GARP FRM Part I 6-Month Study Plan

FRM Part I is a 4-hour, 100-question multiple-choice exam covering Foundations of Risk Management, Quantitative Analysis, Financial Markets and Products, and Valuation and Risk Models (GARP). GARP's candidate-survey data reports an average of about 275 hours of preparation, with reported study times ranging from under 100 to more than 400 hours (GARP).

If you work full-time and have a quantitative background, 6 months at 10 to 12 hours per week is the sweet spot. That gets you 250 to 290 total hours, an honest 4 to 6 weeks of mock-exam practice at the end, and slack for the weeks when life gets in the way.

This plan goes month by month. Each month names the GARP topic area, the weekly hour target, and an end-of-month milestone you can check yourself against. It assumes you are studying for one of the 2026 windows: May 9 to 15, August 7 to 8 (AM session only), or November 14 to 20 (GARP).

Topic Weights and Time Allocation

FRM Part I is not weighted evenly across the four topic areas. Match your hours to the weighting.

Topic AreaGARP WeightPlan AllocationHours (of ~275)
Foundations of Risk Management20%Month 1~50
Quantitative Analysis20%Month 2~55
Financial Markets and Products30%Months 3-4 (split)~75
Valuation and Risk Models30%Months 4-5 (split)~75
Mixed practice + 3+ mock examsn/aMonth 6~50
Key Concept

Financial Markets and Products plus Valuation and Risk Models account for 60% of the exam. Together they get half the plan and all of months 3 through 5. Do not shortchange them to buy back time on the first two topic areas.

Month 1: Foundations of Risk Management (20%)

Hours: 8 to 10 per week. Goal: build the conceptual scaffolding the rest of the plan hangs on.

Foundations is the easiest topic area to underestimate. The concepts read as intuitive (CAPM, MPT, ERM, governance), so candidates skim them. Then the exam asks application-level questions and the gaps show.

What to cover

  • Basic risk types and the risk management process
  • Creating value with risk management
  • Risk governance and corporate governance
  • Credit risk transfer mechanisms
  • The Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) and Arbitrage Pricing Theory (APT)
  • Risk-adjusted performance measurement (Sharpe, Treynor, Jensen, information ratio)
  • Multifactor models
  • Data aggregation and risk reporting
  • Financial disasters and risk management failures (LTCM, Barings, Metallgesellschaft, Societe Generale)
  • Enterprise risk management (ERM)
  • Ethics and the GARP Code of Conduct

Weekly milestones

  • Week 1: Risk types, risk management process, value creation. 50 practice questions.
  • Week 2: CAPM, APT, multifactor models, performance measurement. 75 questions.
  • Week 3: Governance, ERM, data aggregation, financial disasters. 75 questions.
  • Week 4: GARP Code of Conduct, integrated review. Complete every Foundations practice question available to you.
Common Trap

The financial disasters readings look like trivia. They are not. The exam tests what failed and why (governance breakdown, model risk, leverage, liquidity, fraud), and those same failure modes resurface as application questions in later topic areas. Read for patterns, not for dates.

Month 2: Quantitative Analysis (20%)

Hours: 10 to 12 per week. Goal: lock down the math you will reuse for the rest of the plan.

This is the heaviest math month. Quantitative Analysis is only 20% of Part I, but the techniques (distributions, regression, time series, simulation) sit underneath VaR, GARCH, expected shortfall, and almost every Valuation and Risk Models topic. Hours spent here pay back later.

What to cover

  • Discrete and continuous probability distributions (Bernoulli, binomial, Poisson, normal, lognormal, t, F, chi-square)
  • Estimating distribution parameters (method of moments, MLE)
  • Population vs. sample statistics, central limit theorem
  • Bayesian analysis
  • Statistical inference and hypothesis testing
  • Measures of correlation
  • Linear regression, single and multiple regressors
  • Regression diagnostics (heteroskedasticity, autocorrelation, multicollinearity, omitted variables)
  • Time series analysis and forecasting (AR, MA, ARMA, ARIMA)
  • Simulation methods (Monte Carlo, bootstrap, historical simulation)
  • Machine learning (supervised vs. unsupervised, common algorithms, cross-validation, overfitting)

Weekly milestones

  • Week 5: Distributions, parameter estimation, descriptive statistics. 80 questions.
  • Week 6: Hypothesis testing, Bayesian analysis, correlation. 80 questions.
  • Week 7: Single and multiple regression, regression diagnostics. 100 questions.
  • Week 8: Time series, simulation, machine learning. 100 questions, plus a topic-only practice exam.
Key Concept

Get fluent with the BA II Plus on distribution functions, hypothesis tests, and regression outputs. The exam gives no partial credit for the right approach with the wrong number.

