The Expanding CIPM Body of Knowledge

On next Friday (June 25th at 9:00 a.m. Pacific time), I will be hosting a webinar covering the changes (really, the additions) that have occurred to the Certificate in Investment Performance Measurement (CIPM) program since the first examination window.

As Dave Spaulding mentioned on his blog (Investment Performance Guy) today, Dave and I were "pioneers" as we were part of the first group to enroll for the exams and earn the certification. Back in 2004, The Spaulding Group and the Performance Measurement Forum formed a Blue Ribbon Committee that kicked off the process of developing a certification program for performance professionals. We have offered our training classes since the initial enrollment periods for the CIPM (then called CGIPS) exams. It has been very gratifying to teach our CIPM classes and see our students succeed with a significantly higher pass rate than the general population.

This particular webinar is actually targeted at CIPM certificants. As we learn at the Principles Level, the Body of Knowledge that is required to do our work well and serve our clients is constantly evolving. Also, certificants are required to update their body of knowledge by meeting a Mandatory Continuing Education requirement (MCE). We are offering the webinar to help certificants satisfy their MCD requirements.

To sign up, please contact Patrick Fowler.

"Failure to prepare is preparing to fail."

Last week, the world lost one of (in my opinion) the most influential teachers in sports (and elsewhere), the legendary Coach John Wooden, who led my alma mater, UCLA to an unsurpassed 10 national championships in men's college basketball. Coach Wooden (shown above with Lew Alcindor, who later changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) is famous for many quotations, but one that applies to CIPM candidates right now is in the title of this blog post: "Failure to prepare is preparing to fail."

The examination window for the Fall 2010 period is now open (and has been since May 1st), yet the exams will not happen until October, which I'm sure seems to be far off in the future to some.

I strongly urge candidates to begin studying for the CIPM exams as soon as possible. The curriculum is broad, and learning the material over time (rather than cramming in the final weeks before the exam) will help you obtain a deeper understanding of the material, and give you a greater chance of success (i.e., passing the exams). Do not underestimate the number of hours of study required. I have heard various quotes regarding the recommended study time for each exam level, but for most people I think those estimates are on the low side.

So, enhance your chance of success by starting your studies now - you'll be glad you did when you are taking the exam!