Using Riskprep

[Jim Horan]

Using Riskprep

[Anonymous]

I can unreservedly recommend RiskPrep to any prospective candidates for PRM. I recently sat the complete set of exams and my marks tallied well with what I got in the simulated RiskPrep tests.
I acquired the Handbook and on-line material in July 2010 and read through the material in reasonable detail over the next few months. But from November on, I was not working full-time so I had plenty of time to devote to study. So in that respect I am not typical of most candidates, who have to fit this in when they get time.
I had been working for 10 years with a treasury application software vendor as a business analyst. My university background was in maths/stats (decades ago!). So even before I started to study for PRM, I was already quite familiar with alot of the subject matter. But once I’d waded through the Handbook I realised that the exam was not going to be a pushover, and there was quite a bit of stuff which was quite difficult and totally new to me, e.g., credit risk.
I decided not to subscribe to RiskPrep until I felt I was close to exam-ready. I’ve seen other comments by people who use RiskPrep to assist in learning the material, but the possible downside to this is that the simulated tests will give you a false read on your readiness, because in a simulated test you will remember the answers to some of the questions you have previously seen. Once I felt I was exam-ready I did two sets of simulated test for each of the 3 exams with the objective of assessing whether I was at the 70% level. My scoring was closer to the 80% level, which is not surprising given the amount of study time I put in. If you’re doing the simulated tests to assess your readiness you should hope for marks of at least 67% or 68%, otherwise there’s a reasonable chance that in a given set of 24 or 36 questions you will fail (use the Binomial Distribution if you want to work out the probability of failing on a given set of 24 or 36 questions even if your “true” probability of success is 70%, say. This assumes that the exam mark is calculated as %correct answers/total questions, even though we know it is not be marked exactly like that – but it’s got to be close enough).
Once I’d done the simulated tests I worked through all 700 questions in the database in batches of 30 or 40, and I kept track of my success rate to ensure it was still well clear of 60%. The questions were excellent and highlighted a number of areas where I was weak.
I sat the exams last week and got my results yesterday and my average score over the 4 exams was a bit over 80 which is consistent with the RiskPrep results. I realise that most PRM candidates don’t have the luxury of time to study which I had during November and January this year. But this course does require some solid study if you want to be sure to pass. At $50, RiskPrep proved to be invaluable to me. To other candidates I would recommend doing some solid study and do a simulated test. If you score less than 65% you are probably not exam ready. Focus on the questions you got wrong and whether there is something in those areas that you are just not getting. Do some more study and another simulated test until you’re confident that you can score in the mid/high 60’s at least.
Thanks again, Mukul, for this excellent resource. The questions are a good test of your understanding of the material, and reflect the type of understanding that the PRM exams test for. The exams test for more than just your knowledge of formulae. There are some no-brainers in the mix but there are also plenty of subtle well-conceived questions, just as you’ll find in RiskPrep.

Jim

[Anonymous]

Jim,

Thank you for your comments – appreciated. I would agree with you the approach, and also your recognition of the fact that Riskprep can only supplement your main studies and is not a primary learning resource.

Congratulations on passing all the exams, and my best wishes for your career,
Mukul Pareek

[Author]

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