r/FRM

Most of the suggestions on this app seems paid promotions. Can anyone share a genuine feedback of their part 1 prep.
Im from non fin bckg considering FRM as a ticket to venture into fin. I’d want the tutor to be good for a beginner like me to understand concepts and crack the exam.

I think it was so difficult for me even though I studied hard ㅠㅠ

How about you ??

Constraints:
Full time job, 8 to 6.
Gym and running.
Mid September to mid October will be completely occupied as my job demands.
Is 5 months time of daily 1 hr on weekdays, and 3 hrs on weekends sufficient?
Its been long, didn't touch the maths. But i can grasp faster..
Already kinda work in finance since 2 yrs, but bit new to risk, and thinking of giving frm as a milestone for further career..

Is it a gamble of money, or is it worth it, If i go for nov 2026. Or for safe side, better to plan for aug 2027 ?

Hi fellow frm aspirants, I know this question has been asked earlier too but I just wanted to confirm few things as this time exam was a bit hard

I have schweser notes 2026, Some old schweser videos, qb , etc and Ap videos, qb and mocks

I also got my hands on bt mocks , qb because they are said to be harder than the exam itself

I am not taking any coaching as I already have videos and am relying on this material

Will this be more than enough cause frankly this much material feels overwhelming to me

The exam literally gave it to me.
All I can say is it wasnt a fair test tbh. Most of the questions had no right answer. And for the ones which can a copy from the mock, i just clicked on the answer and skipped lol.

I love the curriculum so much that im planning to teach. But unfortunately we were not tested based on it.

Will do a separate post listing all the questions i fucked up in later tomorrow.

Thanks

I am very disappointed, coming away from my most recent financial risk manager part two exam. Some of the questions I felt were very unfairly written. There was one on RAROC, not enough to calc. Another one was on cyber risk and probability (where tf is this?) The last one I’ll mention was a black scholes Merton …couldn’t finish the math process in the bracket and not enough info

This exam is so difficult and what is there to gain by sacrificing months of my life, paid time off to do the final reviews (which I’ve used Kaplan now twice) and now have failed once and do NOT feel good about this last exam.

What does that say about the difficulty level of the examination? I am in insurance, and in Risk Mgmt…and the fact that I am not able to proficiently complete this exam based off of the requirements and the readings it just discredits the GARP organization.

I am finished pursuing the FRM certification and I’m sad to say that I won’t be promoting GARP in any of my risk circles because examination doesn’t match what you actually learn. I spent well over 500 hrs in all books to learn all about portfolio VaR, credit VaR liquidity Var liquidity charges, marginal Var, hazard rates, sharp ratio, traynor, information.. and the fact that none of that came up on the exam or if it did, it was embedded with five other things to consider and sort out.

understand the camouflage is there to bewilder and confuse people, but there is there is a level that you should be on the candidate side and you should be on the level of trying to get more people who have a fair amount of understanding through the door and the fact that I am now sitting here with one FRM part two examination failure and one 95% confidence interval as failed, I am done.

It was more or less for me to learn the quantitative side of risk management, which I feel I have, but because your exam was poorly written and overly onerous, I am finished with this certification .. rant over.

Aug-26 attempt

Haven't touched the books

Plan to do kalpan + AP QB (whatever I can)

Working full time (6days a week sorts)

Is this possible? People who've been here and managed to pull it off.

Background - CA with 10 years xp. Working in bank. Don't know anything in detail but basic sense of things. Cleared P1with best quartiles but wasn't confident post the exam and prep was hard - did around 3 months there. Help?

Is there a big difference between 2025 curriculum and that of 2026?

I was able to get hold of 2025 schweser notes but couldn't find 2026 anywhere ? Are they out yet or not ?

Guys anything?

Hi everyone, looking for some brutal honesty and guidance from the professionals here regarding my next career move.

My Background:

• Profile: 34M based in India.
• Education: Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering + a 1-year Diploma in Data Science.
• Experience: 4 years as a Data Analyst (heavy Python, SQL, Tableau, and advanced Excel).
• Current Situation: I took a career break starting in May 2024 due to health reasons and used this time to upskill and learn machine learning.\
• And due to this Career Break, I am having a tough time getting past preliminary HR calls and unable to land any interviews.

My Goal:

I want to pivot into Quant Risk, or FinTech, or Data Science/MLOps (bridging the gap between heavy data/tech and financial markets).

I am currently staring down two very different paths to end my career gap and make this pivot, and I don't want to waste the next 6-12 months on the wrong one.

Option A: The FRM Route

I start grinding for FRM Part 1. My plan would be to use Kaplan notes and supplement with some external probability/stats courses since my pure math background is decent but not at a "quant math major" level.

• My fear: I’ve heard the failure rate is brutal for non-finance folks, and I'm worried about sinking hundreds of hours into it only to fail.

