Feedback on Riskprep

[Anonymous]

I have just passed exam 3 and 4. In addition to reading the handbook, I used kesdee and riskprep for exam 3; kesdee and rambus’s free flashcard (quizlet.com) for exam 4. I studied for 1 month for exam 3 and 7 days for exam 4. Both exams were very tough for me (not very bright and scored only in the 70s range). Despite people saying there’s no need for memorizing, I think you do need a fair bit of memorizing or real detailed understanding of concepts (and at most only 8 calculation formula) for exam 3 and 4.

I would like to feedback that this forum has provided me with useful info to passing the exams. I’m now waiting for my exemptions to be verified. All the best to PRM exam takers. Cheers.

[Anonymous]

Congrats on passing PRM & glad you used my flashcards! I’m currently tied-up in work & plan to take Exam 3 end-July (hopefully!). I’ve completed the handbook, but there’s also a whole load of supplementary readings, some of which seem not so relevant (like the SCAP stuff). I was planning on using riskprep. Was kesdee helpful?

Are you a CFA charterholder? What is the procedures for verifying exemptions for Exams 1 & 2?

[Anonymous]

Well I think riskprep helped build better foundation (clearer and more elaborate answers than kesdee’s). Riskprep’s tutorials help summarize the concepts of the models. Kesdee has a few interesting questions like calculating default probabilities from credit rating table, some questions on supplementary material (can’t find any in riskprep’s but not difficult stuff). I believe you can survive on just riskprep’s. I just want to get my hands on as many questions as possible (been spoiled by qbank and CFA textbook’s examples and EOCs ) as I don’t want to wait 90 days if I were to fail (a more expensive opportunity cost than $55)

I didn’t get many questions on the supplementary readings in the exam (either I was lucky or the supplementary material is quite intuitive to me. There was only one specific straight-forward question on scap which I had to recall vaguely, but managed to guess correctly). I don’t know what your exam would be like, but PRMIA sometimes likes to ask very specific question (not very deep in concept nor are they intuitive, something usually skipped as irrelevant, but could cost you one mark ).

I have only passed the 3 levels and not yet a charterholder. For charterholder, PRMIA can verify directly to CFA Institute on your status. For candidates, you have to request confirmation from CFA Institute to be sent to PRMIA (via email). The instruction was provided in PRMIA exam director’s exam result notification email after I passed exam 3 and 4. You could always ask the exam director for more info. Very prompt reply from PRMIA you can expect.

Thanks for your flashcard btw. All the best to your exam 3 preparation. I think if you can get 91 on exam 4, exam 3 shouldn’t be far off .

[Ramani]

I am done with PRM having passed Exam 3 last month. Cleared Exam 4 earlier.

Exam 3 was difficult – I was well prepared for the core readings (i.e. PRMIA’s Volume III), but there were tons of questions on the supplemental readings (more than 1/3). I can recall 4 questions on SCAP, 3 on liquidity risk, 3 on zero-sum, 2 on information quality & 2-3 on the stress-testing readings. I scored 75%, which I was quite happy with considering my dazed state after the exam!

I used Riskprep & Kesdee’s sample exams. Riskprep’s 309 questions were excellent. A lot of effort has been put in to draft the questions and the explanations. And it’s a bargain at $20. With Kesdee’s, it’s difficult to understand what they are asking, and the explanations are often not clear.

My warning to all – don’t take the supplementary readings lightly!

[Author]

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