So I finally cleared FRM Part 1 last November after failing it by a pretty thin margin in May. First attempt I scored in the bottom quartile for quantitative analysis and honestly thought I understood that material going in. Spoiler: I did not. The way GARP tests probability distributions and hypothesis testing is way more application-heavy than the study notes make it seem.
What changed the second time around was drilling practice problems instead of just re-reading chapters. I started using the FRM Practice Test resources to simulate the actual exam feel and my quant scores jumped noticeably within a few weeks. I also stopped treating financial risk manager FRM certification prep like a reading exercise and started treating it like a math exam that occasionally requires you to explain yourself.
Sitting Part 2 in May now. Market risk is killing me — the Greeks, VaR backtesting, expected shortfall. Anyone have a good approach for keeping the Basel III capital requirement rules straight? There's so much overlap between topics and I keep mixing up Tier 1 vs total capital ratios under stress scenarios.