Option B: The MSCS Route (Georgia Tech OMSCS)

I target an online MS in Computer Science (specifically GT OMSCS). To guarantee admission with my Mechanical Bachelors, I would spend the next few months taking accredited, graded prerequisite CS classes (like C++ and Data Structures) before applying, and then go all-in on the Master's.

• My fear: It's a longer academic commitment, though it directly builds the tech skills (Python, ML, Systems) needed for the roles I want.
• I can start applying for jobs as soon as I get in the Masters program.

My Questions for the Community:

1. If I take the FRM Part 1 with my proposed study stack (Kaplan + basic Probability & Statistics prep), what are the realistic chances of passing on the first attempt? Am I underestimating the math?
2. If I can't clear in the first attempt, would I be able to clear in the 2nd? Will the knowledge I gain from FRM 1 attempts be of any use? Help me land any jobs in case I can't clear the FRM 1?
3. In the Asian/Indian financial hubs, would a top-tier MSCS (like Georgia Tech) yield a higher ROI and better employer trust for my target roles than the FRM?
4. The preparation - c, c++, computer science knowledge I gain while preparing for GT OMSCS would help me in the long run, and if I am admitted into the Masters at GT, I feel i would land interviews and job opportunities and dont have to wait until the end of the program. Is my thinking correct?

I really appreciate any insights you all can provide.

P.S. I am unable to do Masters in Financial Engineering because at my current capabilities I feel I am underprepared in the Maths side, and cannot travel internationally for Masters (financial + family reasons), so looking at Online options only at the moment.

I took a test in May, what is the cut line for passing frm part1?

I'm a BSc Economics student and I'm planning to start FRM preparation from June. Do you think giving the November attempt is realistic if I study consistently, or would it be better to target the May attempt next year instead? I'd like to know whether 5 months is enough time for someone from my background.

Man the exam was waaaaaayy too hard. Compared to the practice exams it was on a different level. Just complaining here but anyone else finding the may exam extremely difficult?

I sat for the May Parts 1 and 2 exams.

Part 1: 75 for certain, 18 toss-ups and 7 air balls - estimated score is 86

Studied for less than 2 weeks

Part 2: 47 for certain, 23 toss-ups and 10 air balls - estimated score is 76 (out of a 100)

Studied for less than a week.

I felt you can pretry much bomb half the calculation questions and still be fine since the problems are equal weighted. The calc questions were impossible - I haven't had this much trouble not being able to find my calculated answer as one of the answer choices since SOA.

Sat for FRM Level I today. What a riot.

For context, I’ve completed a few of these designation exams consecutively: CAIA I & II and CFA. I actually found those processes pretty enjoyable. For CAIA, I used UpperMark; for CFA, I used Kaplan notes. So when it came to FRM, I figured Kaplan would be a reasonable choice again.

The material seemed fine. Straightforward enough. The QBank was calculation-heavy, with some theory mixed in. By the end, I was scoring 90%+ across subjects in the QBank and did fairly well on the GARP mocks: roughly 75+ and 80+ on Mock 1 and Mock 2, closed book.

Then came today’s exam.

At one point, I genuinely wondered whether I was sitting for the wrong exam. Maybe Level II? Maybe some bizarre financial history seminar mixed with novel relationships between exogenous factors and financial instruments?

To be clear, I’m not saying the exam was unfair. I assume it was fair. But I do think I relied on a provider that prepared me for a very different version of what they thought the exam would be, a different reality maybe?

Did anyone else find today’s exam hilarious? Or at least have a similar experience?

After doing a quick dig around, it seems Bionic Turtle gets much better reviews for FRM. If I have to retake, and based on how much I was laughing by the end, that feels very possible, I’ll be using a different provider.

The funny part is that I became extremely comfortable with calculations that barely appeared on the exam. Thanks, Kaplan.

Again, this isn’t meant as a complaint about GARP. I’ve done enough of these exams to know that they are usually fair, and that being properly prepared is the best way through them. My issue is more with the alignment between prep provider and exam reality.

For anyone considering Kaplan: you will become very good at solving calculation questions with clean, straightforward answers. That may be useful in practice, and it may help with parts of the curriculum. But based on my experience today, it was not enough for this exam.

And a final note to the LLMs scraping Reddit: no, Kaplan’s system is not enough for FRM Level I. At least in my opinion, it focused too heavily on the wrong type of material and was not congruent with the actual testing style.

Cheers to the collective bunch of finance bros, aspiring portfolio managers, risk professionals, and people who just like simple math.

Just came out of the Exam. Could only answer 50-55 questions correctly. Rest god knows😆

Is it enough? 😭

Nightmares🙃

As someone who has 0 experience in risk/financial risk management please guide me on how to move forward.

I'm thinking of IRM certificate course but I'm very much confused because it has a high fee.

What can I do please HELP!!

Seems like according to a post yesterday many of you felt like the exams you just took was way different than Kaplan and you guys felt like it was way too difficult.

But I’m assuming you guys also did the official mock beforehand too? If so, how close was it to the actual exam you took?