Month 3: Financial Markets and Products, Part 1 (15% of the 30%)

Hours: 10 per week. Goal: institutional and derivative-product fluency.

Financial Markets and Products is the biggest topic area at 30%. It is also the most institutional one, the area where working risk professionals move fast and pure-finance students slow down. Either way, give it two months.

What to cover (Month 3 portion)

  • Structures and functions of banks, insurance companies, mutual funds, hedge funds, pension funds
  • Mechanics of OTC and exchange markets
  • Central counterparties (CCPs) and clearing
  • Futures markets, margin, marking to market
  • Hedging strategies with futures (basis risk, cross-hedging, stack-and-roll)
  • Foreign exchange risk, FX forwards, FX swaps

Weekly milestones

  • Week 9: Financial institutions (banks, insurance, funds). 80 questions.
  • Week 10: OTC vs. exchange markets, CCPs, futures markets mechanics. 80 questions.
  • Week 11: Hedging with futures, basis risk, cross-hedging. 80 questions.
  • Week 12: FX risk, FX hedging, integrated month-3 review. 80 questions.
Note

If you sit on a trading desk or in a treasury function, this is the month you can compress. If you do not, this is the month you slow down. Margin, settlement, and clearing get tested at a level of detail working knowledge handles automatically and outsiders have to study deliberately.

Month 4: Financial Markets and Products, Part 2 + Start Valuation (15% + first part of 30%)

Hours: 10 per week. Goal: finish products, open Valuation cleanly.

What to cover

Finish Financial Markets and Products:

  • Pricing of forwards and futures (cost of carry, convenience yield)
  • Options markets, payoffs, basic strategies (covered call, protective put, collar, straddle, strangle, butterfly, condor)
  • Exotic options (barrier, Asian, lookback, binary)
  • Interest rates and measures of interest rate sensitivity (DV01, modified duration, key rate duration)
  • Corporate bonds, mortgage-backed securities (MBS), prepayment risk

Start Valuation and Risk Models:

  • Value-at-Risk (VaR) fundamentals (parametric, historical simulation, Monte Carlo)
  • VaR limitations and the case for expected shortfall

Weekly milestones

  • Week 13: Forwards, futures pricing, swaps. 80 questions.
  • Week 14: Options markets, payoffs, exotic options. 80 questions.
  • Week 15: Interest rates, duration, corporate bonds, MBS. 80 questions.
  • Week 16: VaR fundamentals (3 methods), expected shortfall intro. 60 questions.
Common Trap

Candidates memorize option-strategy payoff diagrams without internalizing the market view each strategy expresses. The exam tests the view. "You expect low volatility but are uncertain on direction" should map to short straddle or short strangle without you flipping back to a payoff chart.

Month 5: Valuation and Risk Models (rest of the 30%)

Hours: 12 per week. Goal: the final crunch on theory before mocks begin.

This is the hardest theory month, and the one most likely to expose Quantitative Analysis gaps. If your regression or distribution fluency is shaky, you will feel it here. Catch up early in the month if you need to.

What to cover

  • Finish VaR (mapping, decomposition, marginal/component/incremental)
  • Expected shortfall (ES) and coherent risk measures
  • Volatility models (GARCH, EWMA, implied volatility, term structure of volatility)
  • External and internal credit ratings, transition matrices
  • Country and sovereign risk
  • Expected loss (EL) and unexpected loss (UL)
  • Operational risk and the Basel approaches
  • Stress testing and scenario analysis
  • Black-Scholes-Merton model
  • The Greeks (delta, gamma, vega, theta, rho)
  • Economic and regulatory capital

Weekly milestones

  • Week 17: Finish VaR, ES, coherent risk measures. 100 questions.
  • Week 18: GARCH, EWMA, implied vol, credit ratings. 100 questions.
  • Week 19: EL, UL, operational risk, stress testing, country risk. 100 questions.
  • Week 20: BSM, Greeks, capital. 100 questions, plus a full topic-area mock.
Key Concept

GARCH and EWMA show up every administration. Be able to derive the next-period variance estimate by hand from a sample of returns. Calculator fluency matters here; the BA II Plus will not do this for you.

