Hey guys, let me give you some background here. I just graduated from university with a BS in Stats and have no financial background/experience. I signed up for the Nov Part 1 and just got my Schweser Notes delivered. Yesterday, I started reading the first chapter of Book 1 and already came across some stuff i don’t understand. For example, “lack of trading liquidity tends to increase the amt of price volatility compared to financial securities”.
I am really worried that I wont be able to understand the rest of the books since english is my second language and have no friends to ask, eventually failing the exam. Does anyone have any tips or advice for me or is this simply not meant for me and I should stop studying? Please help.
Since you have already signed up for the exam, why don’t just try to do your best? I believe you signed up for the exam because you want to pursue a career in financial risk management or you wanted to learn new things. There is no easy step to picking up new knowledge.
I did the FRM exam in 2008 when I only graduated from my BSc in Maths (for about a year). I had minimal knowledge of finance as well. It was a real struggle with steep learning curve (and FRM was a 1-paper exam then). In hindsight, the FRM Part 1 exam is not difficult. You have another 5 months to prepare. Take baby steps in learning. See something you don’t understand? Use google/wikipedia/online forums.
There are free resources that you can find online (e.g. Youtube). There is also this forum for you to ask questions (a popular FRM forum is on Bionic Turtle).
Thanks for the reply but unfortunately no one really responds to questions here anymore. I have tried to post in the FRM reddit too but thats closed. I really hope to meet some people who are also studying so we can tackle this challenge together. In college, i found it helpful to quiz each other on concepts and explain things to each other helps retain info. I guess im alone for this one. FRMers if u see this message please comment or help me out.
I can try to chip in. When you post your question, do include the Topic (e.g. Valuation and Risk Models) and Chapter Name (e.g. Stress Testing). Will answer if I can.
With your academic background in Stats, you’ll be fine with the FRM curriculum, don’t worry. For the problem that you are facing, you’ll benefit from having the ordering / sequence of the chapters right.
I’d recommend you to not start with Book 1. Although it’s the first book, it should ideally be done a lot later i.e. once you have gone through readings that indeed serve as prerequisites to the readings in Book 1. You’re welcome to use the study sequence in this link (https://www.finRGB.com/frm-part-1-study-plan).
Although an appropriate ordering of readings will reduce this problem, if you do stumble upon new terms that have been mentioned without too much explanation, I’d suggest that you take note and move on. These sections can always be revisited at a later stage. As you slowly and diligently keep ploughing your way through the curriculum, it’ll all connect in the end. The pieces are all there, just that they may not have been sequenced right.
