P1T1 Stulz - Video/Notes vs Practice Questions

[westtxboots]

I've noticed a significant difference between the topics covered in the notes/video and the practice questions, meaning the practice questions appear to cover much more topics of stulzs readings. Is there a reason some of this is not included in the study notes?

Thanks,

 

[Nicole Seaman]

Hello @westtxboots

David writes all of the practice questions himself. He spends a great deal of time writing them and most of the time they are harder than the questions that you will find on the exam so you can learn the concepts of the content in depth. He makes sure to go into great detail with the explanation of each practice question so you can see how the answer was derived. We try to make sure that all of our content is very detailed and updated, but we are not always able to go into great detail in the study notes, as they are meant to be a summary of the actual reading. Many of our members use the GARP books (original readings) to go further into depth during their studies. I hope that this helps to answer your question.

Thank you,

Nicole

 

[David Harper CFA FRM]

Hi @westtxboots Nicole answered for me, thanks @Nicole Manley. The short answer, indeed, is: our practice questions dive deep, so they often contain assumptions (or steps etc) which cannot be mapped to our Study Notes, which are summaries.

@Nicole Manley I drafted this for our FAQ, it's just a first pass. I put in the Bus Evernote. Feel free to edit, of course:

Question: Is there a reason [some concept] in the Practice Questions is not explained in the Study Notes?

Answer: There might be any combination of three reasons. First, the Study Notes are summaries of the recommended readings itemized by the associated Learning Objectives which are themselves--according to GARP--the "detailed knowledge points" which support the "knowledge domains covered by the exam." In several cases, answering the Learning Outcomes, as they are stated, requires assuming knowledge not covered exactly in the reading. The most common instance would be a reading (which, after all, tends to be a chapter in a book) that assumes some quantitative knowledge that may or may not be covered in the Quantitative Analysis Topic (Topic 2 of Part 1.).
Second, and this is the most likely reason, our Practice Questions are written to avoid superficial coverage of the domains. With an intention to anticipate practitioner-oriented questions (the FRM's actual stated methodological principle), our questions are more difficult than either average database-recycled questions or questions that might merely query summary points. Consequently, our questions commonly go into further detail than the Study Notes. But for most of our questions this is because they are meant to help in preparation, not really to simulate the exact exam-style questions (which will tend to be slightly easier). In short: our practice questions are "deep dives" in order to give optimal practice, so they often contain assumptions (or steps etc) which cannot be mapped to our Study Notes, which are summaries.
Third, the FRM syllabus cycles rapidly in general over time. As literal Learning Outcomes shift from year-to-year, certain concepts may drop out of the syllabus but they will, of course, remain in our question database. If they remain relevant, we tend to retain them in the Practice Question Sets. If they are not relevant, or less relevant, we try to relegate them to an Appendix. But due to the exam's methodology, there is often not a strict "line of separation." For example, some Learning Outcomes have been dropped one year but restored the next, with little likely impact on the exam.

 

[rajawasiq]

Hi @westtxboots Nicole answered for me, thanks @Nicole Manley. The short answer, indeed, is: our practice questions dive deep, so they often contain assumptions (or steps etc) which cannot be mapped to our Study Notes, which are summaries.

@Nicole Manley I drafted this for our FAQ, it's just a first pass. I put in the Bus Evernote. Feel free to edit, of course:

Hi David, I am just beginning to go through the material on the website as a revision since I have gone through the garp books. I was hoping to find detailed explanation for and calculator help for numerical questions. The first time I ran into numerical questions was in reading 8 practice questions. Unfortunately the explanation for the answer is rather short, which is understandable but what is perplexing is that the use of formula is not explained in the notes and neither is the use of calculators to arrive at the results. I think the website should be accommodative to students of all skill levels.please guide me if this is covered some other than garp material since their material appears to be obtuse and unorganised most of the time and I look to services like this site for clarity. Thanks

 

[Nicole Seaman]

Hi David, I am just beginning to go through the material on the website as a revision since I have gone through the garp books. I was hoping to find detailed explanation for and calculator help for numerical questions. The first time I ran into numerical questions was in reading 8 practice questions. Unfortunately the explanation for the answer is rather short, which is understandable but what is perplexing is that the use of formula is not explained in the notes and neither is the use of calculators to arrive at the results. I think the website should be accommodative to students of all skill levels.please guide me if this is covered some other than garp material since their material appears to be obtuse and unorganised most of the time and I look to services like this site for clarity. Thanks

Hello @rajawasiq

Thank you for using Bionic Turtle! We try our very best to make sure that we are available to answer questions for candidates at all skill levels. If you have questions after going through the study notes and practice questions, the forum is the best place to look for answers. You will also find that your question may have already been answered. All of our practice question sets contain a link on each answer page, which will bring you to the forum page where those specific questions are discussed in-depth. Our study notes do not contain forum links, but the search feature in the forum is very helpful, and will bring up a great deal of information for you. If you still can't find what you are looking for, posting a new question in the appropriate area of the forum will certainly get an answer.

David answers content questions in the forum every single day. As you can see from the forum questions that he has answered already (over the past 10 years!), his answers are VERY in-depth. Our other members are also extremely helpful in answering questions. Our forum is a very valuable feature of our paid packages, and many people have stated that the forum helped them tremendously in passing the exam. I hope this helps!

Nicole