here
 
Definitely a biased sample, sure there are plenty of 4-4-4-4, albeit probably fewer on BT than other forums.
Few people want to be swinging from the chandeliers announcing to the world they did not pass; which is fair enough, as it is surely disappointing.

However, for those who did not quite make it this time around I would say:
  • Despite the disappointment, look at your quartiles, think back to the exam day and ask yourself what you struggled with. Was it time; a specific topic; your strategy on the exam day, or some combination thereof that made you lose points. Then work on those things, and look at this exam as a good preparation, a "trial-run" from which you gained valuable experience.
  • Everyone fails at things from time to time; and the most successful people in the world fail much more frequently than the average person; however, the difference is that they dust it off, learn from it and try again - they don't give up until they finally succeed. Quitting is not an option.
 
Aleksander Hansen said:
Definitely a biased sample, sure there are plenty of 4-4-4-4, albeit probably fewer on BT than other forums.
Few people want to be swinging from the chandeliers announcing to the world they did not pass; which is fair enough, as it is surely disappointing.

However, for those who did not quite make it this time around I would say:
  • Despite the disappointment, look at your quartiles, think back to the exam day and ask yourself what you struggled with. Was it time; a specific topic; your strategy on the exam day, or some combination thereof that made you lose points. Then work on those things, and look at this exam as a good preparation, a "trial-run" from which you gained valuable experience.
  • Everyone fails at things from time to time; and the most successful people in the world fail much more frequently than the average person; however, the difference is that they dust it off, learn from it and try again - they don't give up until they finally succeed. Quitting is not an option.
Click to expand...



Absolutely correct - but I have also seen ppl passing Level 2 exam with quartiles such as 3-3-2-3-3 and such as this over here from a member post - forum.bionicturtle.com/threads/passed-l1-and-l2-scores-in-l2-not-very-impressive-does-it-matter.5965/#post-18330

My post is not to undermine anyone's effort but makes me wary how many ppl does GARP really fail in the exams - and the quality of all the candidates passing and attaining certifications - being an FRM holder now I would really want FRM to maintain some form of standard while passing candidates
 
Hi David
Thanks again for your wonderful study materials, videos and sample tests which helped me clear both part I and II of FRM.
At this point, I was searching the web about how CFA compared to FRM and stumbled upon your post in 2007 (http://www.bionicturtle.com/how-to/article/cfa_versus_frm_part_1_job_markets/)
Would you be kind enough to give the audience an update on the above post given FRM's syllabus and exams have vastly improved in the last 5 years.
Thanks a lot
Sankar
 
So, anywhere around 35-50% passes, although from what I hear GARP received criticism for letting too many pass so they are wanting to bring the number down towards the low end of that range [35-40], but I cannot independently verify that information.
As Wikipedia says, around 25% of candidates pass P1 & P2.
 
Aleksander Hansen said:
So, anywhere around 35-50% passes, although from what I hear GARP received criticism for letting too many pass so they are wanting to bring the number down towards the low end of that range [35-40], but I cannot independently verify that information.
As Wikipedia says, around 25% of candidates pass P1 & P2.
Click to expand...


But what I don't understand is - if someone score is on average falling in 3rd quartile - how do they pass the exam?? they have surely performed in the range where they were better than 25% of the exam takers and below the 50% of these? Doesn't make sense to me???
 
svasudevan said:
Hi David
Thanks again for your wonderful study materials, videos and sample tests which helped me clear both part I and II of FRM.
At this point, I was searching the web about how CFA compared to FRM and stumbled upon your post in 2007 (http://www.bionicturtle.com/how-to/article/cfa_versus_frm_part_1_job_markets/)
Would you be kind enough to give the audience an update on the above post given FRM's syllabus and exams have vastly improved in the last 5 years.
Thanks a lot
Sankar
Click to expand...

To quote a very knowledgable and smart person I work with, who has many years of experience and a very senior level position: "it does not surprise me that the FRM is harder than the CFA, considering all the idiots I've meet throughout my career who are CFA charter holders."
 
Jasvinder Taneja said:
25% - Does the GARP site not mention figures of 50-60%
http://www.garp.org/frm/frm-program/about-the-frm-program.aspx

Am I missing something?
Click to expand...


I think it is sure easily above 70% of ppl (actual exam takers) who they are passing every year - when you consider even those who don't bother appearing for the exams - where I sat in London - there were easily 6 - 7 seats alone very visible to me which has a seat number allocated but no candidates - this makes me really worry what % and standard of candidates get through without real hard work and effort
 
Someone biased? (Not undermining your respect for this person)

I say this because I have seen many youngsters (fresh engineers / MBAs) these days clearing the FRM easily by "mugging" - not at all understanding Risk Management, but just forcing info into the brain and practicing a lot of similar questions. They have no idea about the industry and when I interview them, they would struggle to explain the logic or some simple basics.

Same set of people also do manage to clear CFA L1 or maybe L2, but struggle majorly with L3.

One of the suggestions that I would like passed on to GARP is to filter against these pure "rote" clearing of the exam - maybe make it more practical and understanding oriented.

David - can you also please contribute more here.

Aleksander Hansen said:
To quote a very knowledgable and smart person I work with, who has many years of experience and a very senior level position: "it does not surprise me that the FRM is harder than the CFA, considering all the idiots I've meet throughout my career who are CFA charter holders."
Click to expand...
 
Jasvinder Taneja said:
Someone biased? (Not undermining your respect for this person)

I say this because I have seen many youngsters (fresh engineers / MBAs) these days clearing the FRM easily by "mugging" - not at all understanding Risk Management, but just forcing info into the brain and practicing a lot of similar questions. They have no idea about the industry and when I interview them, they would struggle to explain the logic or some simple basics.

Same set of people also do manage to clear CFA L1 or maybe L2, but struggle majorly with L3.

One of the suggestions that I would like passed on to GARP is to filter against these pure "rote" clearing of the exam - maybe make it more practical and understanding oriented.

David - can you also please contribute more here.
Click to expand...

The person is neither a CFA holder nor an FRM holder, the person does however have ~25 years of finance experience and a PhD in Mathematics.

Also keep in mind how the exam is scored! The "empty seats" doesn't really impact the passing rate anymore than for the CFA I would think. Remember, it's curved based on a ratio of the top 5th percentile, so the "empty chairs" are automatically flunked. They might not even count towards the population when scoring since they are clearly rated as no-shows.
 
I would agree that the questions on the exam should be designed so as to weed out the memorizers. That is, the questions should require you to think! However that and the 100/80 multiple choice questions with a 4 hour time limit exam structure are clearly mutually exclusive.

As an example: When I did my final exam for my PhD class in asset pricing, the exam was 3 hours long but there were "only" 4 questions. Believe me, the only thing you could memorize is, "if I don't pass, I get kicked out of the PhD program". I'm not saying GARP should go to that extreme but it does highlight the difference.
 
I understand where you are coming from. I have also gone through grilling 4.5 hrs exams where there are essentially 3-4 cracking cases plus a few candies (small caselets). Though it was very encouraging that we passed with a pass rate of 12%

GARP is probably trying to expand the FRM designation base. However, in such a situation - MCQ and straight forward approaches, we will essentially reach a situation in the market where there are so many "floaters" with FRM tag and not knowing what to do in a practical situation.

What I am driving at is, that, the reputation of FRM holders will be at stake !
 
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