I'm about 7 weeks into studying for FRM Part 1 and trying to figure out if I'm on pace or falling behind. I've been logging roughly 15 hours a week, which puts me around 105 hours total so far. Most resources say 200-300 hours for both parts combined, but that range feels so wide it's not very useful. Anyone willing to share actual numbers?
My quantitative background is decent — undergrad econ, a few stats courses — but I haven't touched derivatives pricing in a couple years. Foundations of Risk Management and Financial Markets are moving fast for me, but Quantitative Analysis is where I'm grinding. Spending about 40% of my time there even though it's supposedly one of the smaller sections.
I've been using a mix of Schweser notes and the official GARP readings. Schweser moves faster but I keep finding gaps where something on a practice exam references a concept Schweser glossed over. Trying to decide if I should supplement more heavily with GARP material or just trust the process and do more practice questions.
Exam's in about 5 weeks. Planning to spend the last two weeks almost entirely on practice exams and reviewing wrong answers. Anyone who's passed recently — does that approach hold up, or is there material you wish you'd reviewed more systematically before switching to pure practice?
Schweser has gaps, especially on the valuation models. I'd suggest at least reading the GARP chapter summaries for the quant section — maybe 3-4 extra hours but it fills in things Schweser skips. Passed on my first try with a 76%.
The last two weeks of practice exams is the right move. I made the mistake of trying to cram new material in the final week and it just created noise. Reviewing wrong answers and understanding why is worth more than covering new ground at that stage.
15 hours a week is solid. I was doing 12 and felt like I was always behind. Make sure you can derive the key VaR formulas from memory before exam day — that's the one area where knowing the mechanics, not just the output, actually matters on the questions.
I logged around 180 hours for Part 1 alone and felt prepared but not over-prepared. Working as a financial risk manager helped on the conceptual side, but the exam is rigorous about formulas and I'd underestimated how much pure memorization was involved going in.