FRM certification provides risk management professionals with various opportunities in the various fields of finance especially credit risk, market risk, liquidity risk, and other non-financial risks.

With an increase in the need for financial risk managers, someone with FRM designation is seen as having attained the “gold standard” of the industry. So those who like to play with numbers and are interested in financial markets, FRM is their go-to thing.

Benefits:

• Provides In-depth Knowledge of relevant fields of Risk Management like Market Risk, Credit Risk etc.
• You will gain a deep understanding of Financial Products and how the Financial Market works
• Improve your CV with a Specialised Skillset
• Make your more employable

Some Career Opportunities After FRM:

• Stress Testing Roles
• Market Risk Management Roles
• Credit Risk Management Roles
• Compliance Officer
• Treasury Middle Office or Back Office Roles

Normally it takes around 5 to 6 months for Average candidates to prepare for the exam.

How should I prepare?

• Ideally, One should devote at least 3-4 hours daily to studying and make sure to revise and practice the same so that you could recall it in the future.
• Revise the study material at least twice before the exam
• Solve as many questions as you can as it makes you efficient. I would suggest solving at least 3000 questions
• Dedicate last 4-5 weeks for mock tests and recaps as it will enable you to know where you stand and know your strengths and weakness so that you can work on them.
• Solve Garp Institute Sample paper before the exam

An FRM candidate also has great job opportunities in financial institutions, investment institutions like stock trading, loan, hiring, leasing, credit rating agency, banking sector, and energy companies. After receiving the FRM certification one can aim for positions such as Risk Quantification Manager, Credit risk specialist, Market risk specialist, Enterprise Risk Manager, Operational risk analysts, Regulatory risk analysts, etc.

In India (Especially in Mumbai) Candidate can expect to get jobs in various risk or Compliance or Treasury related roles :

• Global Investment Banks like JP Morgan, Nomura, Morgan Stanley, Citi Bank, Barclays etc
• Private Indian Banks like HDFC, Axis Bank also hire FRM
• Asset Management Companies Like ICICI Pru, Axis Mutual Fund, Franklin are also big recruiters in India.
• Credit Rating Agencies like ICRA and Moody’s do offer FRMs jobs.
• Consulting firms like PWC, KPMG, Kroll, etc are offering risk related consulting firms

The remuneration and other perks for FRM professionals are generally quite high. Most of the job profiles require extensive traveling and a high-pressure working environment too. However, if finance is your passion and calculative risk-taking your specialty, then a career as an FRM professional can be highly rewarding for you.

First of all, try and understand what the course has to offer. The best thing about this course is it starts from scratch. Yes, of course, a finance background candidate will have an advantage as he/she would have some basic knowledge about the course. There are many candidates who are not from a finance background but have performed much better.

The topics covered in FRM level 1 and the overview of the topics. In FRM level 1 there are 4 topics Foundation of Risk Management, Quantitative Methods, Financial Market & Products, and Valuation & Risk Models.

Book 1: Foundation of Risk Management - It is entirely theory and the weightage is 20%. There are only 2 chapters that have some calculations.

Book 2: Quantitative Methods – It covers statistics and the weightage is 20%. Many candidates are afraid of this part but nothing is difficult. Prepare and practice well and you will find this easy.

Book 3: Financial Market & Products – This book covers both practical and theory and the weightage is 30%. It covers topics such as the valuation of Forwards, Futures, and Options which are very basic and it can be easily understood.

Book 4: Valuation & Risk Models - This book covers both practical and theory and the weightage is 30%. It has some concepts related to Book 3 also it covers topics such as Bond Valuation, Option Valuation, and VAR calculation which are quite important. There are few difficult formulas but with constant practice, it should be easy.

My take would be to start with Book 3, then Book 4, then Book 2 and finally Book 1. Solve as many questions as you can. More importantly, learning to use a financial calculator effectively will help you to do sums quickly during the exams and save time for challenging sums

Based on this question asked you cannot be a certified FRM unless you have work experience. You can just mention yourself on your resume/ social network profile as “FRM Level 2 Cleared”. After clearing both the levels of this examination you need 2 years of relevant experience in this risk management field then only you can apply for the charter holders.

In regards to salary don’t keep very high expectations from the start. The salary depends on many things such as skills, basic knowledge about the job role you are applying for. There is no specific number when it comes to salary but as per the job title the range should be around:

Analyst - [INR 4 Lacs to INR 7 INR]

Sr Analyst - [INR 7 Lacs to INR 10 INR]

Associate - [INR 10 Lacs to INR 14 INR]

Sr Associate - [INR 14 Lacs to INR 20 INR]

As per your question salary with no work experience should be around INR 5 lacs.

• Institute has not declared any specific way or pattern of passing students, however, try to clear around 65 to 70 questions right across all the books out of 100 questions.
• Quartile should ideally be above 2nd quartile.
• If you are getting Quartile of 2222 for the books than you should be able to clear the exam.
• I have seen some students getting the quartile of 3311 and they have cleared the exam.

FRM level 1 curriculum includes Foundation of Risk Management, Quantitative Analysis, Financial Markets & Products and Valuation & Risk Models. The passing score for part 1 examination ranged from 35% to 45% depending on the quartiles in the past. The passing rate has improved and now averages between 40 – 60 %.

Yes, you can take the exam and also clear the exam.

One need not be a great mathematician to take FRM, as FRM does not test your mathematic skills, it just challenges your understanding of the topic. FRM level 1 has some components based on Statistics and Quants but Level 2 hardly has any Calculation driven question and there is no Statistics related to the concept in the exam

The syllabus for the two FRM exams differs from the FRM syllabus for Part I being associated with various tools like ERM, CAPM, VaR, Derivatives, etc which are used in assessing financial risk, and Part II having topics associated with the implementation and application of these tools.

FRM Level 1 Exam syllabus includes Foundation of Risk Management, Quantitative Methods, Financial Market & Products and, Valuation & Risk Models from which the only Quantitative Methods has Statistics. The mathematics included in the curriculum is not much complex and can be mastered easily with practice. You only need to understand the logic and concepts to ace it.

Most candidates don’t prefer to do FRM because of their fear of statistics and quants in FRM, however, that is incorrect. They have a belief that they are not that good at math so FRM will b

Studying for FRM examinations is crucial, and it takes substantial effort. There are no shortcuts. The one thing standing between you and success on the FRM Exams is the hard work you put in. GARP recommends you aim to spend at least 200 hours preparing for each exam. Schweser’s prepare, perform, practice methodology gives you the structure you need to get the most of the time you spend preparing.

Most candidates prefer Schweser study material for their examinations. The reasons for Schweser being the most preferred are:

1. Concise - Textbooks get straight to the point, focusing only on content that will be in the exam.

2. Chapter summaries - The summaries provided at the end of the chapter are very useful when revising.

3. Practice Exams - These are invaluable. Practicing under exam conditions and timings is the best way to prepare for the real deal.

Schweser's study material is excellent for preparing for FRM exams. But it is recommended that you refer to the GARP books as well because examinations are quite complex and Schweser does not cover everything in-depth as GARP does.

For Question-Solving lot of students prefer other third-party material along with schweser.