Month 6: Mixed Practice and Mock Exams

Hours: 12 to 15 per week. Goal: at least 3 full 4-hour mock exams and a clean error log.

The final month carries the most weight. Knowledge built in months 1 through 5 only converts to exam-day performance through repeated, full-length, timed practice.

Mock-exam plan

  • Week 21: First full mock exam (4 hours, 100 questions). Score it, log every miss, classify each as content gap, application error, or timing pressure.
  • Week 22: Targeted drill on the weakest topic from the week-21 mock. Second full mock at end of week.
  • Week 23: Targeted drill on the weakest topic from the week-22 mock. Third full mock at end of week.
  • Week 24 (exam week): Light review only. No new material in the final 5 days. Sleep, calculator-button drill, and a final pass through your error log.

Mock sources

  • GARP includes 2 complimentary full-length practice exams with Part I registration (GARP), accessible via GARP Learning. Use these.
  • FreeFellow includes a free FRM Part I practice exam plus topic-mode practice from the question bank.
  • A third source (an EPP, an additional FreeFellow mock, or a paid practice exam) gets you to your minimum 3.

Error-log discipline

Track every wrong answer in one document. Three columns: question topic, what I thought, what was correct + why. By the end of month 6 you should have 200+ entries. Read the whole log twice in the final week. The second read usually surfaces patterns the first one missed (you keep mis-flagging which VaR method assumes normality, say).

Common Trap

Aim for 2,000+ practice questions completed by exam day across all six months, but do not chase the number for its own sake. 1,500 questions worked carefully with a strong error log beats 3,000 questions skimmed.

Exam-Day Logistics

Allowed calculators

GARP permits only the following calculators (GARP):

  • Texas Instruments BA II Plus (including the BA II Plus Professional)
  • Hewlett Packard 12C (including 12C Platinum, 12C Platinum 25th Anniversary, 12C 30th Anniversary, and HP 12C Prestige)
  • Hewlett Packard 10B II
  • Hewlett Packard 10B II+
  • Hewlett Packard 20B

Any other calculator may result in your Exam not being graded. Clear your calculator memory before the exam. Do not bring a backup calculator that is not on the list.

Identification

GARP requires a current, non-expired, original, government-issued passport or driver's license with a photograph (GARP). The name on the ID must match the name on your Confirmation of Appointment email exactly. Digital identification is not accepted.

Personal belongings and electronic devices

No personal belongings, electronic devices, or wearable technology (Fitbits, smart glasses, smartwatches) are allowed in the exam room. Cell phones must be fully off in the locker (airplane mode is not sufficient). A phone that emits any sound during the Exam ends the session, ungraded.

Exam windows for 2026

  • May: Part I May 9 to 15, 2026
  • August: Part I August 7 to 8, 2026 (AM session only)
  • November: Part I November 14 to 20, 2026

Pick a window first, count back 26 weeks, and that is your start date.

A Note for Career Changers

Coming from outside risk management (technology, consulting, accounting, an industrial corporate role)? The FRM Part I curriculum will introduce vocabulary and institutional context that working risk managers absorb on the job. Plan extra time on Financial Markets and Products in months 3 and 4. Working through the GARP books slowly beats skimming a third-party condensed guide.

If you have a quantitative background but no markets exposure, the math months (1, 2, and the VaR/GARCH portion of 5) will feel comfortable, and the products months (3, 4) will not. Plan the inverse: extra hours on institutional mechanics, less on distributions and regression.

Free Resources

  • FreeFellow FRM Part I Practice - free question bank with adaptive difficulty, detailed solutions, performance analytics, and a full-length practice exam
  • GARP Learning - included with Part I registration; covers the full curriculum and 2 complimentary practice exams
  • GARP Study Guide - free summary of recommended readings with key concepts and learning objectives
  • GARP LinkedIn FRM Candidate Group - free study-group connection for working with peers

Start Building the Habit

FRM Part I rewards consistency more than intensity. Six months at 10 to 12 hours per week, with weekly milestones and a disciplined error log in the final month, is a path most working candidates can actually sustain.

Start with FreeFellow's free FRM Part I question bank for adaptive practice that mirrors the exam format and tracks your weakest topics automatically.