Exam Feedback November 2019 Part 1 Exam Feedback

[Nicole Seaman]

We hope that everyone did well on the FRM Part 1 exam on Saturday! We would love to hear any feedback that you have about the exam. How did it go? Did you encounter unexpected questions? Thank you in advance for any feedback you can provide!

 

[anton.mahkats]

Was it just me or the FRM Mock simply does not represent the difficulty, structure and depth of the actual exam questions? I completed the Mock in around 3 hours (with a couple of water/loo breaks) with score 75%. Out of the incorrect 25% at least 5-10 were really silly mistakes.

On the real exam I needed all the 4 hours (but did manage to address all the questions) with no breaks at all. But the biggest "surprise" was really the questions themselves in comparison to the relative simplicity/straightforwardness of the GARP Mock exam. GARP says that their Mocks are based on past exam questions - well, if that's the case then IMO it used to be a free-ride in the past...

 

[nassos1409]

This my first time taking the exam, but from what i have read on this forum on anecdotal experiences of previous exam takers, i strongly believe this must have been the hardest one by far. I remember reading once that there was a part 1 exam with 0 FRA/Swap/Currency swap valuations...We had like 4-5 questions of that kind. Keeping my fingers crossed for the pass email.

 

[ngocle314]

This is my first time too, it's harder than my expectation. Some questions type I have never seen before. Hope It get well!

 

[wojtek]

I agree that the exam was very difficult. Most questions absolutely incomparable to test and practice ones. It seems very interesting how the results will be evaluated.

 

[Sixcarbs]

I thought Part 1 was easier than the BT prep.

The only two subjects that I did not know, and it was my own fault, were the AIC/Schwarz questions, and the prepayment calculations. I knew I was deficient there, but in the name of time did not go back and tighten things up. The two AIC/Scwarz questions were a complete guess, and I may have figured out the "Constant prepayment rate" but I am not sure.

Two option pricing questions tore me apart. First, the BSM put price with the dividend. I could not figure out where to put the present value of the dividend. I tried all combinations but my answers were still coming up low for the choices. The other one was the one-step binomial, European put. Index was 3300, would either go up 5% in 6 months or down 10%. Strike of put was 3200, Rf was 2%. Either I am totally missing something or none of the choices made sense.

Overall I felt the BT boot camp here prepared me very well for the exam. It was definitely several levels below the BT PQ's.

I did use the entire 4 hours, mainly because I spent so much time on the BSM Put calculation with the dividend.

Did anyone else have their ID's checked while they were taking the exam? I did not even look up. Not sure if it was room wide or just me. I'm 52 and I think there were only 20 people over 30 out of 500, and only one over 40, me. I was wondering if they thought I had snuck in to take it for my son.

It was definitely very draining, and then I took Part 2 in the afternoon.

More later.

 

[randrema]

I find it difficult compared to the garp mock exam. It took me 4h to do with 3 blind responses.
On the exam, I got the blue book cover (not the red one). Are the questions not the same because I remember B&S calculation was with call option but not put. I hope I did not make a mistake.

 

[Detective]

I thought Part 1 was easier than the BT prep.

Did anyone else have their ID's checked while they were taking the exam? I did not even look up. Not sure if it was room wide or just me. I'm 52 and I think there were only 20 people over 30 out of 500, and only one over 40, me. I was wondering if they thought I had snuck in to take it for my son.

They check everyone I think. I and everyone around me had IDs checked while taking the exam both in May and November. So you weren't singled out. That's why they ask you to leave out your ID during the exam. If you have to go to the bathroom they take both your exam paper and ID in case you decide to sneak out, and you are also frisked TSA style when you return from the bathroom.

On the demographics of the exam, I do agree with you the most of the test takers appear to be in their 20s. I can only hope I am able to sit and pass this exam when I am 52.

 

[Fisuca]

Hi,
Just a general note, if people write they answered over 90% of the questions in time, then it could not have been that hard right ? Or does that happen on average?

 

[alicebjarni]

Hi,
The exam was so so difficult.
I did the mock examen provided by GARP and my score was around 85-90 good questions. I did also 2 mock exams provided by schweser + All Hull exercices.
The exam was very very diffrent from the mocks exams really a big big GAP. I am still under shock.
I discover some new items in the exam it was just funny ...

 

[P Bhattacharya]

I find it difficult compared to the garp mock exam. It took me 4h to do with 3 blind responses.
On the exam, I got the blue book cover (not the red one). Are the questions not the same because I remember B&S calculation was with call option but not put. I hope I did not make a mistake.

I also remember it was call option not put

 

[JamesVU2000]

the exam was impossible.

 

[Naresh Nayak]

Are we allowed to discuss questions of FRM exam? If so does anyone remember any questions?

 

[niteshaidasani]

I thought the exam was long (just barely finished) but fair on balance. In terms of difficulty, I thought it was easier than any of BT Q&A bank or the BT Mock Exams (I did Mock Exams 1, 2 and E - H with scores of +70% in all of them). I also thought that it was easier than the GARP Mock exam (which I thought was the least representative of the real exam).

 

[alicebjarni]

Are we allowed to discuss questions of FRM exam? If so does anyone remember any questions?

We had question about the ES Vs VaR + CURRENCY SWAP + INTEREST RATE SWAP + A question about the number of Simulations we need to find a result of monto Carlo Simulation + GARCH vs EWMA Model + GARCH (1.1) Find the daily variance + Delta of a short Call + Put and Call parity + ...

 

[JamesVU2000]

I also struggled with the BSM question with dividend and the binomial. The vairation margin question was confusing. the end of the test sharp sortino questions left me clueless

 

[Naresh Nayak]

We had question about the ES Vs VaR + CURRENCY SWAP + INTEREST RATE SWAP + A question about the number of Simulations we need to find a result of monto Carlo Simulation + GARCH vs EWMA Model + GARCH (1.1) Find the daily variance + Delta of a short Call + Put and Call parity + ...

Was ES the average of first two values, 200 data points and 1% was VaR??

 

[Indrahui]

Does anyone remember the answer to the Monte Carlo no of simulations required and barbell convexity

 

[Lmgroves1]

I thought the level of difficulty overall was pretty fair personally, but it was extremely tight on time. Looking back on it, barely had a chance to think about anything but the question at hand - struggling to remember any of them in detail now. The only one that sticks in my mind was a question asking for UL and I could not get the answer - ended up convinced there was an error in the question as I must have done over a dozen of those questions in practice beforehand! (Probably just missed something in reality...)

It was also an exam of two halves, I was ahead of schedule definitely at the halfway point, but the second half was extremely time-consuming in my opinion. A few questions I had to guess as the solution didn’t come straight to me, but figured that was always going to happen in some cases.

 

[Sixcarbs]

I find it difficult compared to the garp mock exam. It took me 4h to do with 3 blind responses.
On the exam, I got the blue book cover (not the red one). Are the questions not the same because I remember B&S calculation was with call option but not put. I hope I did not make a mistake.

I had a red covered book. I wasn't sure if they had different questions, or were just in a different order.

I know the question I was looking at was put, I even ran it for a call just to see. Mine had 3 choices, 60.xx, 60.xx, 60.xx, and 167.xx. I kept coming up with 113.xx.